Tempo App Training Plans
Personalized training plans incorporating users' health and readiness data for the most effective workout each day.
SUMMARY
Training plans were born to give our members an actionable and flexible way to stick to a workout routine - one that stays personalized to their specific goals as well as accommodating to constraints. The most effective workout everyday, and the clearest path to PRs.
ROLE
Product designer.
Team included engineering, product, brand marketing, and fitness science.
GOALS
Our ultimate goal boils down to increasing member engagement - which lends itself to vocal user satisfaction and lower attrition. Here were a few guiding principles we established:
Aim for high training plan completion rates. The existing version of training plans, called Programs, had a ~15% completion rate. We wanted to craft plans that would bring users back to the app consistently, for the most effective training.
Give users more engaging metrics that would reflect and inspire long-term progress. Priming folks to work towards PR attempts would allow for tangible goals.
Allow users to be more flexible with their training, as a personal trainer would for their clients. If at any time you're not feeling a certain workout, a trainer would curate something more suited to your needs to get you moving effectively that day - and our training plans would do that too.
Overview
Our existing plan framework - Programs - were basically a collection of classes that simply provided a rough script for members to follow along. We aimed to examine the high dropout rate and craft a solution that would bring folks back to the mat consistently.
Programs and a la carte classes were not working because if a user didn’t feel like taking the suggested class (for a variety of reasons - injury, time frame, simple preference), they were out in the cold. The solution of personalized training plans envisioned a world where Tempo knows how ready you are for your time on the mat and works that data into its recommendation.
Creating the end-to-end training plan experience, backed with fitness science
At the core of training plans were two aspects: evaluating users' holistic readiness, and aiming for specific muscle growth guided by tangible goals.
EVALUATING READINESS
Because the iPhone is a prerequisite to the Tempo Move hardware, it wasn't surprising that over 40% of our users were currently integrating the Apple Watch to Tempo in order to track their workouts. Our hope was to leverage this data in both directions - having the Tempo app be able to track and understand a user's external workouts to generate a better Tempo class recommendation for the day. And readiness was born!
Our team enabled integrations with Apple Health and Strava, so that we could combine external workout data with the Tempo app data to understand how ready a user might be each day for a tough workout. For example, if I had taken a challenging lower body Tempo class yesterday and gone on a five-mile run this morning, my Tempo class recommendation for the day might update to reflect a moderate yoga class.
Creating these dependencies relied heavily on our fitness science team. With their recommendations, I worked on designing a visually accessible way to communicate recommendation content while exploring ways to allow for user flexibility. Every body is different, so here were a few ideas that were designed and shipped to enhance the personalized experience:
-
The ability to swap out your current recommendation for alternatives that would also fit nicely into your overall training plan.
-
Modification filters so you could choose your favorite coach, fit a quick workout in when you only have 20 minutes, and more.
ASSESSING TANGIBLE GOALS
Working out with no goals or guidance can be both overwhelming and disappointing - you might be jarred by the sheer variety of Tempo classes you could take, and then demotivated when you're not seeing any specific results. Our training plans were crafted to guide users to clear goals that focused on key muscle groups, culminating in final PR attempts that would create something tangible to achieve.
Here's how we launched browsable plans that would communicate clear goals and progress:
-
Users could browse plans that had specific muscle group focus (i.e. lower body). I wanted to showcase key information, like where to expect gains, in an easily digestible manner.
-
Upon testing with beta users, a common gripe was that it was difficult to understand how the plan would fit into their everyday lives, and that they mistook the "most progress" muscle groups to mean that they wouldn't be getting a comprehensive workout plan for the whole body. I added info cards to clearly communicate time commitment and a typical week.
-
Once a user chooses a plan, they are prompted to take a Baseline class which establishes their max weight for a key exercise that isolates a specific muscle group. This baseline weight is then applied to personalize the rest of the training plan guidance, and we'd set an achievable PR goal at the end of the plan.
-
Within the details of each class, you'll see clear objectives for muscle groups and key exercises for the day, as well as the intent card which displays your personalized goal in an easy-to-understand blurb.
Design validation & next steps
Training plans launched in July 2023, and we've heard exciting feedback about the revamp from our Tempo community. Important next questions include:
-
Assessing training plan completion data. Are these new plans being completed at a higher rate than Programs? For users that drop out, when and why are they facing inertia?
-
Understanding target PR data. Are we setting achievable goals for users? Is it discouraging to fail to achieve small victories?
-
Are we seeing increased overall engagement in training plans and the app overall? Might users still just be opting to take a la carte classes instead?
-
What are the most popular training plans, and where should we invest more time filming and developing new content?
