2 October 2024
12 min reading time
How a Gamified Community Transformed a Rowing Experience
Timeline
Senior Product Designer
Role
Senior Product Designer
Platform
iOS & Android
At Waterrower, a leader in indoor rowing equipment, we faced a significant challenge: while our app excelled in tracking workouts and offering detailed analytics, it lacked a sense of community. Users were rowing alone, and many were drifting away after just a few sessions. Our mission was to transform this solitary experience into a vibrant, engaging community that would keep users motivated and connected.
As the Product Designer, I played a crucial role in shaping this transformation. The challenge was not just about adding social features but about designing a cohesive experience that would motivate and connect our diverse user base. By employing user-centered design principles, focusing on gamification, and iterating based on user feedback, we developed a community feature that breathed new life into the app, increasing user engagement and retention.
🎯 The Challenge
Design a Community Feature: Transform a solitary workout experience into a connected, motivating platform.
Increase User Retention: Foster a sense of belonging and competition.
Create a Scalable Solution: Appeal to different types of users—from solo rowers to competitive athletes.
👥 Users and Stakeholders
The project involved these key groups:
Users
Solo Rowers - Enjoy rowing alone but want a sense of connection with a broader community.
Social Fitness Enthusiasts - Seek a group workout experience and thrive on interaction and shared goals.
Competitive Rowers - Desire to track their performance against others and engage in friendly competition.
Data Enthusiasts - Interested in sharing and analyzing detailed workout metrics with others.
Stakeholders
Pitch Owners - Focused on enhancing user engagement and retention through new features.
Development Team - Responsible for implementing the technical aspects of the community feature.
Marketing Team - Tasked with promoting the new community feature to ensure high user adoption.
👨💻 Role and Responsibilities
As the Product Designer, my responsibilities included:
User research & data analysis
Project planning & stakeholder communication
User flow & UI design
Content strategy & localisation
KPI setup & tracking
🔁 The Process
We followed the Double Diamond methodology: Discover & Research, Concept Development & Planning, Design & Development, and Release & Observe.
From the outset, we agreed that building an MVP version was crucial. Our goal was to launch quickly to validate the feature's effectiveness, then iterate based on positive signals. All of this needed to be completed before the high season of indoor rowing.
Discover & Research
To gain insights into our users' needs, we employed the Job-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework:
User Interviews: Conducted interviews with various user segments to understand their motivations, pain points, and desires for a community feature.
Surveys: Deployed surveys to gather quantitative data on what community elements users found most appealing.
Competitive Analysis: Examined similar apps in the market to identify trends and features that resonated with users.
Key Insights included
65% of users expressed interest in features like leaderboards and community challenges.
A significant portion of churned users mentioned a lack of motivation as a key reason for leaving the app.
Users wanted more than just connection—they desired meaningful competition and recognition for their efforts.
👨🏼🏫 Concept & Planning
Armed with our research insights, we moved into the concept and planning phase. This phase was all about turning those insights into actionable design concepts.
We began with Ideation Sessions, where I facilitated brainstorming meetings with the design and product teams. These sessions were critical for generating ideas that would resonate with our users. We explored various possibilities for community features, focusing on those that could meet the diverse needs of our user personas.
👨🏼💻 Design & Development
❇️ Results & Impact
The launch of the community feature had a significant impact on the Waterrower Connect app:
Increased User Engagement: Daily active users increased by 40%, with more users participating in challenges and engaging with leaderboards.
Higher Retention Rates: The sense of community and competition led to a 25% increase in user retention, as users found new motivation to continue their fitness journeys.
Positive User Feedback: Users appreciated the new social dynamics, with many highlighting the leaderboards and challenges as key motivators for their continued use of the app.
🧑🏫 Lessons Learned
User-Centered Design is Key: By focusing on the needs and desires of our users, we were able to create features that genuinely resonated with them, driving engagement and satisfaction.
Iterative Design Process: Continuous iteration based on user feedback was crucial in refining the community feature and ensuring it met user expectations.
Collaboration is Essential: Close collaboration between design, development, and marketing teams was vital in delivering a cohesive and successful community feature.
🔮 Future Considerations
Enhancing Social Features: Exploring ways to deepen social interactions, such as introducing team-based challenges and real-time races.
Advanced Analytics: Providing users with more detailed analytics and insights based on their performance relative to the community.
Expanding Community Engagement: Considering ways to encourage more users to join and actively participate in the community, potentially through gamified incentives.
🎬 Conclusion
The transformation of the WATERROWER Connect app through the introduction of a community feature demonstrated the power of thoughtful, user-centered design. By focusing on the user experience and iterating based on real-world feedback, we were able to create a vibrant, engaging community that significantly improved user satisfaction and retention. This project not only revitalized the app but also set a strong foundation for future enhancements, ensuring that Waterrower continues to lead in the digital fitness space.