Engagement & Retention project | Cult.Fit

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Let's Begin!

For this project, I have chosen a fitness and health company - Cult.Fit!

Why did I choose Cultfit?

1. I love it!
   I have been a regular user of Cultfit for almost 6 months now, which has helped me tremendously. I have made it an integral part of my fitness journey.
   I was a very old-school guy regarding his workouts and places he wanted to work out. I was not keen on fancy gyms or equipment but rather focused on what value that place brings to me in terms of pushing me, having guidance, and even the right company or competition.
2. Changing the industry
   I saw the first gym its founders started in HSR layout, which had an open model and were focused on MMA and fitness. I thought they wouldn't be able to make it big but once they got acquired and now that I see what Cult. fit has become from one single center, its amazing!
   They have become one of the largest fitness center chains across India with over 200 centers spread throughout all the major cities. They put an emphasis of having a healthy lifestyle by not missing any workouts and even having proper guidance on every level.
   

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Understanding Product

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As per the study published in the journal The Lancet Global Health – almost half of all Indians are not sufficiently physically active. Between 2000 and 2022, the number of adults who engaged in insufficient physical activity increased from a little over 22% to 49.4%. Women were found to be more physically inactive than men.
Now there are several reasons for this:

1. Bad lifestyle choices - No awareness of what is good and required for the body
2. Ease of ordering food
3. Busy lifestyle
4. No proper coaching
5. Influenced by various diets for weightloss
6. No regular sports activities

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Though these problems are being solved one step at a time with the help of fitness influencers and coaches who are taking online and offline classes, there is no one single holistic solution for all these problems.
And this is exactly where Cult Fit comes into the picture.

Cultfit is a perfect one-stop solution for all these problems. Let's take a lot at the features provided to help solve these:

1. Bad lifestyle choices:
   Cult provides Nutrition Coach Program which is an online personalised nutrition program curated based on your current lifestyle and goals with the help of a coach. The program is dobale from from anywhere making it easy to adapt to changing lifestyle.
2. Ease of Ordering Food:
   Cult provides a comprehensive guide to cooking meals at home. Each recipe provides detailed nutrition info, ingredients required and even the time taken. These recipes are categories based on different types of meals, style of cooking and even seasonal recipes are added regularly.
   For the people who absolutely are forced to order food from outside, there is Eat.fit which is a subsidiary of Cult.fit and is focused on providing healthy nutritious meal delivered to your doorstep.
3. Busy Lifestyle:
   For the users who are too busy to be regular at their nearby gym, Cult.Fit provides the users a detailed workout plan that can be done at home.
4. No proper coaching:
   Everytime a user check-in at the gym, he/she is assigned a trainer who is aware of his/her workout plans and helps for the day. Apart from this the users can also book a personal trainer who will be working with them through out their fitness journey.
5. Influenced by various diets for weightloss:
   Apart from working with a nutrition coach, Cult.fit also provides the user a possibility to select the weightloss program where the user will be working alongside a nutrition expert, fitness expert, mindset expert and a doctor to make sure the plans are apt for them.
6. No regular sports activities:
   Cult.fit provides the users a possibility to book badminton or table tennis arenas or even learn swimming. Apart from this the user can also attend group classes for activities like yoga, HRX, strength & conditioning etc.

And the best thing about Cult.Fit is that it provides all these services through their cult.fit app. I might even go one step further and say that this could be called a super-fitness app.

Knowing all these things, one could define the core value prop of Cult.Fit to be:

For individuals who want to lead a healthy lifestyle with proper coaching for exercise the Cult.fit is a fitness-tech company that provides various services through online and offline model to achieve these goals.

Though there are several offerings of Cult.fit, for this project, I am focusing on offering - Fitness anywhere & anytime, which means that we are focused on the user having a workout at home or at the gym with the assistance of a trainer or pre-designed program or even by just going to the fitness centers.
Since the core value prop is to provide various online and offline services, why are we ignoring the other services offered as they all together satisfy the need of the user - a healthy lifestyle?
I am not ignoring these services, I am considering these services as sub-products of the main offering - Fitness anywhere & anytime.
How?
For an individual to be leading a healthy lifestyle there has to be two aspects of it - Proper workouts and a nutritious diet, these go hand-in-hand. Once the user starts following a diet and doesn't see results, he or she is going to start working out or even go on walks and the vice-versa happens too. However, like I said earlier, for the sake of this project I am going to look at main offerings to be Workout oriented and the nutrition-oriented products to be sub-products.

How do users experience the core value prop of Cult.fit?
When a user takes subscription with Cult.fit, he/she would do so with an expectation to start an exercise routine. This means that irrespective of their schedule, they can either perform a home workout or go to a nearby fitness center for a workout session.

When they opt for home workouts:

1. They can opt for a live scheduled session - here the users can join a live class for different activities by booking them.
2. Home workout programs - Here the user can choose one of the pre-defined programs to be done at home. These programs are designed with 3 week workout plans.

