How to win friends and influence gym attendance 

Data visualisation of the findings in the form of a word cloud & me trying write at my audiences’ eye level. #ShortUXerLife

2. Survey

Craig and I then conducted quantitative research via two surveys.

The first survey was sent out over social media, to gain as much notice and responses as possible. Our target audience was people who had joined and left CrossFit/ F45/ class fitness based gyms.

In total, we received 22 responses by the end of Day 2.

Craig put together an awesome visual data model of the survey results, talking the team through the insights he’d discovered.

Data visualisation of the survey results. Left column is for expensive gyms; right column is for cheap gyms.

Key findings around premium priced gym members

1. Some people only plan on joining expensive gyms for short periods. Premium gym members with the intention of staying for 1 to 3 months, all left after 3 months.
2. People who join premium priced gyms will make time for them. The drop-out rate of people who joined a premium priced gym is 58%, which is lower than that of people who joined a cheaper gym.
3. Money isn’t the key factor contributing to people leaving the premium gym compared to cheaper gym ex-members.

From what we are seeing from the data, people who pay the premium rate to attend gyms do not lack commitment or motivation. It is all about the perceived value.

The second survey’s target was the Facebook users who had left reviews on the RMA business page. Reaching out to 30+ people via Facebook messenger one by one, I politely asked them to answer 3 quick questionnaires in Typeform. I chose this quick experiment of the guerilla survey on social media because of the lack of time and resources. While I did expect very poor responses, I was so surprised that not a single one of them replied. Sniffing around, I suspect that Facebook messenger marked my messages as a spam so it had never reached the recipients. Lesson learnt on what not to do!

3. Ethnographic research

I spent four hours at RMA conducting passive observations and casual contextual enquiries. It was an ad hoc visit and I was questioned by a teammate about its necessity given that we run the Lean UX project and should avoid wastage. I justified the visit as it served the following objectives:

• To obtain a better picture of the RMA operation. If a picture is worth 1000 words, a field research trip may be worth 1000 documentations.
• To understand how the users interact with everything around them at RMA.
• To understand the social interaction of RMA members

RMA has two training areas: the Mat (upstairs — group fitness class focus) and the Box (downstairs — crossfit).

A crossfit class in the Box area

During classes (the Box)

• There were micro breaks between the routine; members took the opportunity to chat and give each other hi-fives.
• They finished the session at different times; some stayed around and gave others support to push through the final workouts.
• The trainer called attendees by their names throughout the class. This is a clear opportunity for members to know everyone’s name.

After classes (the Box)

• Small social groups stayed back, ranging from 5 to 30 mins
• Members who chose to stay back to stretch socialised for longer.
• There’s no correlation between the length of their memberships and the socialisation.

Key findings

• Talking with members, they all reported that RMA has great support and a family-like community. They make time to come mostly 5 times a week, with 3 times per week being the minimum.
• I couldn’t observe the Mat class properly due to the audio system issue and unusually low attendance on the day — only two members attended the Mat class.
• There are social spots on both floors — a stretching area that members congregated in before or after a class; and the cafe bar — natural locations for people to gravitate towards and where conversations may occur.

In summary, the findings from three different sources gave us better understanding from different perspectives. This data triangulation exercise may not necessarily unearth the users’ pain point; however, it helps us to strengthen the service design researcher’s standpoint on the value of the community. Furthermore, it increases our level of knowledge about the user’s world.

Note: The owner and a few members mentioned of the unusually low attendance on the day. The online audio and check-in system weren’t functioning that week. Ideally if time allowed, I would have wanted to revisit the gym on its usual day to capture better insights.

№3: Brainstorm & Ideation

Just to recap, the Service Design solution focused on pairing up each of RMA’s new members to each of the more experienced ones; AKA the Buddy System. However, the granular details and the risk of the system had never been assessed. Our UX team, therefore, took one step back and brainstormed ideas with regards to potential solutions.

Using 6up, 1 up, the team ideated solution options via drawings.

Some of the notable options are:

• An introduction system for new members to the community
• One-to-one pairing / meet-up programs between new members and similarly interested members
• The use of goal setting and special fitness programs to match members
• Gamification and competitions

Then, we all voted for which conceptual components we each felt would contribute to resolving the problem.

The solution is a digital platform that Craig gave a codename: the Friendship Factory

While Will and Stev were busily tackling the MVP and its prototype, Craig and I created a customer journey map based on the original service design blueprint but through UX lenses.

The UX of a gym member is made up of various touch points throughout the membership journey. By mapping the end-to-end journey within their first 3 months, we gained a better understanding of the user behaviours and how the app would fit into their lifestyle.

 The customer journey map based on the service design blueprint

We also added ideas about fitness classes, activities, monitor screens and notice boards into the journey map that can enhance the digital ecosystem to serve user objectives. Using my experience of working in the fitness industry for over 7 years and the data from the field research, we mapped the technologies and the physical tools to the gym floor plan.

The design principles applied to the Friendship Factory:

• The product should allow people to tap into the community and enjoy the environment;
• The product should allow users to view other members’ profiles and are encouraged to acquaint with other members.
• The product should provide a natural & intuitive experience.

№4: Usability Testing

As a lean UX project with no budget, we had to recruit participants on our own. I approached the fitness club next door and ran around for half an hour to secure 6 people for guerrilla usability testing.

The participants’ criteria:

• members of CrossFit/ F45/ class fitnesses or sport clubs.
• Must have recently attended some group classes within the past month.

User Stories, Prototype Screens and Usability Testing Insights

The insightful feedback we received:

• Users enjoyed receiving acknowledgement for their effort and achievements.
• Some users were concerned about sharing too much information and stalkers.
• Most users felt comfortable to chat one on one online, if they have already someone in person.
• Some icons confused users.

Overall, we managed to get both the functionality feedback and the idea validation. A majority of the participants felt comfortable and confident using the product while there was some room for improvement.

№5: Delivery

Iteration

As we were laying out all the artifacts and preparing for the presentation prior to the client’s arrival, I also quickly redesigned some part of the app with the refinements based on the test findings. As we were working with Lean, we should aim to iterate quickly. Thanks to pen and paper, this was made possible!

Presentation

We presented our findings, insights from testing and recommendations to our RMA stakeholders. Towards the end of the presentation, the client raised some doubts about the mobile app concept on how it was similar to social media platforms such as Facebook and Whatsapp.

This was perfect timing as we were about to showcase the final iteration of the app based on our research findings. We gave the client and his partner a quick run through of the new features including:

• Three levels of profile data: Public, Friend and Trainer View
• Friend requests and acceptance: users can choose who can view their 2nd level profile and gym visits
• Friends’ suggestions: the trainer can manually give recommendations or the app would suggest based on their visitation patterns and interests.
• Social feed: users can track gym events and when their friends are likely to hit the gym
• Customised motivational messages: displayed on user’s profile and loading pages
• Gamification and engagement: users can view their activity streak

Also, extra features as opportunity to focus on for later iterations

• Gamification and competition: user can see how their streaks and progress stack up against their friends or other teams in a group challenge
• Real time updated timetables: gives extra incentives for the users to use the app
• Centralised personal stats: workouts, best performance, and progress reports

We also used our customer journey map to illustrate how the app would warm a new member up to the RMA physical community and vice versa i.e. create team challenges and users can use the app to assist the collaboration within the team.

The client was receptive to the new app version. He asked if he could keep the app sketch I created. He felt that this new version translated the vision of the Buddy system from the Service Design well and had room to grow. His partner mentioned that she would like to apply some suggestions from the customer journey map to RMA’s physical space as well. At the end of the meeting, the client took all artifacts with them.