I’m working on a mental wellness app and we’re struggling to understand how users actually interact with it over time. Surveys give us surface feedback, but we want deeper behavioral insights. What research method would work best?

For something like a wellness app, long-term behavioral patterns matter more than quick opinions. You might want to explore diary studies as a research method. They allow participants to document their experiences over days or weeks, giving you real context about habits, emotions, and friction points. This approach uncovers how and when users engage with features, what motivates them, and where they drop off. It’s especially powerful for products tied to routines or personal growth, since it captures authentic, in-the-moment feedback instead of one-time impressions.