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.