About Cult.fit
Cult.fit is a health and fitness app envisaging becoming a one-stop service for your overall health needs, including workouts, fitness programs, yoga, healthy meal kitchens, and mental well-being. It offers services in both online and offline formats.
Company Vision: "Building an ecosystem of fitness and healthcare and making being healthy easier."
Online Fitness Vertical
Video-based live classes. On-demand fitness sessions, Yoga and meditation, Weight loss transform packages.
Offline Fitness Vertical
Offline sessions with different workout formats. Access to different gyms across the city as per your needs and as per your plans.
Eat.fit Vertical
Focused on Healthy eating, a food delivery service with its own cloud kitchens with Eatfit website/Swiggy/Zomato as operational domains.
Cultsport
Apparel and equipment vertical selling cult merchandise.
Mind.fit
Therapy/Yoga sessions for mental health and well being.
Care.fit
Healthcare vertical with offline clinics and lab testing services.
Problem Statement
You are a product manager on the growth team of Cultfit. The team has been given a mandate of increasing the monthly revenue. What would be the top initiative you would drive to achieve this desired outcome? Assume you have infinite tech bandwidth.
Revenue Model
Most of the revenue comes from the Fitness vertical which is ~63% followed by the Eat.fit vertical which contributes ~35% in the revenue. Others consisted of about 3% of revenue.
As mentioned before Cult works in two formats online and offline. Cult consists of different subscription plans giving access to a variety of services offline or online. These services include access to ELITE/PRO gyms, access to unlimited at-home workouts with calorie trackers and weight loss programs, etc.
Apart from this Cultfit allows you to redeem 2 free trials to group workouts/gyms at any of your preferred Cult centers and a 7-day trial for Cult-home subscription plan.
Subscription-based Food delivery model: Eat.fit runs cloud kitchens that prepare meals and deliver them according to the service chosen. People can order as per the time slots of meals (breakfast, dinner, etc.), or they can go for Eat now option in which the meal is delivered in real-time. Eat fit also runs a subscription-based meal plan where users can subscribe to meals weekly or monthly. The meal timetable is flexible and diverse.
User Research on Fitness Practices
User Research consisted of three parts: User Surveys, User interviews, and Field Studies. While User Surveys gave a good insight into collective audience fitness practices, User interviews gave depth into what our users face in their fitness journeys. The third method was similar to usability testing but in this case, it required the interviewee to experience the user journey along with the User.
User Survey: Creating the Target User Profile
Major takeaways from the Survey conducted: 58 responses received. Gender split: 72% Male, 28% Female. Age Demographics: 18–24 yrs (69%), 25–30 yrs (26%). The target user segment usually works out more than 3-4 times a week. Major activities preferred: Sports Activities, working out in a gym and Eating healthy.
72%
Male respondents
28%
Female respondents
69%
Age 18–24 yrs
26%
Age 25–30 yrs
61%
Free trial usage
33%
Trial-to-subscription conversion
47%
Prefer personalized meal plans
46%
Prefer working out at home
41%
Prefer working out in gyms with trainers
- Top Fitness Goals: Emotional and Mental wellness (55%)
- Eating healthy and muscle-building (43% each)
- Improve metabolism (34%)
- Major dropout reasons answered in surveys: 1) I lack motivation (43%)
- 2) I don't have time to go to gym/classes etc. (34%)
- 3) I don't know where to start (19%)
User Interviews: Exploring the depth of pain points. 7 user interviews were taken while focusing on their fitness goals and their current practices. What are the friction points they face while targeting those and what they have done to rectify them.
“I prefer working out at home as I don't have time to go out and Youtube is a better and free alternative for Cultfit. It has a good recommendations and many influencers/gymnasts as well to guide through which feels more authentic.”
“Group classes feel like they are generalizing my fitness level with other people. I just started working out and don't want to injure or exhaust myself on the first day or rather get demotivated.”
“I ordered chole kulche from eatfit once and i was not sure how it was contributing to my healthy lifestyle.”
Field Studies: Cultfit Experience. Went to Cultfit Gym and Group classes with a friend for 7 days who took a subscription and was inactive for a while. Within the span of 7 days, I analyzed her behavior and emotional status.
Positive: From day 1 to day 7 we tried different types of classes and gym which made it more fun and interactive.
Negative: The pace was a bit rushed sometimes. Cannot track how attending several classes help with the goal which we seek out from Cultfit which was also a reason she became irregular before this experiment.
What users say about not taking/leaving subscription
"Changed subscription to a local gym" · "Felt I was better doing home gym/using play for football" · "Going to cult center is effort" · "I prefer local gym" · "Grew out of it" · "Commitment with the long term subscription, lack of flexibility and high subscription fees" · "the Centre was 5 kms from my place, it became a hassle, so left"
Mapping Business Outcomes to Product Outcomes
Business Outcome to be targeted
"Increase the Monthly revenue for Cultfit"
A major source of revenue for Cultfit comes from two verticals i.e. Fitness and Food delivery models. The revenue equations for both of them have been simplified to identify possible Product outcomes which will directly affect the Business outcome that we are targeting.
