Planner is an add-on feature to the existing Fitbit app that aids users to plan their fitness activity.

Prototype

Planner is an add-on feature to the existing Fitbit app that aids users to plan their fitness activity.

Prototype

Overview

Role: UI/UX Designer and Researcher
Duration:
2 weeks
Tools: 
Figma, Whimsical, Adobe Creative Suite

Fitbit is an American digital health and fitness brand that focuses on wireless wearable technology activity tracking. The watches are synced via bluetooth to a mobile app where users can log food intake, activities, and weight as well as see other health and activity metrics.

Problem
72% of Fitbit Users are Inactive

Fitbit reports 111 million registered users as of 2021, but only 31 million were active users. That's only 28%! The usage rate of the Fitbit app is lagging behind other competitors such as MyFitnessPal, Strava, and Home Workout as much as 30%. How can we optimize Fitbit to become more attractive users and stay ahead of the competition? What are the pain points users are having with the Fitbit app, causing them to turn to competitors?

Irrelevant Clutter

Irrelevant content clutter the UI and experience.

Not fit for Advanced Users

Advanced fitness users are ditching Fitbit for better planning, tracking, and app integration.

Lack of Community

Despite community features, users seek deeper social connections, leading to competitor adoption.

Design Goals

User Need

Clean UI with engaging flexible features for users of all fitness levels to easily track, plan, and reach fitness goals.

Business Need

An efficient app with features that appeals to user groups, stays ahead of the competition, and generates profit.

Metric Goals

Total Active Users

Increase the amount of active Fitbit users from 30% to 60%.

Average Screen Time

Increase the average time a user uses the app from 1 minute to 3-5 minutes.

Total Premium Members

Increase customer lifetime value by increasing the total Premium members by 30%.

the solution

Optimize Features, Add Personalization

Optimize Features

Make features relevant and engaging for users of all fitness levels. If I would expect the metric to improve by 10% because 5 of 5 users interviewed do not use the Discover and Community features.

Add Planner Feature

Add a fitness planner feature that helps users plan workouts and track progress. I would expect metrics to improve by 5% because the add-feature will retain/attract advance fitness users.

Engaging Community

Engage users and increase retention rate by improving the Community feature. Metrics expected to improve 10%. 5 of 5 interviewees emphasized the need to engage with friends and expressed likelihood to switch to apps their friends are using.

The Planner

I started by expanding the existing Exercise feature and turning into a full planner where users can plan future workouts while accessing past workout data. Past workouts are condensed into high-level overview where users have the option to expand to view detailed data.

Plan for Any Workout

Users are able to create custom workouts, add a workout from the Discover page, or from a Third Party App such as Home Workouts and FitStar. Users are now able to plan beyond cardio-based workouts such as Strength, Yoga, HIIT, etc.

Tailored for You

I incorporated a questionnaire to tailor suggested workouts, programs, and interface of the Planner to promote relevancy of content for the specific user. If I had more time and resources, I would explore how the questionnaire can better inform the customizability of the Planer and how Third Party App exercises can better integrate into Fitbit.

New and Improved Programs

With the questionnaire, users get Fitness programs suggested to them. Users are able to see the exercises each week, quickly change the time they want to workout, and easily add the program to their planner. Premium members can have more customizability and a wider selection of workouts and programs.

Tailored for You

I incorporated a questionnaire to tailor suggested workouts, programs, and interface of the Planner to promote relevancy of content for the specific user. If I had more time and resources, I would explore how the questionnaire can better inform the customizability of the Planer and how Third Party App exercises can better integrate into Fitbit.

New and Improved Programs

With the questionnaire, users get Fitness programs suggested to them. Users are able to see the exercises each week, quickly change the time they want to workout, and easily add the program to their planner. Premium members can have more customizability and a wider selection of workouts and programs.

Workout With Friends

Users have stressed the importance of sharing progress, seeing what friends are up to, and needing accountability. I added the ability to add workout buddies where users can exercise with their friends. During workouts, users can see their's and friend's metrics for motivation. If I had more resources, I would explore how many friends can be added to a workout due to the screen size limitations.

Optimize Community Page

Users are now able to share workouts for users to share with their friend list to find a workout buddy, or to post publicly to make new friends. I added "Users Similar to You" posts for users to explore and be motivated by what other users are doing. Lastly, I redesigned the friends list to show friend's goals as a way to motivate and keep each other accountable.

the approach

Asking the Users

Fitbit is widely known with an impressive audience. However, there are many other competitors with similar specs and features. Some questions I asked were: How to set Fitbit apart from the rest? Why are users choosing other fitness apps over Fitbit? I sought to understand user's relationships with the Fitbit app and competitors currently on the market.

