GG RO: first user survey results are in!

During the last couple of weeks, we took the opportunity and sent a push notification, asking for our valuable users to take a short survey.

We now concluded 90 days since launch, and wanted to take a little snapshot of the way things shape for our new platform and for the people who tasted it. We mainly wanted to know two things:

  • Is the app helpful?
  • Are you, the users, satisfied?

So here are the results:

  • 68% overall thought the app was helpful and useful.
  • 74% of the people who did buy thought it was helpful and useful.
  • There weren’t any significant differences between women and men.
  • The results also showed that GG RO helped people with relationship related anxieties.
  • The higher level people reported reaching on GGRO and the more times playing, the less relationship related anxiety and preoccupation they reported.
  • Similarly, the more people thought GGRO was effective, the less symptoms they reported. This suggest that people playing GGRO consistently and according to the 3 level per-day rule, may significantly benefit from training.

So, that’s about it for now. We have, together, tested the waters. We had some amazing response from individuals who reached out and wanted to share their impressions and appreciation for what we are trying to do.

It was important for us to try and reach a pool of opinions and views and now we know we are on the right track, and feel motivated to improve the app and platform to help more people and make sure more users are satisfied.

In the near future, we will be launching GG OC – an app that potentially targets a larger audience (OCD > ROCD), and prior to expanding, we wanted to make sure what we have done so far is acceptable.

If you have anything to add or suggest, please feel free to write to us.

And many thanks to our amazing community and for everyone who took the time to submit their surveys.

If you are interested in more detailed data, please visit A/Prof Guy Doron’s post on rocd.net.

[su_button style=”flat” size=”8″ background=”#98b739″ url=”http://rocd.net/pilot-study-conducted-on-ggro-showed-encouraging-results”]View detailed results on rocd.net[/su_button]

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User testimonials: Mail from Sarah

Hello GG Apps,
Thank you so much for your research into ROCD and for making this app. I am really enjoying it and plan on buying it once I finish the free version.
It is really validating to see the different statements and realize that what I am experiencing is indeed ROCD. What a relief!!!!! It also helps to know what the different thoughts are so, I can identify them when they happen.
Thanks again! Keep up the good work!

Do psychology training apps really help?

Psychology is a huge field with a wide variety of philosophies, methodologies and research. The core idea of psychological therapy is to improve people’s well being.

In recent years, training software started replacing some traditional training methods. For example, driving theory is now widely taught using apps specialising in teaching and using repeated training.

The basic mechanism with which we learn hasn’t changed. It’s just made easier. Instead of carrying around books, we can use our smartphone. Instead of enrolling to classes, we can do it in our free time or while waiting for the doctor.

For training apps to work, they need 3 factors:

  1. Learning
    People who use the app need to learn something new, be reminded of something they once knew, or understand concepts they vaguely know and would like to understand better.
  2. Training
    Users need to repeat training until they improve. While being sometimes fun, training can become tiring, but it is the main pillar on which the learning can thrive.
  3. Feedback
    It’s hard to improve if we don’t get any feedback on how well we’re doing. Evaluation can be based on grades, sometimes all we need is just a smile, but feedback is the connector that closes the loop of training.

On top of these three, we can also add consolidation. This happens as a passive process – mainly during sleep.

When we started designing the user experience of GG Apps, we took into consideration that people don’t necessarily want to be consumed in an app, nor do they have the time to get too deep into app and game mechanics.

Therefore, we put the focus on minimal effort on the short haul, with benefits that can be reaped immediately, and more in-depth improvement over time. This way, you can use GG Apps just once or twice and still get the idea or learn something new, and with repeated training master the concepts, become more aware, and ultimately respond more positively to real life situations.

 

A pretty smooth launch for GG Relationship

This week, we finally launched our first app in the GG series. Excited as we were to submit the app to the stores, it is a rather daunting process: Wrapping up the app across two mobile platforms (iOS and Android), creating screenshots, creative copy, descriptions, selecting keywords, this all has to be done before (or sometimes right after) sending the app away.

Once the app is on it’s way, and one may expect to feel relief – comes the doubt. Yes, just like in relationship doubt! We start thinking about all the possible things we might have forgotten. It could be just a little thing that we left till last, or something big that may break the app completely.

One of these things did happen, eventually. Once the app got approved and went live, we found a mysterious bug that had to do with push notifications. Push notifications, sometimes considered an annoying part of app culture, are crucial for this app, and we had to nail that one down.

And yet, there was a failure. What an anti-climax!

Luckily, apps can be repaired – we fixed the bug, and re-submitted a better version. Within less than 24 hours, a full update was ready to download, so only few users suffered from the bug occurrence.

Now we can enjoy, but not rest on our laurels: Guy interviewed this morning to a national paper about ROCD and the app launch, and there’s a lot of work to be done including writing this post.

We’ll keep you updated on news, make sure you download the app and play daily (that’s really important).

The story behind GG RO: Relationship doubt and obsession

When searching for the keyword “relationship” on Google, Facebook etc, we usually find websites and Facebook pages that celebrate the beauty in relationships. One of the more popular terms, for example, is “Relationship Goals” – which is a great idea, assuming that following role models can be an inspiration to our lives.

We want to love and be loved, and seeing that other couples are having a great relationship makes us feel bad about ourselves – as often we fail to live to these standards.

The reality is that relationships are not always great. And that maintaining them means a lot of hard work, mentally and psychologically.

What we aim to do in GG RO app – is to help people who suffer from relationship related fears, uncertainty, stress and doubt.

By using the app, people are, first of all, exposed to statements (thoughts) that are drawn from real life. By reading out thoughts such as “My boyfriend embarrasses me”, we understand that we’re not alone, and that there are other people who share the same thoughts.

Identifying negative and positive thoughts is the next step – this can be tricky: sometimes we think that some thoughts are positive, but they can actually have a negative impact on our self esteem and being. For example, “Thoughts have magic powers” – this is a statement that it is possible that a wise person could have taught us. However, in the context of dealing with doubt and relationship obsession, putting too much weight and meaning into thoughts can be harmful. In reality, and this is backed up by research in the psychology field, thoughts can be meaningless, and often, especially when thoughts are negative or non-constructive – they should not be taken too seriously.

Training ourselves to identify negative and positive thoughts is not for pure fun though – we can then deal with similar thoughts better when we actually face them in real life.

GG apps are built in a way that lets you discover various ‘topics’ – categories of thoughts that have a common ground, and then train daily on identifying and responding to them.

The road to healthier understanding of relationships, and ultimately, better relationships, is not a quick one – but we believe that it can be done and using our app we might even have a bit of fun along the way.