You will want to buy any product only if it offers any kind of use to you lest you will not desire to spend your hard earned money on it. This same principle applies to the world of wearables. In case a product does not provide any kind of benefit or value addition to you, it will eventually become useless for you and you will want to get rid of it.
It has been recently observed that people are losing interest in smartwatches as well as fitness trackers as they no longer find them truly useful. Such products are more of fashion accessories for rich people. Common man will only go in for a product which presents high usability as well as value for money.
Market research has proved that abandonment rate for smartwatches is 29%, fitness trackers have an abandonment rate of 30%. This is quite alarming as this means people will eventually stop buying such products. People like to buy wearables as they have a definite interest in them, but when they find the product to be less useful they discard it.
This dropout is emerging as a huge predicament for the wearables market. Basically it is the usage issue, what propels people to dump a particular product. It has become vital that makers lend some value to such products. Also, the wearable devices need to offer something more than what is offered by a regular smartphone. When a consumer gets what all he wants from his smartphone why will he or she spend additional money on wearable.
Wearables makers should try to engage interest of the users by making use of incentives as well as gamification. It has observed that fitness trackers are targeted more at the older generation so it is vital that they designed keeping in mind the needs of people of this age bracket. Another thing to be borne in mind is that people who use fitness trackers, tend to wear them every day. So it is vital that these products are designed keeping in mind mainstream consumers. Early technology adopters encompass only a fragment of buyers. Therefore, efforts should be directed in making product more useful for general public. Wearables should offer value proposition to the buyers so that they are motivated to purchase them.
Most of the consumers of today already have a device which provides wide range of uses to them and this device is their smartphone. Our lives as a matter of fact are hugely dependent on a smartphone as it provides us with all information which we need in order to run our lives effectively. We can do endless this with our smartphone. It is more than just a calling device. It is vital that manufacturers rope in value proposition to the wearables also, then only interest of consumers will develop.
For instance health tracking devices should send lifestyle messages to the users. When they will get health alerts on their wrist which will propel them towards better living, value for such products will expand automatically and users will began to regard such products as truly beneficial.
Wearables should present function independent of the smartphone. Nevertheless, it is quite clear that wearables have to work high on usability in order to develop loyal customer base. And this is only possible with usability. If usability is compromised such products will lose relevance eventually. They need to offer something more than just be a fashion statement. We all are aware of the shelf life of a fashion product. Only a product which offers true value stays with the consumer.
Life is fast moving. You cannot stick to something just for the heck of it. Wearables are in danger of becoming out of use very fast. It is vital to analyze the needs and wants of a consumer and plan course of action accordingly. Multi- functionality is key to augmented demand. Intuitive user interface needs to be developed. Applications should go one step further and offer products beyond just health as well as fitness.