Goals

  • Identify current attitudes users have with fitness apps
  • Identify user understanding of features and how users are currently using fitness apps
  • Identify what exercises users are currently tracking or planning for
  • Discover any pain points or successes with competitor apps
  • Identify key features necessary to be implemented

User Interviews

I started by conducting user interviews with 5 participants consisting of 2 females and 3 males ages 28 to 32 who have used fitness apps and has varying levels of fitness experience.

FINDING #1
Set Goals and Milestones

Users want to be able to set goals and have milestones they can achieve along the way.

FINDING #2
Third Party App Integration

Users want to sync third party apps that will help in overall tracking

FINDING #3
Motivating and Fun

Users want to feel motivated, have incentives, accountability, and support. They expressed desire to connect with friends and other users sharing a similar goal.

FINDING #4
Plan in Advanced and Progress Track

Users want to be able to plan their activity in advanced to aid in accountability and a way to see their progress over time.

FINDING #5
No "Cookie Cutters"

Users are tired of seeing "cookie cutter" workouts and want personalized suggestions just for them.

Unveiling the Competitors

I then conducted a competitive analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Fitbit's competitors. Direct competitors include Garmin and Apple Watch which have a fitness tracker and a robust fitness app. Indirect competitors are Strava, which is a cardio-based tracker, and Adidas training and Home Workout No Equipment that allows for activity suggestions and planning.

  • Usability and UI
  • Navigation and Task Flow
  • Information Architecture
  • Overall Experience

Building Empathy

Provisional personas were created to better empathize with user groups goals and frustrations.

Two personas were made based on the archetypes "Fitness Enthusiast" and "The Beginner". With the personas, Nate and Catherine in mind, I can better design for users that are beginners to advanced levels of fitness.

Information Architecture

Site Map

After studying Fitbit's current design patterns and how competitors organize data, I created a site map to organize the flow of the new Fitbit planner feature.

User Flows

Based on my two personas, Nate and Catherine, I mapped two user flows based on how they would interact with the app. Nate is an intermediate to advanced fitness user that would likely be creating custom workouts. Meanwhile Catherine would be interested in having a pre-made fitness program that would do the planning for her.

User Flow of Nate creating a custom workout.
User flow of Catherine adding a training plan and adding a workout buddy.

Getting Ideas on Paper

Based on the site map, competitive analysis, and user interviews, I created a series of sketches exploring how the planner would look, how to organize information, and what the flow would look like. As a bonus, I also explored how to better improve how Fitbit currently displays friends, workout information, and workout videos.

Refined Prototype

Wireframes evolved into a high-fidelity prototype matching Fitbit's design. Some dimensions felt cramped, requiring further refinement given more time.

Users Test Drive

Usability Test

The high-fidelity prototype was put through user testing. 5 participants that were current Fitbit users, 3 females and 2 males ages 26 to 30 were recruited to to assess the following:

  1. Overall ease of navigation and user understanding of the Fitbit Planner Feature
  2. Observe user interactions with the Fitbit Planner Feature and identify pain points
  3. Ability to easily and efficiently complete tasks
  4. Consistency of additional feature to the rest of the app
  5. Do additions add value to existing features such as the "Discover" and "Community" screens

Affinity Map

Users were able to successfully complete 5 tasks of taking the questionnaire, adding a custom workout, adding a training program, adding a workout buddy, and completing a workout. Below is the affinity map of successes, user concerns, and next steps of how to improve the design.


Areas for Improvement

I took the "Next Steps" in the Affinity Map and organized the tasks according to user value vs. business effort. Tasks with the highest priority with the least amount of effort will be implemented first and tasks with the lowest priority and highest effort will be last.


Listening to the Users

I revised the design based on prioritized tasks. Below are examples of the iterations made.

De-clutter Planner Entries

Additional Workout Information

Workout Buddies and Stats

Next Steps

Fitbit was an important project to me. As a long-term Fitbit user myself, I rely on the app to plan my food intake, track weight fluctuations, and calories burned. I often thought to myself and discussed with friends over the years our frustrations about not having an easy way to plan our workouts and track our progress. With big ambitions, I did this project beyond the scope of the assignment requirements. If I had more time, I would love to develop the design further, do additional usability testing, and iterations.