Weak Signals and Surround Sound
An Object at Rest Tends to Stays at Rest — Unless
A widely accepted law of physics tells us that things pretty much remain “as is” unless some outside force interferes, creating a change in momentum — or a lack thereof.
Last weekend I received an email from Peloton noting that my last ride was more than a while ago. What can I say? My schedule conspires against me sometimes, though I’ll admit that this is not my first reminder (oops). But Peloton is not interested in excuses. To them, this gal has been at rest for far too long.
What really intrigued me about this email is that it didn’t come from a general Peloton email address. It came from Christine, pedals down my favorite instructor. I select her classes most often, and even follow her on social media because, well, I just love her — for reasons that escape language. Should I ever make it up to the Chelsea studio to ride in a live class, she tops my list. No offense to the other wonderful instructors, but I connect with her despite never having been in the same room with her.
Three things quickly occurred to me immediately after reading this particular email:
1 Ok, yes, I lapsed. For way too long. But now that Peloton has nudged me I am more likely to do something about it because I feel like I will be letting them down. I will be letting Christine down!
2 I’ve been in the saddle enough times that Peloton has the data to appeal to me on a more personal level — and it is played back to me that I had indeed established a great habit. Christine and I had a regular thing going on, and now I have the email that rewards me for it.
3 The brand understands the alchemy of the live studio experience, and that as an in-home platform something fundamental can get lost in translation. Relationships and community make or break a brand in the bold new space of fitness. I have a relationship with one instructor, and though we aren’t riding side by side there are potentially over 285,000 other estimated riders that help me feel less alone when we’re all on the leader board together. Instead of a non-shared space creating distance, they find ways to establish connection.
Back in Motion
I’m back on the bike for many reasons — and certainly missing the ride and the community is one of them, along with the email from Christine.
That email, though, was one prompt in my daily world full of them. The physical prompt of walking by the bike. The prompt of seeing the app on my phone as I scroll for something else. The prompt of seeing my husband on his ride. The prompt I get when a friend logs their run into Nike+ RunClub and posts to Facebook. The prompt I get when another friend checks in at Y7 yoga and I see it on my ClassPass app. The prompt when a friend invites me to go to a studio class instead of eating out. The prompt of a really beautiful salad a chef I admire has made and showcased on Instagram. The prompt of seeing eager customers at the farmer’s market, stands spilling over with fall vegetables.
In his book Invisible Influence Jonah Berger writes, “We are constantly and automatically imitating the actions of those around us. Subtly moving, posturing, and acting in ways that mirror our interaction partners.” When we are privy to the actions of like-minded people beyond those physically closest to us –those who happen to reside within the spaces where we live and work every day — we have more opportunities to mimic a wider set of behaviors.
Digital-first health and wellness brands understand this to their core. Their platforms are built for actions to be easily seen and imitated, then for your actions to be easily broadcast to your social media for immediate recognition. This in turns invites more like messages to come back to you. All with thriving, personal on-line communities and the built-in competitive advantage of convenience. Instead of a few signals that you can easily tune out, this creates a type of surround sound for your health.
Other brands recognize that unless you’re in need of some solitude or lack physical access, nothing replaces actually being in a physical space with others, following the lead of a charismatic instructor and feeding off the room’s shared energy. There’s nothing quite like opening up about your struggles and experiences to another person, eye to eye, or having in-depth consultations with trusted experts like physicians and nutritionists. But this requires going out of your way, which is for some an additional barrier to entry either because of distance or desire. It means really wanting it, in a world where it can easily come to you.
An Object in Motion Tends to Stay in Motion
Enter Noom, the weight loss coaching platform that has stalked my Instagram feed for months now. Interestingly, I don’t take this as a social platform telling me to lose weight, but as an affirmation that I’m the type of person who seeks out healthy solutions. Because they have been so persistent, because I know time has not been on my side, because I continually respond to cues from friends online, and because I am hopping back on the bike, the app is downloaded in an instant. My need collided with a sense of curiosity in a cascade moment. I was open to trying something new.
