Bodybuilding App: Two is Not Better Than One

The App selected is BodyBuilding. Interesting, Bodybuilding divided their products into a Store App and a Workout App. We will focus on the Workout App because it points to some of the criticisms that I found with their Application design, usefulness, and perhaps strategy as well. As you can tell, I’m about to leave a scathing review about their products.

First, I do not think any company should be splitting their services into two different Apps because it just wastes space. The two consumer markets that they are targeting with the App is not that far apart to warrant the company to create two different Apps. This is understandable if you were Google, and wanted a separate app for email and its search functions, but Bodybuilding dividing it into workout and store seems to be pressing the issue. The user experience becomes fragmented where it would be more effective if it was on one app. The customer who is looking for a workout plan can become incentivized to purchase supplements in order to maximize their results.

This bring me to the second issue with the app. The customer will never be inclined to try-out the application because it is blocked with a paywall and in-app purchases. At first, the customer is led to believe that the app is great because it asks the customer to put in all of their information and creating a “specific” workout plan based on the desired goals like shown below.

The personalization that can be seen is great because it creates the impression that a custom workout plan is tailored to the needs of the client. Unfortunately, the experience of the app is stopped short because it is blocked by a paywall as seen below.

While there is a 7-day free trial on plans, it is hard to determine which customers would be most incentivized to try the plan. The biggest issue with this model is because the customer would want to see if any of the bodybuilding plans are effective. It’s situated in an awkward position because professional or experienced bodybuilders may be more inclined to visit forums and seek advice, rather than following along with a plan. Meanwhile, those who have no experience would really suffice with a simple workout plan that can be found online. Therefore, the app has mostly lost its purpose to sell its high cost of a yearly plan to the customer, especially without showing the product.

What could have been much more effective is to offer one or two plans for free, or because fitness plans are usually more than twelve weeks, it may be more effective to give a free sample for 3 or 4 weeks. The integration of the store would also be effective in this context because it allows the customer to browse different supplements for the free workouts that they have selected.

Who would download it? Only those who have a very specific purpose in mind would, but because it is divided into two different apps, it becomes fragmented. There is one group of customers who may only want supplements, and another group who are looking for a workout plan. Having them on one app would be able to bring this experience together.