Fit Fusion

Blending the vitality of fitness with the power of personal relationships.

The focus for this study was to design new messaging features to invigorate user engagement.

Role: UX/UI Designer

Duration: 6 weeks

Tools: Figma

A UX case study on elevating user engagement and retention through messaging between friends and family. In a world where health and fitness are paramount, maintaining an active lifestyle often takes precedence. Within the Fit Fusion App, goal setting and exercise capabilities were already in place.

Problem

People are signing up for the app, using it for a few weeks, but then abandoning usage and deleting the app.

There is no mechanism to alert other members or message others about progress or goals that are met.

Solution

Create connection and engagement with a humanistic approach to messaging and interactions.

Hypothesis

If members of the family or group can message others or an entire group at any point in the experience, engagement & repeat usage metrics will increase.

I orchestrated messaging features that go beyond the basics for a friends and family fitness app to increase user engagement and retention.

To begin, my mission was to understand the dynamic needs and aspirations of a youthful audience.

Research

Understanding

What are the user’s needs to determine what will increase engagement?

Value Highlight

“Build unity, competitiveness, and comradery.”

Value Highlight

“I now understand the value of having support from other people.”

Interviews

5 user interviews of men and women between the ages of 20-34 who are tech savvy and budget conscious.

Value Highlight

“I want to feel good physically & mentally”

Value Highlight

Messaging with family and friends is an important part

of their daily lives.

Values Summary Synopsis:

People want control over how & when they are notified
Content of notifications (ie humanized approach) makes a difference
People experience FOMO when they can see what their friends and family are doing
Competition sparks engagement

Being connected keeps people curious
Community connection offers support
Exercising with others can be rewarding
Seeing what other people are doing can be inspiring/motivating
Being connected builds consistency

Rewards such as badges are cute and endearing
Connection is the biggest motivation for engagement
People appreciate the points, trophies, etc.
It’s the recognition and celebration within a community or with friends and family that is most significant.

Competitor Heuristics Analysis

Productive Habit Tracker
Fitlist - Gym Workout Log
Map My Run
Nike Run Club

I discovered many of these apps had communities, capabilities to add friends, join groups, and connect - however the process felt cold, disconnected and unengaged.

The aesthetics were bland and uninviting
Joining a large group of strangers in a forum invokes a sense of disconnect and rapport
You can attempt to engage, post an achievement, and/or ask as question - nobody responds (crickets)

It became clear to me that having a supportive network of personal connections who respond and actually care about me would make a BIG DIFFERENCE!

Design

Inspirations come from branding and attributes - but first the company needed a name - so I decided to go with “Fit Fusion” and I think it’s a great fit. No pun intended!

Imagining a User Flow

Next, it was time to take the pencil to paper for fleshing out some sketch ideas

Human centered prompts with animation

Thoughts of building human centered emotional connections with notifications

Carefully crafted notifications and messaging prompts encourage engagement. This app is likely competing with other apps for the user’s attention, so intelligently fostering the connections will be important.

Brand attributes: contemporary, trustworthy, humorous, motivational.

The company’s brand comes with the tone of a trusted friend with a good sense of humor, who always has your best interest in mind, so I chose this color palette for later use.

The UI kit was a starting point, and picking up and moving into another designer’s wireframes felt like moving into someone’s apartment and rearranging, making it more suitable for the product user’s needs

An enticing notification starts the experience.
Notifications lead to messaging connectivity.
Once a milestone or goal is completed, the user is prompted to share it with their group.

Message prompts are curated for ease of use to encourage connectivity. Users are notified when friends and family join the app, so they can welcome them.

Usability Testing Round 1

4 remote-moderated tests of millennial users

“I would expect to share my milestone completion directly after I completed the class.” That would be more intuitive than seeing it later in a notification and sharing at that time.

Challenges are used a lot - they would be easily spotted in the navigation bar along with the notifications…

Key Findings

Clarifying details will make the experience more intuitive such as darkening the navigation icons for more contrast.

The Calendar screen needs a more intuitive process for seeing the workout plan and inviting friends to join.
Users are drawn to the highlighted dates, but not necessarily inclined to click on them to see the day’s plan.

The plan is better seen when listed below the calendar to eliminate the step of having to click on a button.

Messages need clarification to show users which have been read vs. unread
Notifying the user that a message has been sent will solidify the process for the user.

Affinity Mapping: Round 1 Report Findings

Findings indicate the homepage will need more context for user comprehension

Navigation needs full functionality (always having a way back)
Milestones need to be shared at an organic timing in the user’s process experience
The invitation process through activities like the challenges could be simplified with overlay animations as opposed to multiple screens. There were just too many screens.

Iterations

Pop-ups were incorporated to increase flow comprehension
Unnecessary buttons like the check mark - were removed - they were repetitive

Screenshot 2023-09-09 at 11.11.42 PM.png

The plan in the calendar needs to be visible from the get go

Messages need indicators showing which have been read vs. not read

Round 2 Testing

Five more participants tested the iterated version of Fit Fusion.

Screenshot 2023-09-10 at 6.18_edited.png

Key Findings

After streamlining the fonts, and images, connecting more navigation links, and clarifying messaging flows, I conducted the testing myself from home with 5 people.

It became clear to me what was working and what needed more attention: each action needs a visible display from the screen for users to recognize and engage.

Users questioned if they were joining challenges first, or inviting from within the challenge. They need to distinguish challenge browsing vs. challenge participation.

Overall comprehension could be boosted by updating the navigation icons to include challenges, and notifications; while moving rewards to the home screen.

Iterations

The beginning notification was edited to be less text heavy, decreasing the chances of being ignored.
What’s the sweet spot for notifications to motivate vs. annoy?

From the calendar, the day's plan is visible below. The invite friends button is central, up front and visible.

The invitation pop-up makes inviting friends from inside or outside the app simple with suggestions.

Screenshot 2023-09-10 at 4.26_edited.png

The challenges screen indicates challenges you can join & challenges you are in - when the user clicks the “invite friends” button, pop-ups. Research indicates that connection is the biggest motivation for engagement

Screenshot 2023-12-03 at 1.45_edited.png

When a user completes a milestone, they immediately share it with the group.

This rewards them with a sense of accomplishment and it also inspires community members. From there, users can support and root each other on!

This decision was also backed by user research that indicated it’s the recognition and celebration within a community or with friends and family that is most significant for engagement and connection.

Message content now feels more humanistic and less spam worthy.

What I learned and next steps…

The user’s needs and goals served as the greatest lessons learned, as the initial research interviews are valuable assets for this purpose.

When the notification is tied to user goals, this is a great way to avoid notification dismissal. Another great idea is to host contests and/or a ranking system of some sort.

People sometimes want more than just a virtual experience, so I predict having friends and family meetup options would drive user retention and engagement.

Next steps include adding gamification elements such as gaining points, virtual rewards, and progress towards goals. Also animations, because let’s be honest. Who doesn’t love subtle animations?

A color update would reflect the color palette chosen prior to the wireframe designs for a more gender neutral experience..

Here is what builds engagement & user retention

Human centered notifications
Messaging capability with curated responses in practically every screen
Invitation capability for workouts from within the app or from outside
Goals/milestone sharing functions built in at proper timing
Ability to interact with friends/family who working out with you via animations (like a high five)

Prototype