Experts Get Me Started, Peers Keep Me Going: Comparing Crowd- versus Expert-Designed Motivational Text Messages for Exercise Behavior Change

We present a comparative analysis of motivational messages designed with a theory-driven approach. A previous study [4] involved crowdsourcing to design and evaluate motivational text messages for physical activity, and showed that these peer-designed text messages aligned to behavior change strategies from theory. However, the messages were predominantly rated as motivating in the later stages of behavior change, not in the earlier stages, including those strategies intended for the earlier stages. We speculated that the peers that designed the messages aligned to the strategies did not have sufficient expertise to motivate people in earlier stages. Therefore, we replicated the study with experts. We found that for two of the strategies expert-designed messages were found more motivating in the earliest stage, while for several of the strategies peer-designed messages were rated more motivating for later stages. We conclude that when using these strategies in behavior change technology, expert-designed messages could be more motivating in the earliest stage, while peer-designed messages could be more motivating in the later stages.