Raunaq Shah

SERVICE DESIGN • 2023

How might we make it easy for gym members to keep track of their progress so they stay motivated to workout?

cult.fit

Assessment became a USP and a PT sales lever

↑ 50% monthly revenue in first 3 months

Scaled to 300+ gyms (2024)

MEMBER APP

TRAINER APP

Airbnb of gyms.

Covid lockdown wiped out many gyms because they have high capex & recurring costs. Post-covid, cult.fit acquired & partnered many high quality gyms & built a fleet of 300+ gyms in Bengaluru & Hyderabad & was approaching to be a gym monopoly.

platform

For gym owners & potential investors, cult.fit appears like a platform that offers turnkey facilitation in the gym deployment & operation along with easy brand trust.

marketplace

For gym members, cult.fit is more than a gym service, a marketplace where they can workout at any gym from cult's growing fleet

Platforms operating at scale face these challenges

Cult came across two challenges.

How gyms make profit?

Gyms primarily make profit through renewals.

Convenience & Clarity
"I know what exactly to do today with the workout plan."
On day 1, the trainer talks to the member & creates a workout plan from the trainer app
The plan reflects on the cult app & member starts working out
Member can dial up/down the intensity or swap another day's workout
Low Trust in Plan
"Sometimes trainer says, 'I will show you a better exercise than the plan.'"
1
During peak times, trainer shows alternate exercises to manage the crowd
2
Some trainers question the credibility of the workout plan algorithm
Need for Variety & Freedom → Personal Ownership
"I want new exercises. I have been doing bicep curl since 2 weeks. Can I add?"
1
There is a layered desire of members to change their exercises to tackle boredom
2
The need to add/remove their own exercises is also an ask to take the personal ownership of the fitness journey
Top reasons to reach out to a floor trainer
"I reach out to trainer for my form, exercises and know which muscles got worked out."
1
There is a layered desire of members to change their exercises to tackle boredom
2
The need to add/remove their own exercises is also an ask to take the personal ownership of the fitness journey
Unrealistic Expectations
New-to-fitness gym members often have unrealistic goals & timelines.
New members expect to reduce unrealitstic amount of weight in very short span of time which leads to disappointment & erosion of motivation & drive
Lack of Clarity • Gymtimidation
New members are confused & intimidated especially in the first week at the gym.
1
Obese/underweight members are likely to feel intimidated & overwhelmed by the fit & confident folks working out at the gym
2
Lack of clarity around what exercises to do & how they will get fit further adds to the intimidation & confusion
High Affinity to PT Conversion
New members are 70% likely to buy personal training in the first week.
Given the gymtimidation experienced in the first week, new members are likely to buy personal training to be handheld into the gym life seamlessly by an expert

Understanding Gym Member

The quotes are crafted and only representative of the research findings

Blue-sky Ideas

PRODUCT DESIGN • CONCEPT
How might we motivate members to become more active by showing their holistic fitness progress?
A holistic fitness report that shows a balanced view of a member's progress across strength, cardio, mobility, body composition, sleep & proportions to help member get a balanced view of their fitness
SERVICE DESIGN • 2K+ MEMBERS • 2023
How might we help members take more trainer-led assessments & help them understand their fitness baseline?
Workout plan usage held at ~20% members in 300+ cult gyms for over 3 quarters without active team working on it!
PRODUCT DESIGN • LOGGING CONCEPT • 2024
How might we make it easier for gym beginners to log their sets?
Inspired by extensive competitive study, I created a concept make logging sets easy for non-loggers as well power loggers.
PRODUCT DESIGN • LOGGING CONCEP • 2023
How might we make logging sets addictive for gym beginners so they can track their progress?
Muscle groups are highlighted to communicate the right degree of muscle activation per muscle group per week
PRODUCT DESIGN • CONCEPT • 2022
How might we motivate new gym logging power users to track progress?
The concept aimed at showing muscle activation based on logged sets over different time period so members can get insights on the muscle-level intensity

Core solution themes based on research with members & trainers

manual workout logging.
trainer-led (re)assessment.
fitness report.

"We want some groundwork to establish rapport and credibility with the members before we can pitch PT."

from a personal trainer

Personal trainers often seek some time with the members to communicate their credibility, knowledge & give some personalised helpful tips & tidbits to establish rapport & gauge whether the member can be pitched personal training or not.

