BACKGROUND
A well-established company launched a family and friends health tracking app three years ago. The app allows users within a group (a family or group of friends) to see how others within the group are doing regarding health and fitness. Currently, there is no messaging feature within the product. The company would like to integrate messaging into the app.
OBJECTIVE
I was tasked with creating an opportunity for users to message each other with health and fitness goals/achievements. Also to create an integrated messaging experience throughout the product drives engagement and repeated usage.
MY ROLE
I was responsible for user research, development, design, branding and testing. I learned to make strategic and intentional decisions under constraints and had the opportunity at working with fictional business goals and a Product Manager.
Secondary Research
“Social features in fitness tracking app in studies motivated participants to continue fitness tracking practices in the long term.”
“Features such as badges or reward notifications deemed most helpful as motivation cues – which led to further engagement.
“Analysis and findings demonstrate that users’ motivation and self-efficacy are highly dependent on successful data, gamification, and content design of the apps as well as sensing context and providing appropriate motivational feedback to the user”
A concept that came up in a lot of these studies were, Cognitive social theory. CST describes the influence of individual experiences, the actions of others, and environmental factors on individual health behaviors. People are able to observe the performance of a given behavior and reproduce it subsequently.
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9709/4/1/5/htm – https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2055207619900059
Heuristic Evaluation Takeaways
Nike Run Club
- Activity isn’t shared unless you share it.
- You can choose to overlay your data to a photo, add stickers share to the app itself or other social networks.
Strava
- On the home screen, you see your friends activity. You can comment or like a friends activity also share it outside the app. That feature allows app exposure to people that might not have the app to get a preview of the content.
- Challenges encourage users to engage and even invite friends for some friendly competition/inspiration.
Primary Research
Top 3 takeaways from individuals interviewed
“I want to find local users that do the same hikes or running trails as I do. Wish my social circle wasn’t so limited.”
“Tracking my fitness progress and sharing it with my friends helps keep me accountable. Their comments encourage me to keep up the effort.”
“I would participate in challenges more often and compete with my friends if they were presented to me in easier ways. I just don’t want to have to seek out this information, I want it presented to me.”
Persona
Define
Synthesizing the information from my interviews and secondary research into 3 ‘How Might We’ problem statements
How might we…. encourage reoccurring engagement?
How might we…. motivate others to meet their fitness goals?
How might we build a larger community within the app?
Ideate
The main features I wanted to create were, an easy way of finding and new connections in your local area. The ability to set customizable goals, and a home feed that acts like a leaderboard showcasing various activities and accomplishments made connections. Since the majority of users I interviews currently track their progress on app which also provide workouts, I thought it was integral to add workout classes to the app itself. This way users can exercise and track in one place.
Branding
The company is called Loop. The app allows users within a group of friends to see how others within their network are doing regarding health and fitness.
Brand Personality: A trusted friend with a good sense of humor who always has your best interest in mind.
Brand Attributes: Contemporary, Trustworthy, Humorous, Motivational
Prototype
I applied the company branding and colors I created and implemented them into the Figma prototype. I added the branding and adding a colored treatment to the photography to add a polished, less generic feel. Prototype here.
Changes implemented
- Workout synopsis were added to better inform users an overview of the class before selecting the video.
- Option to make their workout competition stats private, so users could still see their progress on days they didn’t want to share to friends their activity.
- Added a preview of the users daily goals to the home page for a quick check in so they don’t have to navigate to their personal profile to see
Conclusion
Next steps I would take to expand on this product would be more social integration. I would add an invitation feature for workout classes, with options to enroll and set reminders to attend. In all my research I learned that gamification is a strong factor in keeping users engaged. If Loop could incentivize users with more goals to meet, challenges and competitions to win, maybe they would be more inclined to be move active or at least record their physical activity. In its next iteration, Loop would suggest unique monthly challenges to groups or clubs of friends. Create more opportunities to share workout activity outside the app experience to create exposure for the app.
Stefania Mercante 