Does Premium Version Adoption in mHealth Improve User Engagement and Health-Related Outcomes?

50 Pages Posted: 23 Dec 2022 Last revised: 10 May 2025

See all articles by Yikun Jiang

Yikun Jiang

University of California, Berkeley

Kosuke Uetake

Yale School of Management

Nathan Yang

Cornell University; Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Date Written: May 10, 2025

Abstract

This study examines the impact of premium adoption on user engagement and health outcomes in an mHealth setting. Using a staggered Difference-in-Differences (DiD) framework, we estimate the effects of premium adoption on food and exercise tracking, adherence to caloric budgets, and weight loss. Although premium users exhibit an initial spike in engagement, these effects dissipate within weeks, consistent with hedonic decline. Despite increased tracking activity, premium adoption does not translate into sustained improvements in weight loss. We further demonstrate that failing to account for endogeneity and selection in premium adoption leads to an overstatement of its effects on both engagement and health outcomes. Taken together, these findings underscore the transient nature of premium-induced behavior change and highlight the importance of reinforcement mechanisms to sustain long-term engagement.

Keywords: Behavioral Analytics, Freemium, Mobile Health, Subscriptions, Sunk Cost, Hedonic Decline

JEL Classification: I12, C21, M31, I10

Suggested Citation

Jiang, Yikun and Uetake, Kosuke and Yang, Nathan, Does Premium Version Adoption in mHealth Improve User Engagement and Health-Related Outcomes? (May 10, 2025). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4298547 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4298547

Yikun Jiang

University of California, Berkeley ( email )

310 Barrows Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
United States

Kosuke Uetake

Yale School of Management ( email )

135 Prospect Street
P.O. Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
United States

Nathan Yang (Contact Author)

Cornell University ( email )

Dyson School, Warren Hall
360E
Ithaca, NY 14853-6201
United States
6072551590 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://dyson.cornell.edu/faculty-research/faculty/ncy6/

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business ( email )

Ithaca, NY 14850
United States

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