Making The Airport More Enjoyable…Dare I Say, Healthy?
My name is Stephen Mok. The individuals who helped me run this experiment are John Sechrest and adamberk. The link to my specific hypothesis on trello is https://trello.com/c/WLOfqmSb/247-my-name-is-stephen-my-twitter-is-mokstephen-and-i-heard-that-the-door-is-open-but-the-ride-aint-free.
I am part of an experimental incubator that gives startups and entrepreneurs funding in exchange for testing and sharing leanstartup hypotheses.
My original assumption was that I could get 10 physically active travelers (fly 5+ times/year, exercise 3+ times/week) to sign up for a prototype fitness class, I got 11!
Original Hypothesis: I believe that 10 physically active travelers will agree to take a prototype fitness class that combines yoga, HIIT, and meditation by March 31st because they will want us to bring the classes to market in airports.
Actually, 11 people did this. I talked to a total of 15 people in the targeted market segment mentioned above.
At face value, this is a tremendous conversion rate, but in conducting my interviews, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t structure the ask correctly. I had originally thought that getting an email address and a “yes add me to the early adopter list for the class” was sufficient in getting buy-in. The problem, I think, is that since the class isn’t scheduled and there was no specified commitment of time/money, the buy-in I captured falls more in the “vanity metric” category. It doesn’t mean that I can’t convert these small “yeses” to class attendees later, just that I really haven’t gotten them yet.
That said, I am pleased with the results of these interviews because it forced me to do several things that I believe are crucial to creating traction: commit to understanding the problem(s), create a dialogue template, and most importantly, get out of the building. I didn’t do a very good job on the first couple of interviews (not enough follow up questions tailored to the individual), but settled in to a solid framework that consistently produced unique insights in the interviews that followed. There’s good news and bad news in what I learned…The good news is that the “physically active traveler” seems to be legitimately excited about trying to bring the concept to the airport. One of the most distinct positive takeaways (for me) was that people not only have a defeated tone/mentality when they talk about the airport, but that they recognize it’s generally unhealthy and there’s not much they can do about it. In some form or another, the majority of the folks I interviewed consciously changed their behavior in the pursuit of health (laps around the airport to get steps in, bringing healthy food, paying more for a salad over fast food). Those that did have anxiety about physically being on the plane(only 3 out of 15) ALL self-medicated with substances that did not fix the problem. Coincidentally, all three also exercise principally to relieve stress.
The bad news is that the main pain point varied (routine, anxiety, offset sitting/unhealthy food). These all fall under the category of “pursuit of health”, but I wonder if that’s too vague a problem to articulate as it relates to future messaging or if it is indicative that there’s simply multiple itches to be scratched. I am wary of being too general, because that will ultimately impact the data I collect at scale and the specificity with which I can target people. On the other hand, I don’t think it’s an unfair assertion that my early adopters can look similar from a demographic standpoint while having different drivers of their consumption. We’ll just have to keep learning to find out!
NEXT STEPS: Get in the airport! The funding will allow me to pay for: the application fee to set up a kiosk in the airport, ACDBE certification required to be approved, flights to be post-security conducting interviews, basic fitness equipment (battle ropes, foam rollers, yoga mats) to use at the kiosk, pay for Facebook ad campaigns to drive traffic to an early adopter landing page/email collection, pay for fitness classes to identify best practice exercises/potential trainers to bring on board. I am encouraged by the feedback I’ve gotten so far as well as the contacts I’ve started to establish in the airport concessions community. The short of it is that I need to progress on: refining my understanding of the problem space/prove that it exists at scale, build relationships with the airport concessions community, establish my fitness advisory board that will build and prototype the class. I’m excited to learn and to help others like me! Feel free to reach out if you’re running experiments on your own and either need to interview someone or are having trouble structuring your process. #leanstartup
