Increasing App Engagement with Peak-End Effects
(A2021-94699)

AUTHORS

Daniel Goetz, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto; Wei Lu, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

ABSTRACT

The peak-end effect in consumer psychology predicts that individuals will re-engage with an activity sooner if the activity ends with a relatively positive experience. Using millions of unique usage sessions from two online apps, we document that an exogenously allocated positive experience makes consumers more likely to end a usage session with the app, even as it shortens the duration until they begin their next usage session. Our results have implications for product design, as leveraging the peak-end effect induces tradeoffs in app engagement.

REFERENCES

With thanks to Zeyang Zhang for outstanding research assistance.