CrossFit

Mobile App

I was part of the team that led a strategic transformation of the CrossFit Games app, a B2C platform, transforming it from a limited, Games-focused application into a more holistic platform with increased user engagement and new personalized features. By developing a multi-phase strategy, we refined the app's functionalities and strengthened our user-centered approach, resulting in improved user retention and overall app engagement with a 12% increase in DAU.

Available in Google Play Store & App Store

Context and Problem

CrossFit, LLC owns the annual CrossFit Games, a global athletic competition designed to crown the "Fittest on Earth." While the qualification process spans several months, the main event itself lasts only 4-5 days. This extended off-season presented a challenge: user engagement with the CrossFit app was minimal outside of the Games window.

The app primarily featured CrossFit Games content, including leaderboards, workout information, athlete profiles, and schedules.

Secondary content consisted of CrossFit news, announcements, and previews of user information.

Leveraging the previously gathered data, the Product Manager established the problem: users exhibited very little interaction with the app during off-peak periods.

Project Goals

01.

Develop or enhance features that would deliver more value to the user

02.

Boost app usage during the off-season

PHASE 1

Defining the hypothesis

To address our problem of minimal app engagement during off-peak seasons, the Product Manager, Lead Designer, and I convened to hypothesize a solution. Our primary focus was to develop or enhance features that would deliver more value to users, thereby boosting app usage year-round.

Our final hypothesis was: "Integrating progress features into the app will be valuable to users, which will encourage increased engagement."

During our discussions, we identified several key areas for improvement:

Progress Benchmarks: While "benchmarks" were visible on user profiles, their non-editable nature and complex flow were points of concern.
Search Function: The existing search experience was confusing and needed to be revisited.

Discovering process

The Product Manager reached out to Affiliate members for research. The participants were primarily from the U.S. and ranged in age from 20 to 60 years.

We did two rounds of interviews, first round consisted on question answer format, where I gather insights on user perceptions of progress and to determine the potential value of adding progress features. For the second round, based on these insights I designed features like leaderboards, score history, and a workout calendar, inspired by some competitor apps and asked users which items would be more valuable for them in a scale. We also took the chance and asked them which were their most used CrossFit / Fitness apps.

Research Activity

Figjam files with interview activities

The Results

Habitual Tracking

Most users rely on external apps to track their fitness progress, emphasizing consistency, and personal performance metrics.

(11 of 11)

Social Motivation

Users are motivated by social comparison, using fitness apps to benchmark their performance against peers and community members.

(10 of 11)

Top Feature Request

Users strongly desire a monthly calendar to plan workouts and rest days, coupled with a historical record of benchmark scores.

(9 of 11)

Highly competitive

Users are highly competitive and enjoy comparing their progress against other.

(8 of 11)

WOD Assist

Users want an app that includes features to assist in their training, allowing them to track their progress and view the Workout of the Day.

MVP Definition

Progress Page | Benchmarks

Progress items that were previously only editable through the website and visible through the app profile page were transferred to their own main tab where they can be edited. A new user interface for these benchmarks was designed, incorporating benchmark descriptions and percentiles. This result in an entirely new flow to be tested.

Leaderboard | Percentiles

Users enjoy comparing their progress with themselves and others, which is why percentiles were included on the page. This served only as a global leaderboard for benchmarks and with a percentiles functionality where users can toggle between comparisons for men and women, allowing them to select their preferred option. The information sourced from an existing database.

Search athletes functionality

This feature was previously accessible via a search icon in the navigation of all pages. So it was relocated to a new page called Athletes, and the search function was removed from other pages to prevent user confusion regarding searching for athletes on unrelated pages.

User Testing

Iteration & Testing

Collaborated with the head designer to create layouts for the experiences, incorporating minor feedback from the product manager and developer to finalize several prototypes and make sure to create a feasible product.

Developed a testing script for the user testings and defined the following objectives: Do users understand percentiles and their function? Are percentiles rank relevant? Is the benchmark flow intuitive?

Key Results & Final Changes

Benchmark recording is useful for users. We found the flow was user-friendly and the ranking was well-received, giving us important insights such as:

While most users are familiar with the concept of a benchmark, it can be challenging for beginner athletes to understand.
Users prefer comparisons with people of same age and gender.
Understanding percentiles was not easy for beginners.
Tracking historical data is crucial for measuring progress

To assist users, a "Learn" modal has been introduced to clarify what a benchmark is and how it measures progress.

Additionally, an explanation of percentiles was added to ensure comprehension for both and experienced users. Other key insights, such as the need for historical workout tracking, have been noted for potential inclusion in future updates.