Business Model of Cultfit: It generates recurring revenue by creating a habit of exercise. The more people use it consistently, the more Cult will grow as a brand and a business as well. This business strategy is being kept in mind while diversifying into the equation.
The revenue equation has been divided into two verticals responsible for major revenue streams. This activity helps us to identify the product outcomes which can be focused on creating solutions as these outcomes act as a leading indicator that directly affects the business outcomes. In our case: An increase in Monthly Revenue. The product outcomes identified (in red boxes) in the given diagram.
As we saw in the User research some of the product outcomes sync with the major takeaways from the research. The possible solutions for the problem have been created while keeping the user research and the product outcomes in mind.
Detailed Analysis of the Problem
Why do we need to solve this problem now? The Fitness and Health industry saw a massive decline in revenue during COVID. But as things have started getting normal and people returning to gyms and being more health conscious, it has become a very important task to focus on user retention and market capture as we can see some competitors catching up eg. Healthifyme, iFIT, Noom etc.
FY22 has been kind to Cult as everything is coming back to normal as the pandemic recedes. But the increase in revenue has been possible at a loss of approximately 700 Cr.
Another reason to work on this problem is that the Global Fitness App Market size is expected to grow from $3,312.58 Million in 2019 to $13,016.77 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 25.61%.
How do we know it's a real problem?
While only 61% of people use the free trial by Cult, only 33% come back to take a subscription — Refer to the user survey insights from the previous slide. Cult has more than 200 centers all over India and according to the ORB52's research report, we get to know that 70% of Cult centers have less than 300 paying users. Its largest center in Delhi NCR has 20% occupancy vis a vis its capacity. And as these centers are rented, it becomes crucial for Cult to manage its revenues coming in to balance it out and eventually start making profits.
Defining the Job to Be Done
Inspiration: To look after my health and fitness by working out and eating healthy. Options: Everything is available on Youtube with a lot of information and can be used without fear of wasting any money. Cult centers or gyms are far from my place so I'd prefer a closer local gym. Pain points: I don't know where to start or how to track my health with enough motivation to continue after I have spent my money on it. JTBD: When I am looking to work on my health and fitness, but am not able to due to a lot of workloads and less motivation. Please help me in restarting my healthy practices so that I can improve my lifestyle for good.
User Persona
- VI
Vijay Verma, 26
Mumbai
Vijay is a Sr. BA at a fintech firm in Mumbai. He is living with his friends and is a huge travel enthusiast. He loves to go on treks but due to excess workload, he doesn't get time to condition his body for the same. He plays football with his colleagues and friends occasionally. During COVID, he switched to eating healthy and noticed drastic changes in his health and immunity. Post-pandemic he wishes to continue his healthy lifestyle along with hitting the gyms for maintaining a healthy body structure.
Goals
- Want to keep eating healthy and continue his lifestyle like before at home during the Pandemic.
- Want to hit the gym and work on toning his body structure.
- Want a flexible plan which can adjust to his work load.
Pain points
- Now that he shifted to Mumbai, away from his parent's house, eating healthy is a hassle.
- He has never been to a gym and doesn't know his way around different gym equipment.
- Doesn't want to spend a lot of money just to discontinue later.
- Social connection is very important when it comes to working out or doing any activity.
Proposed Solution
Possible Solutions and Their Prioritization
Cult Buddy: Your Virtual Guide
An AI powered Virtual Guide based on user information. Personalization is the key when it comes to an activity that is completely user driven. Understanding the fitness level of the user when they get onboarded and suggesting workouts based on their goals and the pace in which they want to achieve it. Guide the user on what are the type of exercises or workout regime they can follow along with an option of tracking their growth according to their goals.
- Pain points solved: A guided experience will help the users feel comfortable and being able to work out properly will give them a confidence boost on the day 1 itself. This is the start of creating a healthy habit which Cult is looking for.
- Validating the solution: As per the surveys and interviews, with 50% responses, the topmost dropout reason for the users is that they lack motivation and do not know where to start. Users don't feel assured of what they are doing is correct thus they drop out of it.
- Themes: Confidence boost, Engagement, Guided Experience
Cult Nutrition
Creating a Nutrition profile by planning their meals. Offering this solution as a separate subscription plan and included in ELITE and pro plans as well. Creating a meal recommendation model with the help of preferences of what type of food the user prefers. Profiling a user based on gender, the calorie range they want to consume, diet preferences, supplement preferences, etc. Create a plan for a day/week where the user has the flexibility to shuffle from their favorite meals. Cross-selling by nudging the user to pre-order their meals from Eatfit or giving a DIY option. A question-answer board with top nutritionists.
- Pain points solved: After the pandemic has receded, people have started focusing on their health and immunity levels. People don't know what kind of food is required to maintain a balanced diet and how a person can achieve their nutritional goals by Indian diet consumption which is a major pain point.
- Validating the solution: User survey suggests one of the top three fitness goals for people is to Eat healthily and improve their metabolism. Users feel they don't have enough knowledge about food and their nutritional value.