When they opt for At center workouts:

1. Book cult class - Users can book a group class at nearby centers and choose one of the many options.
2. Gym check-in - Here the users can decide to go to a nearby gym or the specific location they have chosen and work there with an assigned trainer or a personal trainer.
3. Workout plan - These are plans that are designed based on the user's goals and can be performed at any center. The plans contain individual workouts with various videos to help the user.

What is the natural frequency of the core value prop or main product?
Natural frequency depends on the type of different users of the product - we will look at them in detail in the sections coming ahead.
But on average, we can consider the natural frequency to be 3-5 workouts per week. This can be either at home or at the center.
How can we decide that this is the natural frequency?
As per the NHS, the UK, an average adult between the age of 19-64 should get about 150 minutes of vigorous physical activity and this can be spread across 4-5 days/week. But keeping in mind the busy schedule of users, we guesstimate that 3-5 days/week would be a natural frequency.

Are there any sub-products? What are their natural frequency?
Yes, several of them are listed above but let's put them in one place and see.

1. Cook at home:
   Most people have 3 meals a day and sometimes the same meal is had twice, so its an product which can be used at least twice a day.
2. Weight loss program:
   Depends on the plan chosen by the user. Once it is purchased it would be renewed either after 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months.
3. Personal Training:
   This the user can try it out for a certain price but then fitness is not a one-time thing. It has to become part of user's life. Once the subscription is bought for a trainer, it can be renewed either monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly.
4. Nutrition Consultation:
   This again is a subscription-based product to work along side a nutrition coach which can be renewed quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly.
5. Online PT:
   Now here the users can work with coaches with a focus on either improving their lifestyle or any specific goals they have set. The subscription once bought can be renewed every month, 2 months or 3 months.
6. Sports:
   With people leading a busy lifestyle, ideally person would try to get at least 2-3 sessions per week.
7. Fitness store where users can buy apparels or equipment or accessories to complement their fitness journey:
   There is fitness equipment which is a one-time purchase.
   Apparel and accessories can be purchased 2-3 times a year.
8. Health & wellness focused on lab tests and Diabetes reversal:
   Lab tests are ideally done once a year or twice a year.
   The diabetes reversal program would be a yearly event.

What is the best engagement for this product?

• Frequency - Number of times a session is booked
  let's take a look at why
  

Why Frequency?

In simple words - The more exercises a user does at home or at the center, he/she will be closer to their fitness goals and this will prompt them to continue using the services and Cult.fit continues to make the world healthy and earn money.

1. More check-ins at the gym = more workouts done = user sees changes on body = continues to come to the gym and doesn't think twice before renewal.
2. Regular home workouts = user sees changes on body = continues to workout and doesn't think twice before renewal.
3. Regular support from trainers(people who like interacting with others) = means has been going to the gym regularly = feels more confident on the workouts and form = looks forward to learning more from the trainers = doesn't think twice before renewal.
4. Implementation of workout plans(people who don't want to interact much but want to learn) = understands the form and technique = feels confident and sees changes in body = continues to come to gym and doesn't think twice before renewal.

DEFINE:

What actions define an active user?

An active user is defined as someone who has realized the core value prop of the product. Now for our product, we have defined the core value prop as achieving fitness goals or lifestyle goals via online or offline services. So lets take a look at both cases.

When they opt for home workouts:

1. They can opt for a live scheduled session:
   An active user is somebody who has at least once scheduled a live session and joined the session.
2. Home workout programs:
   An active user is somebody who has chosen a home workout plan and has gone through at least 1 day's exercise routine.

When they opt for At center workouts:

1. Book cult class:
   The recency
2. Gym check-in:
   An Active user is somebody who has taken a gym membership and does at least one check-in at the gym.
3. Workout plan:
   An active user is somebody who has completed at least one workout routine as per the plan, logged their weights, and successfully finished it.​

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Customer Segmentation

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In order to define the segmentation, I will again bring the attention back to CVP of the product and what is the engagement metric we focused on.
So ideally we are looking at user segmentation based frequency of how they are doing or finishing their workout. Which means what?
I have categorized the below-mentioned ICPs into these segments:

1. Casual - Trial user, 1 or 3-month membership user, at-home workouts user.
   These users are categorized under casual users because they are still trying out the water. With the help of trial session or small duration memberships or even at home workouts, they are able to build their fitness slowly and if they do not like it, they can stop anytime. They also feel at ease as with these they do not feel the pressure of going to the gym because they have paid money.
2. Core - 3-6 months of pro or elite membership users.
   These users are categorized under core users because these are the individuals who are on their fitness journey and are enjoying them thoroughly. These individuals have gone through the initial hardship of muscle soreness, going to the gym regularly, following a new diet etc. These people are more focused on pushing themselves to the next level and for this reason, they also want to explore other group classes that are present or perform home workouts so that they don't miss a day.
3. Power - 6-12 months of pro or elite membership users.
   These users are the ones who are serious about their routines, they follow their diet and workouts to the dot and have been doing so for a long period. They are ready to make an investment for long duration because they know they will not budge from this. They participate in other options provided by their memberships like group classes, personal plan etc.