Full disclosure: I loathe tracking what I eat, documenting my weight and measurements, and thinking about every choice in my day. I loathe these things, despite reams of scientific evidence that they are keys to adopting successful behaviors, and despite all evidence as a human being has taught me that thinking about behavior increases the likelihood of better behavior. And I’m not the exception — I’m the rule. You’re probably nodding your head in agreement right now. Noom not only gets it, they go ahead and straight-up admit it. They don’t paint a pretty picture over the reluctance you and I feel. It’s pretty refreshing actually, which means we’re starting off on the right foot.
Over the past week, the app has greeted me every morning with optimism, cleverly presented information in a brand voice that is truly something to behold, and a ton of tools and mechanisms that help me re-frame my attitude and behaviors — in a way that follows the type of support I indicated I find most useful. One of the first asks they make of new users is to commit to believing it will work. I have the power to decide what “works” for me, and I’m pushed to look a few steps ahead, too. Every day includes a reward for the things I do to, in fact, make it work. The type of program I have resisted in the past has been re-imagined to feel new and engaging. They’ve taken the time to understand how experience ebbs and flows, how to create interventions that feel right and relevant, and continue to prompt throughout the day. This is not just based on psychology and science, but the data that comes with learning from millions of subscribers.
Suddenly, something I feel I have to do is something I actually want to do. One day it will be second nature. Instead of a few weak signals a day telling me to select the vegetables, I live in surround sound.
Noom and Peloton are two examples of brands that have cracked a code of adoption, adherence and ultimately the embracing of changed behaviors. It’s interesting to compare the methods of a Peloton versus a Soul Cycle, and a Noom versus a Weight Watchers. While they all put users at the center to encouraging degress, digital-first brands come to you and adapt to your life, rather than expecting you to adapt your life in order to engage with the brand. That small nuance can make a big difference.
Within the health and wellness space, however, these experiences still remain few and far between — not to mention costly in some cases. And these experiences are practically non-existent when we consider the other end of the spectrum: traditional healthcare.
Filling the Gaps
Healthcare debate dominates the news, mostly around who will be paying for providers and services, and how much they’ll pay. But that isn’t a healthcare system, really. There is very little in place to encourage heath, but rather an emphasis on curing poor health. The Center for Disease Control estimates 21% of healthcare costs, or $190 billion, is dedicated to obesity-related diseases alone. Many are chronic and costly — and most are preventable. Imagine if 21% of healthcare costs went towards well-thought out experiences with the goal of prevention instead of treatment?
It’s not enough to tell a pre-diabetic or a patient at risk for heart disease that nutrition and exercise is an imperative. Nor is it adequate to tell a patient suffering from rheumatoid arthritis that they will indeed feel better, possibly without medication to boot, if they adopt a different lifestyle. Those are weak, mostly singular signals, often accompanied by little else. (The first post in this series touches on some of the reasons that rationally understanding something does not inspire action or change.) Noom is taking on this very challenge with a specific track for pre-diabetic patients, the first of its kind to receive official recommendation from the CDC. What if more brands and programs saw through these types of lenses and curated solutions and experiences to match.
Across the board, many additional layers need to be built within the actual system of healthcare in order to address the epidemic of obesity, nutrition access, and associated chronic diseases. We can start by learning from this handful of pioneering brands and the levels of passion they engender — whether building solutions that create lasting engagement or using data and technology to amplify signals to mimic. This should excite those who work in this space, wherever you land on the spectrum of non–traditional to traditional. The digital world opens up a host of possibilities for driving preventative, health-promoting behaviors, for reinforcing the adherence that curbs full onset of chronic diseases, and for shifting the mindset from “I have to do this” to “I feel much better when I do this.”
Innovation is limited only by our imaginations, and the digital world is constantly surprising us. It will be exciting to see how brands like Peloton and Noom continue to evolve, pushing themselves and us. And there is much work to be done to widen impact for mass brands and to shift public healthcare away from sending weak signals that so easily fall on deaf ears. Whether the work happens at a mass brand level to widen impact, in private and public insurance level, or in the public health landscape, to go from weak signals to surround sound means recognizing that whatever you may be doing, it probably only scratches the surface.
So tell us, where else are you seeing healthy surround sound in action, and where is it dead silent?
Be sure to keep an eye out for the next installment in this series, which will not focus on spinning and weight loss programs (promise!)
