Uncovering User Insights on Community Experience of FITTR’s Fitness and Nutrition Platform.
About the project
For an assignment as part of the 10kdesigners cohort, our team was tasked with preparing a research report on an Internet community and to identify products that can be designed for the users of the community within 9 days.
The goal of the assignment was for us to understand and perform the research part of the design process to understand how people spend time in these Communities. The purpose is to develop an understanding of their behavior, usage patterns and gather findings that can be distilled into insights.
What is Fittr?
The Fittr community started off in 2015 as a WhatsApp group by founder, Jitendra Chouksey to help people with fitness and nutrition advice for free. This further evolved into a Facebook group. After he realized the potential there was in training people to teach others about fitness, ‘Squats Fitness Private Limited’ was established in 2016 with its ‘Squats’ website.
Today, we know the community, with members all over the world and their own platform for interaction, as Fittr. In addition to this, the community continues to grow in huge numbers on other social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
- Fittr is an online community with a free-to-use app for fitness enthusiasts to learn, grow, and share their transformation journey.
- The platform provides various tools that aid in tracking workouts, nutrition, and progress.
- Users can enroll with a certified in-house coach for fitness and nutritional guidance.
- The community, consisting of coaches and regular users, is very active.
As of September 2020, Fittr had seen a 30% month-on-month growth in revenue. The app had reportedly been downloaded over 650,000 times, and their monthly active users had increased by over 70%, while the community had grown to a number of 100k. About 30% of their users are abroad, spread across the US, UK, Australia, UAE, and Canada.
Our Goals
1. To understand and navigate through Fittr’s online fitness community through their web and mobile platforms.
2. To understand how existing users and new users might navigate through and utilize the Fittr web and mobile platforms.
3. To understand what draws and repels different types of fitness enthusiasts from online fitness communities.
Hypothesis and Assumptions
Based on our initial exploration of the Fittr community and web/mobile applications, we had a few assumptions about possible user behaviors. We wanted to validate these assumptions through our research in a manner that would not be leading.
- Fitness enthusiasts are aware of and actively pursuing such online fitness communities.
- The Fittr app is more widely used than the web platform.
- The Fittr community primarily consists of members who work out at home.
- Users find the coaches on Fittr trustworthy and feel their instructions are reliable.
- A large majority of Fittr users are NOT enrolled to train with a Fittr coach.
- Fittr coaches are very active on the app on a daily basis.
- Fittr has no active complaint forum and no credibility checks on the content posted on the platform.
- Most Fittr users do not redeem workshops, courses, webinars, etc. offered in the fit shop via ‘fitcoins’.
- Most Fittr users find the tools offered confusing to use.
- Members are not actively connecting with each other via the in-app chat option on the platform.
- The in-app chat option is not the main platform of communication between coaches and their trainees.
Secondary Research
As part of our research process, we conducted secondary research about various online fitness communities, the impact Covid has had on online fitness, and the Fittr community itself. We gathered our information for our secondary research from various articles, videos, and reviews.
Online Fitness and Covid-19
As of 2022, with coronavirus still at large, the pandemic has had a lasting impact on various industries including fitness. Despite the decline in cases and the reopening of fitness centers, online fitness still remains relevant.
With the rise in training at home during what has been an increasingly overwhelming time, the huge power in online communities has been uncovered. They can create a sense of belonging, commitment, support, and teamwork. In addition to being a safe space for many members, such communities allow for sharing of various resources to do with fitness and nutrition available online.
From fitness influencers providing workout content on YouTube, Instagram, and mobile apps of their own, to gyms that are following suit to transition with online coaching, there has been an increasing number of fitness communities growing online. As a result, the virtual fitness industry has witnessed a sharp boom.
The online shift is contributing to what experts have said will be a permanent change to how the $32 billion industry works. While 75% of consumers surveyed said they will eventually return to pre-pandemic routines and the actual gym, many indicated they will retain a virtual component — a phenomenon with broad implications for the sector. -Livemint.com
Virtual fitness has opened the possibility of planning training programs, monitoring, and inspiring users to stay fit at lower costs. The fitness industry is shifting towards AR-based gamified fitness apps with the sole purpose of exploring newer ways of engaging with people, apart from making fitness more accessible to perhaps even those for whom it was once not a priority.
Competitive Analysis
After learning about the boom in online fitness during the pandemic, we wanted to observe how other fitness communities and platforms had grown to accommodate the influx of users from around the world.
As part of our secondary research, we conducted a competitive analysis among well-known fitness websites and mobile applications, which did have a community section.
Different user groups have different goals and interests within a community. The point of the competitive analysis was to understand what are some of the features that are most often provided by these platforms.
From the competitive analysis, we were able to gauge the vast variety of features offered by Fittr to its community members as compared to other fitness platforms.
Appstore and Playstore Reviews
Positives:
- The users find the discussions helpful.
- They find the pictures and videos posted by other users to be motivating.
- The coaches are all well trained and certified.
Negatives:
- Users feel hesitant to share their phone numbers for verification prior to exploring the app.
- Tools feel confusing to use, some find that they may be inaccurate.