To create the above-mentioned segmentation and the ICPs for this product, I actually spoke to almost 12 users of Cult.fit - several of them from my gym, looked for some particular users from friends circle who were working out at home and even got introduced to people who have come to try out the center (thanks to Nithin at the gym).

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Engagement Campaign

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Retention Design

Understand:

Bird's eye view

1. What is the current retention rate in terms of users?
   As per several data published over various studies, it seems that Cult.fit is one of the most successful organisations in the fitness industry.
   They have a NPS score of 84% and a retention rate of 75%(data based on 2022).
   From an article published by Akshay Rajwade (ex- Chief Product Officer of Cure.fit), 80% of current users would recommend these services to their friends and 60% of churned users want to join back.
2. At what time period does the retention curve flatten?
   Since I was not able to find real data for this, I did some research on human behavior/habit-forming behavior and extrapolated the user findings to determine how the curve would move. (This is just a guess work)
   
   Starting a fitness journey is mainly about consistency, dedication, and changing habits. The first thing that is most challenging for a human when they start a fitness journey is to focus to loose their old habits and form some new ones. For any human, it takes about 21 days to form a habit, so I believe we could see a big churn in users by M1.
   If they surpass this then comes the topic of consistency. A human is always looking for results or validations for the actions they do and the same goes on fitness too. For a person to see changes in his physique, it would take anywhere between 60-90 days. Since the human forms a habit of workout, they are more likely to see better results by M3. Hence the churn would reduce by this period.
   And the curve stabilises as we reach M5-M6, this is where a healthy lifestyle has become integral part of human life and he/she would always want to go hit the gym or do a workout at home. I believe this is where the curve flatens.

• M0 (post trial class) --> 100% retention
• M1 --> 85% retention
• M3 --> 80% retention
• M5-M6 --> 75% retention.

Microscopic view

1. What channels drive the best retention?

• Referral
  A lot of people choose a gym where they would have a workout buddy or somebody has referred it because of certain features or needs of the user.
• Push notifications about fitness & challenges
  This is a big motivational push that comes for users when they have missed workouts for a long time or they have been doing good and they see what kind of consistency are they seeing.
• Membership management offers
  Lot of the people churn out after they have taken a break or had an injury. Management of membership really provides them the flexibility to come back.
• Keeping track of your buddy's progress
  This provides users a much-needed push when they see their friends actually being regular and getting ahead of them in the competition.

2. What sub-features or sub-products drive the best retention?

• Weight loss program:
  Its not easy to find a plan like the one given by cult.fit which includes various experts helping the user achieve their goal and keeping them accountable. It would be renewed either after 3 months, 6 months, or 12 months.
• Personal Training:
  Generally, traditional fitness centers would push to get a personal trainer but in Cult.fit its a user's choice. So the user doesn't feel compelled and get assurance that they can get good assistance for their workouts.
• Nutrition Consultation:
  Where else do you get a nutritionist at the same fitness center or app? This again is a subscription-based product to work alongside a nutrition coach which can be renewed quarterly, half-yearly, or yearly.
• Sports:
  With people leading a busy lifestyle, ideally, person would try to get at least 2-3 sessions per week.
  And users can buy memberships for a specific activity like swimming, badminton or table tennis or the users can buy a package for all three.
• Fitness store where users can buy apparels or equipment or accessories to complement their fitness journey:
  They get special offers for their memberships which make these products much cheaper than what is it is on the outside market.
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Churn

1. Top reasons for churn:
   For this exercise it was difficult to get good insights because I was speaking to people who were at the gym or are newly acquired. So I get them a hypothetical question - "If you were to discontine your membership, what would be the reason?
   I also put some points from my past experiences as I consider myself to be a Core segment user at this point. And went back to my friends who were fit once and have a pot belly now 😜
   P.S: I am only focusing on the Voluntary reasons here

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2. What are the negative actions you will look for?
   In order to check the negative actions, we will look at the what are the actions users are doing which is stopping them from experiencing the CVP. If the user is unable to experience the CVP, they would churn out easily.

When they opt for home workouts:

1. They can opt for a live scheduled session:
   --> Not attending the live sessions.
   --> Last-minute cancellations.
   --> Not being able to keep up with the class.
   
2. Home workout programs:
   --> Leaving the workout in the middle of it.
   --> Not being regular in workouts.
   --> Not looking for a later schedule option.

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When they opt for At center workouts:

1. Book cult class:
   --> Not attending the class.
   --> Last-minute cancellations.
   --> Being irregular in classes.
2. Gym check-in:
   --> User not reaching the gym and checking in.
   --> User reaching the gym but not checking in (Doen't find value in the offerings)
3. Workout plan:
   --> Skipping through the workout videos.
   --> Not logging key exercise weights.
   --> Submitting incomplete logs.
   --> Not interacting with weekly reports.

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Resurrection Campaign

As per the reports of 2022, Cult.fit still spends a huge chunk of money in acquiring new customers and it takes a huge commitment from a human being to start working out or even make changes to their habits. So we will look to resurrect Trial users or casual users who have left us.

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