RIT researcher’s work poised to enable consumer connection

Data collected by a Rochester Institute of Technology researcher can help companies determine ways to maximize brand engagement and enhance interaction between businesses and their users.

Duygu Akdevelioglu, an assistant professor at RIT’s Saunders College of Business, ‌has been gathering data on brand engagement in wearable technology and its impact on motivation. She hopes to lead companies like Fitbit, Garmin, and Apple to discover new ways of engaging with consumers that will ultimately improve health-related outcomes by encouraging people to focus on their physical and psychological wellbeing.

“Wearables are an increasingly evolving market,” said Akdevelioglu, who has expertise in marketing, consumer communities, and social media. “Tracking our bodies, movements and emotions, wearable devices have been incorporated into homes, workplaces, and even insurance plans. But there are fundamental questions when it comes to designing wearable technologies, devising marketing strategies, and the effect that both have on consumer health.”

Wearable technology manufacturers have much to learn from fitness communities including how friendly rivalries between people develop and how cooperation versus competition affects interaction, she said.

“We’ve learned that consumers put a lot of trust in fitness communities and people will share just about any information on social media looking for support,” said Akdevelioglu. “These fitness communities are about trust, collaboration, and positivity. They not only share fitness information, but personal information like the loss of a pet or difficulties with children.”

Enhanced social engagement in the wearables community and reciprocal support also makes people tend to exercise more, increase their steps, and regularly monitor their heartrate and sleep quality, she added.