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The most important measure of whether a product is effective is that it produced the changes it was supposed to in users’ behavior. Effectiveness is a fancy way of saying, did the product work? Behavior change interventions differ from other sorts of digital products in that their ultimate intended effects take place off the screen in almost all cases. Constraining your measurement practice to the digital product itself means that you won’t be able to detect the real-world outcomes that are hopefully part of your results.

Fortunately, there are several ways to collect data outside of the product itself that will help you understand the product’s effects. This section doesn’t cover them exhaustively, but I’ve highlighted a few of the most common and effective methods of figuring out whether and how a product works. I’ve also focused on research methods that are less common in UX and design, knowing that many in-depth resources exist for the more typical research toolkit. These methods do require an investment of time and resources above and beyond actual product development and customer acquisition costs, but they offer a huge rate of return if your product is able to attract investors or users with their results.

It also helps not to think of effectiveness research as a one-shot deal. Over the life of your product, you’ll do many studies that each tell a piece of the story. In the interview at the end of this chapter, Cynthia Castro Sweet from Omada Health talks about how to layer research over time; it’s a good reminder not to feel overwhelmed by the idea of designing the perfect study.