Trainer-led assessment: a win-win for members & trainers

Makes Day 1 experience seamless & sets fitness baseline for the member
Provides opportunity for trainer to build rapport & pitch personal training
Regular reassessments to help member track their progress

Riskiest Assumption: Human-led assessment is a seamless & natural way to track progress

“How might we make it seamless for gym members to monitor their progress with trainer-led assessments?”

Validate the riskiest assumption

Ops ran assessments in

a pilot gym with manual forms for 3 months.

Subject matter experts crafted a detailed assessment logic & SOP & converted into manual forms to be used in one newly established pilot gym. The Operations team trained the trainers on the SOP & established assessment-as-a-service.

I worked on an existing dashboard to help centre managers keep track of the assessments (trials)

Assessments were internally called as trials till now. I led the design of the lead management system dashboard as part of a different project.

Our space designer helped us create a cabin space at the gym so members can be assessed in privacy without feeling intimidated.

The product manager, I & our best visual designer weighed in for brand consistency & shared our learnings around users & trainers

Anecdotal Validation from trainers
Manual form assessment made it easy to establish rapport & is aiding in membership sales.
Trainer Pain Point
"It’s difficult to keep track of all the filled forms after the assessment is done. Some get lost or misplaced."
Manager Pain Point
"The pages take up space and we need to organise them which takes time."
Trainer Concern
"Phone creates distance."
Trainer Concern
"Writing on paper makes us look smart & sincere."

The quotes are crafted and only representative of the research findings

Assessment-as-a-service works!

Riskiest Assumption: Digitising assessment-as-a-service will make it scalable

How might we use digital solutions to make assessments-as-a-service scalable for the members, trainers & centre manager?

GOAL: GET MEMBER TO BOOK ASSESSMENTS

Create awareness (GTM)

PRODUCT DESIGN • 2023
How might we motivate new gym members to book assessments?
~12% CTR in first month as members did felt judged by the term 'assessment'
Positioning this as a mandatory 'onboarding' improved the CTR to ~23%
EMAILER
POSTER
TALK TO
CENTER MANAGER
TV
BOOK SLOT
CREDITS TO OUR AWESOME MOTION DESIGNER
DEPLOYED STRATEGICALLY AT HIGH IMPACT SPACES AT THE GYM
EMAILERS
I made emailers to
cover the various stages in a single assessment session.
2K+ MEMBERS • 2023
We positioned assessment as the default onboarding that can be opted out.
↑48% assessment bookings but it took 5 months to iron out the trainer availability & incentive problem when the assessment bookings reached about 80% with Ops initiative.

GOAL: GET TRAINERS TO COMPLETE ASSESSMENTS

Digitise the current assessment flow

PRODUCT DESIGN • 2020
How might we make it easy for the trainers to perform the assessment of the member while adhering to the SOP?
Digital assessment reduced the need for trainers to do mental calculation for some scores which made their life easier. It has become a long-term capability & a differentiation of the cult gym offering.
GYM CHECK-IN
Member scans the QR Code to check in and is requested to wait at the reception.
AT GYM
Trainer expecting the member to show up, notes that member has checked in.
Trainers are trained in the SOP & are aware about their bookings from the 'My Schedule'
FIVE ASPECTS
body composition.
mobility.
core.
strength.
cardio.
TRAINER INPUT-LED
For every aspect, trainer observes the member perform the carefully chosen movements & records the performance.
SYSTEM-LED SCORING
Member gets a score for every aspect based on the trainer input.
SIMPLIFYING TO SINGLE VALUE
A final score is generated based on the 5 aspect-level scores.
SOP TRAINING-LED
Trainers are trained to explain what various scores represent & help members set realistic goals.

GOAL: MAKE REPORT ACCESSIBLE & NUDGE FOR REASSESSMENT

Access report & book reassessment

PRODUCT DESIGN • 2023
How might we make it easy for members to access their past assessment reports?
Impact coming soon
ACCESS POINTS
EXPLORATIONS

Assessment-as-a-service has become a USP & a tool for PT Sales!

The personal training sales went up from ₹80k to ₹1.2L in 3 months per pilot gym with the introduction of a fitness manager & the assessment service at the 12 pilot gyms. Operations team will be scaling the service to 300+ gyms pan India.