- The diet tool doesn’t have a variety of food options.
- Occasional glitches while trying to upload images, videos, etc.
Primary Research
User Group 1: Existing Fittr Users
For this group, we connected with users in the Fittr community and started interacting with them. We reached out to nearly 100 people and managed to interview 5 of them and have received survey responses from 11 users.
When reaching out to the users we tried to be as candid as possible and make them comfortable.
We interviewed a few users and sent out surveys to a few others and we were able to get a better understanding of the users of the platform.
Qualitative Insights
- Users most commonly access the community through the Fittr mobile app but occasionally do use the web platform to refer to the workout plans provided by the coaches.
- Most of the users use the app on a daily basis. They do this to see other people’s progress as well and that keeps them motivated.
- The users find the challenges to be motivating and feel that a cash prize incentivizes more participation.
- Both, the members and coaches are very active on the platform. Users feel that community members are very approachable and helpful. The massive user base was what made many of them initially trust the platform and its coaches.
- While most of the users don’t seem to have problems navigating through the app and using its features, a few users do find the tools hard to understand in terms of what they do and how they work.
User Group 2: New Fittr Users
We interviewed 8 other fitness enthusiasts outside of the Fittr community to understand their stances on online fitness communities: their likes, dislikes, the pros, and cons. We were also able to have them explore the Fittr community through the mobile app and gauge their level of interest.
Qualitative Insights:
- Most of them are aware of online communities and are a part of some, but do not actively interact on the platform. They primarily use such communities to consume knowledge on the topics of their interest.
- Working out at the gym is most preferred due to the availability of necessary equipment and the environment helps them stay motivated
- Most of them do not enroll themselves with a coach/personal trainer because they find it expensive and unnecessary as they feel they can access reliable and free resources online.
- While some individuals preferred to work out alone and generally don’t entertain socializing, others find it motivating to work out with friends or family.
- Certain aspects of the app felt familiar to them due to their usage of other social media platforms
- For those that had been involved in fitness for a while, they felt that the tools the platform offered were daunting to use for beginners.
- For those that were new to fitness, the above was true.
- Most of them felt the challenges incentivized progress and hence might motivate people to work out and stay accountable. However, concerns were raised about the moderation of the challenges in terms of diet and exercise and how for people new to fitness, this might place emphasis on one’s appearance rather than overall health.
- While they appreciated the aspect of community support, they still felt the tools could be improved for ease of use.
Deliverables
User Personas
Based on the information we gathered, we were able to form categories of people in the form of user personas. This gives us an extensive understanding of the people we are focusing on.
User Group 1 — Existing Fittr Users
User Group 2 — New Fittr Users
User Journey Map
Pain Points
From our primary and secondary research, we were able to narrow down certain pain points within the platform and community.
- Providing phone numbers for sign-up.
- Hard to filter relevant questions on the homepage.
- Differing advice in the comments section.
- Can’t easily search for your friends on the platform.
- No further information on what all the tools are and what they do.
- User has trouble selecting their own food items and deleting added items in the diet tool.
- Hard to navigate between macro and diet tools.
- The calorie calculator seems grossly inaccurate for certain activities.
- Overall, moderation of challenges seems to be a concern for fitness enthusiasts.
Hypothesis Validation
With what we know now about the Fittr community and platform, given our progression through the research process, we were able to check the validity of our initial assumptions about the same.
1. Fitness enthusiasts are aware of and actively pursuing such online fitness communities.
True. While fitness enthusiasts are aware of such communities, only those
that are motivated by social interaction tend to actively pursue them. Covid-19 played a vital role in drawing people to such online communities
for support during the lockdown.
2. The Fittr app is more widely used than the web platform.
True. Most users stated that they use the mobile app. Some were unaware
of the existence of a Fittr web platform.
3. The Fittr community primarily consists of members who
work out at home.
True. 55.5% of our responses stated that they work out at home.
4. Users easily trust the coaches on Fittr and feel their
instructions are reliable.
True. On a scale of 0–5 (5 being most reliable), 71.4% of our responses stated
that they would rate the coaches’ advice as a 5.
5. A large majority of Fittr users are NOT enrolled to train with
a Fittr coach.
True. 61.1% of our responses stated that they are not enrolled under a trainer.
6. Fittr coaches are very active on the app on a day-to-day basis.
True. Community members say that coaches respond within minutes of their
discussions being posted. They also respond on Fittr Chat and other
platforms almost instantly.
7. Fittr has no active complaint forum and no credibility checks on
the content posted on the platform.
False. While there seems to be no automatic credibility checking of information, users can manually report upsetting/inaccurate content posted on Fittr and can reach out to Fittr to resolve further issues.
8. Most Fittr users do not redeem workshops, courses, webinars,
etc. offered in the fit shop via fitcoins.
True. While 70.5% of our responses stated they were aware of fitcoins,
only 16.6% said they had redeemed something at the fitshop with them.
9. Most Fittr users find the tools offered confusing to use.
Mixed responses. While existing users said over time, they grew accustomed to how the tools worked, new users lacked context as to what the tools did,
the explanation of certain terminologies and how to use some tools.
