Grocery notes are the most common thing people record in Earshot that is not work. We looked at 1,000 of them, with permission, to understand why they so often fail.
Three patterns
People say “and” 3.2 times per note and almost never say quantities.
Items come in the order people remember them, not the order of the shop.
Milk is forgotten, then added at the end, in 44% of notes.
So grocery notes now become a checklist sorted by aisle, with quantities left blank for you to fill in, and a gentle nudge if milk is missing from a list that usually has it.
The best feature we shipped this year is a reminder about milk.