- Themes: Wellness, Balanced diet, Social experience
| Criteria | Cult Buddy | Cult Nutrition |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | Medium (Reach is less as the solution caters to users going to the gym/group Centre) | High (Reach is high as this solution is available to all the users irrespective of the type of workout they choose.) |
| Impact on Business outcomes | High (It solves for the major dropout reason due to the lack of motivation in users) | Medium (Increased orders for Eat.fit vertical bringing additional revenue along with Cult Nutrition plans) |
| Confidence | Low (The solution requires the user to look into the app again and again while working out which might become irritable) | High (No other competitor provides a Nutrition plan as per the user's preferences as of now) |
| Business Viability | Business effort will be required to create ML models and preparing workout segments for proper recommendations | The business effort will be comparatively less as the Cook at home section catalog already provides DIY recipes and Eat.fit vertical can be integrated for meal pre-order. |
Assumption
Tech bandwidth is taken as infinite. Both of the solutions help the users in their own way and are impacting the product outcomes identified in previous slides such as helping with the retention rate, conversion of users from trial users to subscribers, increasing cross-selling channels for Eatfit vertical, etc. But as per the prioritization, we are going ahead with Cult Nutrition as the winning solution as it will attract a new segment of users who are more focused on their nutritional needs and immunity while impacting current users as well.
Solution Chosen: Cult Nutrition
Steps taken for creating an MVP for the chosen solution: Feature brainstorming and High level Wireframes. Mind mapping. Listed down the needs of the customer and jobs to be done to get a rough idea of what features will be needed for MVP. Created user journey on pen and paper and then iterated on High level wireframe using Figma.
Cult Nutrition will be provided as a separate subscription plan and as a part of the Cult ELITE and PRO subscriptions along with a 7-day trial mode.
Cult NUTRITION is solving the major pain point for the users: the ability to understand one's nutrition profile. Eating healthy is now the most important priority for users post-pandemic. Immunity building seems to be the need of the hour.
Please Note
The Logic created for solutions is based on limited knowledge about nutritional needs. In a real-life scenario, this must be done with a thorough consultation with a Professional Nutritionist, and changes to the algorithms/logic be made accordingly.
Create a Nutrition profile
Once you have access to Nutrition subscription or trial access, the users will be taken for a profile creation. Users need to enter details such as age, height, weight, fitness goals, etc. This data is configured to calculate the calorie range which the user can consume as per the goals decided by them.
Section A: Feed
Feed will allow the users to have a community-like experience where the users can post about their meal prep and healthy lifestyle. Sharing meal prep has become quite a trend on Instagram stories and thus giving users a channel for the same would catalyze it.
Section B: Meal Planning
Users can see the calendar and the meal which has been planned for the day. They can select a date on the calendar to plan a meal for that date or select an option for planning the whole week. While planning for next meals the user will have the option for filtering their diet. A shuffle button has been given to the users to help them find what they want to eat. Option of adding more meal types like pre-workout has been given as well.
- Calorie intake in today's meal
- DIY menu or preorder options: gives the option to a user to either see a DIY recipe or to pre-order it through Eatfit vertical (cross-selling). They can complete the transaction by going to the cart and completing the order.
- Eat fit cross selling
Section C: Nutrition Profile
The profile section displays the users about their consumption trends. Other components like FAQs and suggestions can be added according to the consumption trends of the user.
Performance Metrics and System Design
NSM (North Star Metric)
Revenue generated by pre-order from the Nutrition vertical
NSM supporting metric
No. of users taking a subscription plan for Cult Nutrition
- Activation Metrics: No. of users who complete the Nutrition profile creation form.
- Activation Metrics: No. of users taking a 7-day free trial for the Cult NUTRITION plan.
| User Perspective | Business Perspective |
|---|---|
| No. of users planning at least one meal for a day. | Daily/Monthly Active users |
| No. of users pre-ordering at least one meal from their meal planning. | No. of pre-orders being created using the meal planner. |
| No. of users posting on the feed about their meal preps or lifestyle | No. of users buying the subscription plan for Cult Nutrition. |
| No. of users liking/commenting on other posts in the feed. | Percentage of ELITE and PRO members using the Nutrition section. |
- Retention Metrics: No. of users planning meals for more than a week.
- Retention Metrics: No. of users renewing their monthly plans.
- Tech Health Metrics: The time taken to shuffle the meals from the catalog is too much.
- Tech Health Metrics: Filter Changes not getting updated in real-time.
User Value Realization Through This Solution
For Users
- Changes in their lifestyle
- Immunity building
- Creating healthy eating habits
For Business
- Attracting new user segment
- Adding to the vision of creating a Health ecosystem.
- Decreasing acquisition costs through cross selling
Second Order Consequences
Second Order Consequences
The calorie range is decided by taking the user's goals into consideration. The calorie intake chart generated creates a negative impact on the user in case they cross the calorie intake limit. This can demotivate them to drop off from the app.
What Can Be Done?
Use of in-app notifications to make the user understand the importance of steady improvements in case of healthy living and using optimistic language by showing the achievements.
“Fitness is not a destination but a way of living.”