SPECIFIC GOALS

Phase 2

01.

Gain insight into user perceptions of training apps.

02.

Explore the needs and desires of users regarding a CrossFit app.

03.

Determine if users are interested in the "WOD" (Workout of the Day) feature, which allows them to log their results and interact with the CrossFit community.

Discovering the User

We set out to determine what would be valuable to users by conducting interviews primarily with Affiliate members to gather insights.

Our objectives included:

1. Identifying the most commonly used apps among affiliate members.

2. Understanding members' perceptions of these apps.

3. Discovering users' needs and desires for a CrossFit app.

Through user interviews, I categorized users fitness experience and developed empathy maps and personas for each group, highlighting key pain points and desires. I discovered that users would appreciate an added feature for the Workout of the Day with a scoring option, as well as a social component.

A significant opportunity identified was the creation of personalized experiences tailored to user personas.

Competitive Benchmarking

I conducted competitive benchmarking of leading fitness apps, analyzing user feedback and key flows to identify opportunities for our app. This allowed for a visualization of the features each app offers and how they cater to specific themes like logging, scheduling, and socializing. I also found that while all the apps offered numerous features, many were not particularly intuitive for users; however, they still proved beneficial.

Additionally, I noticed that athlete information is typically owned by the affiliate rather than the athlete, presenting a valuable opportunity.

Ultimately, based on user research and competitive benchmarking I created an Insight Prioritization Map to highlight key features for our next MVP, ensuring our CrossFit app aligns with user needs enriches their fitness experience.

Phase 2 MVP

We had a lot of valuable insights, a lot of ideas and opportunities, but we decided to have a team meeting to define what would meet user and business needs for the next MVP.

Workout of the Day

Workout of the Day feature, previously highlighted on the website, was widely utilized according to earlier interviews. The website team decided to decrease its prominence on the page in favor of other features. Therefore, integrating it into the app as a primary component for daily use was a smart move. This feature will allow users to view the workout of the day with a description and video, as well as navigate through previous workouts. As the add score feature set wil be developed in a future phase, we decided we will add the "mark as completed" CTA so the user get the sense of marking their training as done.

Comment Section

This section was seamlessly integrated into the Workout of the Day, becoming a favorite among users as the primary community feature. It was also transitioned to the app, allowing users to comment, respond to others, and share their results.

Reactions | Workout of the Day

During the design process of the workout and comment features, the lead designer and I explored ways to enhance user experience, making it more enjoyable and engaging. My research into various apps revealed that emojis and reactions stood out as a fun, effective, and quick way for users to interact. I went through several iterations and conducted user testing until the emojis received great feedback from users.

User Testing Validation

We did user testing, objectives were to determine if the information architecture and navigation are clear and intuitive to the user and Evaluate the app's ability to leverage CrossFit’s coaching and programming expertise to engage, expand, and retain the community. These were the questions to answer:

Is the navigation clear and intuitive to the user?
Does the user have a good understanding of the content they are looking at?
Determine if added features/functionality (workout related) is valuable and relevant to the user?
Would the user seek to use the app more frequently with the updated experience?

We had several rounds of testing, where we tested two main iterations, the MVP one and the design for future phases which included a movement library that I designed and documented for developers as was planned to be implemented next year.

There were lots of insights and important feedback such as:

New users feel intimidated with the top athletes (Games), meeting regular people makes CF more approachable
Always open to receive feedback on their training
Users expect to receive relevant info after logging a workout
After each user test, users think the new designs are really intuitive

Developers Documentation

After approving the final iterations, I integrated the new components into the design system and documented interface, interactions, animations and flows in the production file for the developers.

I presented this documentation to the development team, addressing their questions and clarifying their needs to begin implementing the designs. After developing the designs, I participated in the Quality Assurance process to ensure everything functioned and appeared as intended.

Other Ideas based on insights

Recognizing that many novice users were unfamiliar with specific movements, PM decided to create a comprehensive movement library. This library was designed, tested, and documented for future development in a third phase of the project. As an interim solution for the second phase, we highlighted individual movements within each WOD. Clicking on a highlighted movement would open a modal window providing detailed information.

Considering latest and previous interviews, we continue developing in-progress features, including an achievement section, workout history, and a monthly calendar. These features were designed and underwent extensive feedback and iterations, but, it was decided to postpone them to phase 4.

By collaborating closely with the lead developer, I optimized the design to strike a balance between user experience and development feasibility. Final testing validated our approach, minimizing the need for substantial changes.

The CrossFit app is now an essential tool for all CrossFit enthusiasts who want to check their rank on the global percentiles leaderboard, track their benchmarks, view daily workouts, and engage with the community.