Sweat is a leading women’s fitness app that offers a digital solution for women around the world.
Available in over 145 countries and 8 languages, Sweat offers the support of a global community led by some of the world’s top trainers, backed by years of science, experience and results.
In this case study, I showcase my work as a Product Designer at Sweat.
In 2018, I joined the team at Sweat to help revamp and design the mobile and watch app.
I worked in a small team of solution architects and engineers working tirelessly to solve member pain points and launch the new product in May 2020. Since then, I have worked on many different features to enhance the member experience.
Analysing member pain points, member interviews, competitor analysis, and brainstorming workshops were all part of my research.
Defining product experience by keeping empathic design at the forefront was one of my main responsibilities.
Focussing on UI & interactions, enhancing the visual design, and creating interfaces were all part of my responsibilities.
By synthesizing member pain points, my goal was to design and deliver initiatives to drive product engagement and to deliver increased retention among current paying members.
Average workout completes is the strongest indicator of renewal among paying members. Therefore, my goal was to design features that motivates the member to complete their next workout with Sweat.
My name is Belinda. I’m 27 years old and I live in Austin, Texas. I’m a legal secretary at a law firm. Most of my money goes on rent, food, and going out, so I don’t have much left for fitness. If I am going to spend money on a membership I want to feel sure it’s going to work!
I know I need to lose some weight, but I find it so hard to get motivated. Once I am moving my body I feel so much better. I have used a free fitness app but I don’t have all the fitness equipment and couldn’t do all the workouts.
Average Age
Single
Non-Parents
College Graduate
Employed
Average HHI
iPhone users
Own a wearable
My name is Ingrid. I’m 28 years old and I live in Columbus Ohio. I work in retail operations at Victoria’s Secret.I live with my partner who is still studying. We’re saving for a house so we have a fairly strict budget.
Our health is important to us, so we do at least one or two workouts each week. I also sometimes do home workouts with a fitness app. I’m using Apple Fitness because I have the watch, so it’s just easier. I do often look for other options though as I can get bored with just one type of workout and trainer.
I don’t have any specific fitness ‘goals’ I just want to feel that I’m getting progressively stronger and fitter over time.
Average Age
Single
Non-Parents
College Graduate
Employed
Average HHI
iPhone users
Own a wearable
My name is Angela, I’m 28 years old and I live in Los Angeles, CA. I work as a marketing executive for a global skin care company.
My job demands crazy hours sometimes, but I always manage to prioritize fitness in my daily routine. My gym shut down during COVID-19, but I was quick to set up a dedicated workout space in my apartment, with all the equipment essentials.
I’ve now returned to the office and while I continue to do some workouts at home, I enjoy mixing things up with strength sessions at the gym. I use my smartwatch to track my workouts, my sleep, and my calories burned and consumed, and try to hit my step goal every day.
Average Age
Single
Non-Parents
College Graduate
Employed
Average HHI
iPhone users
Own a wearable
One of the key pain points amongst members was content discoverability. Currently, Sweat provides its members with numerous programs based on their fitness goals.
The workout dashboard encapsulates a snapshot of a member's weekly fitness plan, directing them to their daily workouts through clear tags and minimising their time spent finding a workout. Members can also track their week's progress by collecting trophies, making them feel accomplished and motivated throughout their program.
It was important to recognise that not every member prefers to stay on the same path during their fitness journey. For these particular members, I designed the “On Demand" section, which included several easily categorized sections as well as filters for quick discovery.
The workout overview was designed to help members preview and prepare for their workout both mentally and logistically so we increase their probability to complete it.
Members can set aside the time, space, and equipment needed for their workout of the day as well as preview the exercises that they plan to do, resulting in an unobstructed experience.
Sweat workouts are designed to be done from home or the gym and the range of equipment needed for a workout can vary by program type.
Sweat’s philosophy is to enable members to work out anytime and from anywhere. But one of the biggest member pain points was not having the necessary equipment.
Utilising all the different equipment and exercises available in the Sweat database, the equipment profile lets a member define the equipment available to them so they only get the workouts customized to their set of available resources. As members get additional equipment, they can update their profiles to tune their recommendations.
According to member surveys and research, music is one of the major factors that makes the workout experience more enjoyable.
Allowing members to connect to their music of choice through Spotify or Apple Music makes the workout process more fun and increases members’ motivation to finish the workout as well as come back for the next one.
Different members have different preferences; some are more experienced than others, while others are new to fitness. Some might like a certain exercise, while some might hate it.
Exercise substitution lets a member swap an exercise based on different user inputs such as looking for something easy, looking for low impact, etc.
Members frequently change their minds or are unprepared for their workout.
They can schedule their workouts for later and get reminded through push notifications so they stay on track in their fitness journey.
Each member approaches a workout differently, some are just beginning their fitness journey and may need more instructions and time to finish their workout, while others are more advanced and want to move through their exercises quickly.
The active workout provides a video game-esque style experience, allowing members to exercise at their own pace.
Members are guided by experienced personal trainers with every exercise including detailed explanations and videos from all angles so members can achieve the best form and feel confident about their workout.
Furthermore, members can customize their workouts at any time by substituting upcoming exercises.
To motivate members to stay on track with their fitness journey, members can log their weights lifted during each exercise and track their progression over time.
We understand every workout style is not the same, and some workouts may require the member to follow the trainer precisely to achieve the desired result. This is most common in workouts such as Yoga, Pilates, and Barre.
Longform videos allow members to participate in a fully immersive workout with voice and video cues to help members finish their workout unhampered.
The ultimate goal of the Sweat app is for members to build a habit of working out so they do not abandon their fitness plan. The goal of the activity was to provide members an overview of their progress as well as incentivise them for completing milestones.
This sense of accomplishment/reward along with the ability to share these achievements with their friends helps members stay motivated and complete more workouts. The more milestones they achieve, the higher is their probability to stick to the app vs looking for another one.
For a hands-free seamless workout experience, we allow our members to work out using their Apple watch independent of their mobile.
The apple watch has most of the primary features of the mobile application.
Members can view their complete workout including each section, exercises and equipment required for the workout.
Trainer videos, exercise intructions and workout metrics are all available on Sweat’s watchOS app.
Sweat is available on both iOS and Android.