10. Members are not actively connecting with each other via the
chat option on the platform.
True. While people engage with posts by other members on the platform,
people don’t often reach out over chat unless it is for doubt clarification.
11. In-app chat is not the main platform of communication between
coaches and their trainees.
False. 61.1% of our responses stated that users communicated with their
coaches using the in-chat feature, but more occasionally on WhatsApp.
Observations and Opportunities
Based on the insights from our research, observing the journeys of both user personas, and our derived pain points, we laid out some of our observations and arising opportunities for improvement within the Fittr community and its platform.
🤝🏼Building trust in the community
The fitness industry has always had a reputation for preying on the insecurities of the general public. While enhancing your appearance can be a bonus to regular exercise and a healthy relationship with food, enhancing your lifestyle to promote better living is the ultimate goal.
Fittr has based their culture around the idea that fitness is for everyone and anyone can start anywhere. From our own exploration and from the experiences of existing members, we have learned that Fittr is trying to cultivate a supportive environment for fitness enthusiasts.
💬 Member Interaction
🔍 Discovery of community members and their content
🏆 Contests and Challenges
🎖Fitter Leaderboard
⚒ Fittr Tools
Proposed Solutions
Based on some of our observations and the opportunities we identified for improvement, we have some suggestions on how to solve some of our user pain points.
1. Details for sign-up
- While there is an option for users to browse the platform without OTP verification, they still are required to enter phone numbers prior to using the app.
- During sign-up, providing some positive reinforcement can assure the users that their information is only being used for verification and no spam will be sent.
- Allowing the users to browse limited features of the app before providing their phone number can allow them to make an experience-based decision to sign up.
2. Filtering content based on user interest
- Providing an FAQ guide for beginners with certain frequently asked questions to help them navigate the early stages of their fitness suggestions. This can be done in the form of a curated or system-designed set of threads or posts.
- While the user can filter based on the type of post made (discussion, updates, transformation, etc.), allowing the user to filter based on certain topics relevant to them can help skip through various repeated questions.
- The filtering can be done on the basis of keyword suggestions.
3. Promoting further interaction:
- Creating sub-communities for specific interest groups like Yoga, Dance Fitness, Calisthenics, Mental Wellness, etc., might encourage people to interact with others of similar interests.
- As of their most recent update, Fittr has allowed users to join certain topics of interest which will add you to chat groups with people under those topics.
- This addition may increase community engagement over chat, while people connect with others in their interest group.
4. Follow others with similar interests
- Based on a user’s selected interests collected during onboarding, make follow recommendations for accounts with similar interests or accounts that post content around select interests.
- As of their newest update, we noticed Fittr has begun recommending to users certain member profiles to follow.
5. Improved search experience
- Enhancing the search tool by making it so that when searching for users, the people you follow are shown higher in preference as compared to the rest of the members in the community.
- People with common interests can also be shown as suggestions during a search.
6. Gamification of Challenges
- Gamifying the transformation challenges such that registered participants are given badges of weekly achievements, level-ups, points, etc. to display on their profile would bring more visibility to the existence and interest in such activities.
- This could also help bring more attention to the Fittr leaderboard to increase community engagement.
- Increased transparency in the guidelines and criteria for selection of winning transformations along with general cautionary messages regarding the ties between mental and physical health to educate beginners could help ease them while taking on such challenges.
7. Educating users on tools and terminologies
- When the users are accessing the tools, add an information icon that is conspicuous such that when pressed, provides a breakdown of information describing the tool, its use, what each metric means, and how to use it.
- Adding this option can allow users to check out this information whenever they want to access it.
8. Ease in calorie tracking
- Have the option to set and track macros, consumed calories in the diet tool and calorie’s burned within one tool. This would prevent users from having to navigate between these different tools and easily see all information regarding their calorie tracking on their screen.
- Provide a larger range of food items to track, not limited to the recipes on the app.
- Remove irrelevant, mundane activities logged as part of the calorie tracker.
- Other tracking apps such as MyFitnessPal, Lifesum, HealthifyMe are good examples that are commonly used for calorie and food tracking.
Takeaways
- User interviews and surveys are meant to be structured and planned such that they elicit a response from participants conveniently. It’s only after the collection of all your data that you can deem it relevant or otherwise to your research.
- One shouldn’t approach interviews with a vested interest. If we ask poor questions, it is likely that participants will be swayed to tell us what we want to hear (consciously or unconsciously).
- Every product concept is built on a pile of assumptions. However, it’s important to understand that the feasibility of our assumptions and proposed solutions may vary in priority based on internal data and resources available to the product team.
Thank you to my lovely team members Jonty Chaki, Hamdan Rejees, and Richa Banka. Working on this with you taught me a lot about playing to each member’s strengths and effective communication, thank you for all your hard work.
Thank you to Sahil Pandita, Swapnil Borkar, and Vishal S Krishna for all their feedback and guidance.
Thank you to Jitendra Chouksey and his team at Fittr for taking the time to chat with us about this project and offering their support and feedback.
Finally, thank you for taking the time out to read about this assignment. If you’d like to reach out for any feedback or questions on the same, reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn!
