HMN 2026: How Goal-setting apps can backfire if goals are too easy—or too hard

It might date back to the ancient Greeks, but the concept of “everything in moderation” still holds true for today’s users of goal-setting apps. In a paper in the Journal of Marketing Research, a team from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business School, Deakin University and Technical University of Munich analyzed behavioral data from an Australian investment app to determine what keeps users motivated and engaged.

Lead author, Senior Lecturer in marketing at the UTS Business School, Jake An, said the research had shown that the difficulty of the goals users choose—especially weekly or monthly targets—can determine whether they stay motivated or quietly disengage.

“Millions of people download finance, fitness and wellness apps hoping to improve their lives—yet most abandon them within weeks,” Dr. An said.

Retention rates in finance, fitness and education apps can drop below 5% after a month, he said.

“It’s easy to blame willpower, but our research shows app design plays a powerful role.

“When users set goals without guidance, they often choose targets that are too easy to inspire effort or too ambitious to sustain. The result is frustration and disengagement rather than progress.

“Understanding how goal difficulty shapes behavior can help consumers make smarter choices and encourage tech companies to design digital tools that genuinely support long-term well-being instead of short-term churn.

“We found that users who selected moderately challenging weekly targets increased meaningful in-app actions and were more likely to remain active one year later.

“Extremely easy or overly ambitious goals were far less effective. The findings suggest that smarter goal-setting—not more goal-setting—may be the key to sustained digital engagement.

“For example, in the investment app, we studied customers who set their subgoal difficulty at 15% of their weekly income invested the highest amount of money during the twelve months after setting the goal. For someone who earns $75,000 a year or $1440 a week, this equates to saving $216 a week as a moderately difficult subgoal amount.”

Dr. An said that with the rapid growth in finance, fitness, productivity and education platforms, there was legitimate concern about digital well-being and user burnout.

“The practical implications of our study for consumers are to avoid setting goals that are either trivial or extreme.

“Weekly or monthly targets matter more than headline goals and a moderate challenge will be most sustainable.

“For app designers, we’d recommend that goal features should not be ‘set-and-forget’.

“The app should provide guided goal ranges during setup and treat goal configuration like an advisory moment.

“How you set your goal matters more than simply having one. Smarter goals equal sustainable progress.”

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