Fitness Apps

For instructors, consumers, and the front desk

33%

Increase in productivity

94%

Positive feedback from major brands

87P

ESS (Employee Satisfaction Score)

The Challenge

Establishing a Ground-Up Ecosystem for Fitness Users: Integrating Instructors, Customers, and Front Desk Operations

Zenoti, a leading unicorn brand, empowers over 25,000 businesses globally across 50 countries with its advanced cloud solutions tailored for the wellness industry.

In 2019, Zenoti expanded its portfolio to include fitness solutions, introducing a comprehensive suite of tools and applications designed to enhance the experience for front desk staff, management, and the customers of entities such as CorePower Yoga and Planet Fitness, among others. This initiative aimed to streamline booking processes within their platforms, marking a significant step into a domain where MindBody was considered the primary competitor. This strategic expansion into fitness solutions underscores Zenoti's commitment to innovation and its dedication to addressing the evolving needs of the wellness industry.

Metrics and Goals

Product Strategy:

Develop a comprehensive ecosystem that includes a web-based solution for client integration and dedicated apps for instructors and consumers, ensuring seamless connectivity and functionality.

Unified Ecosystem: Web and mobile apps for clients, instructors, and consumers
Roster and Class Management: Simplified creation, modification, and viewing of classes
Seamless Integration: Web solution for client websites
Consumer and Instructor Apps: Dedicated apps for booking and class management

KPIs:

Adoption Rate: Achieve a 40% adoption rate within the first year among targeted gyms and fitness studios, with a goal to increase by 10% annually.
Class Management Efficiency: Reduce the time required to create, modify, or cancel classes by 25% within 6 months
Integration Success: Maintain 99.9% uptime for web integrations
User Engagement: Aim for a 20% quarter-over-quarter growth in Daily Active Users (DAUs) and Monthly Active Users (MAUs) in the first year.
Customer Satisfaction: Achieve an Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 75+ within the first year

Role & Responsibilities

Collaborating closely with our Project Manager, product specialists, and key stakeholders, I embarked on a journey to deeply understand our clients' requirements and the intricacies of their existing systems.

Over a span of two years, I was instrumental in architecting a comprehensive solution tailored for front desk operators, alongside developing native mobile applications for both fitness and yoga instructors and end users. Due to confidentiality bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), specific details of this work remain undisclosed. My role was pivotal in bridging the gap between user needs and technological execution, ensuring a seamless integration of our innovative solutions into the clients' operational framework.

Discovery

In the discovery phase, I conducted a competitive analysis with a focus on MindBody, our main competitor, to understand the landscape for SaaS solutions in the fitness sector. This critical step informed our product strategy and highlighted key areas for differentiation and innovation.

Discovery Process Highlights:

Competitive Analysis: Benchmark against competitors like MindBody and OrangeTheory Fitness.
User Research: Insights from front desk staff, instructors, and end users.
Market Assessment: Identify market gaps and opportunities.
Technology Evaluation: Ensure compatibility with existing client technologies.
Product Strategy Formation: Craft a strategy that meets user needs, leverages market opportunities, and aligns with KPIs such as adoption rates and customer satisfaction.

Key Steps:

Stakeholder and User Identification: Determine impacted parties for targeted insights.
Data Gathering and Analysis: Collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data.
Insight Synthesis: Turn data into actionable insights for product development.
Vision and Goals Definition: Set a clear product vision and goals based on user needs and business objectives.
Hypotheses Development and Validation: Test assumptions through prototypes or MVPs to refine the product strategy.

This streamlined approach to discovery laid the groundwork for developing our targeted and effective fitness ecosystem solutions.

Mood-Boarding & Ideation

After compiling data from the competitive and comparative markets, I sought inspiration for user flows and dashboards specific to fitness-related activities, such as class booking, roster views, and instructor management. This led to the creation of a mood board filled with conceptual artwork and interfaces from various fitness apps, providing a rich visual reference that encapsulated potential design directions and user experience paradigms.

The mood board helps transition from abstract understanding and insights into tangible design inspirations. It allowed me visualize what's ahead of us, and to visually explore potential aesthetics, user interface elements, and the overall feel of the application. This exploration serves as a bridge between the theoretical findings of the discovery phase and the practical design solutions we'd develop next.

The mood board served as a springboard for the ideation phase, where we began translating these visual inspirations into actionable design concepts. This process involved:

Brainstorming Sessions: Engaging in collaborative brainstorming sessions with the project team to explore a wide range of ideas and functionalities that could enhance the user experience, drawing directly from the mood board.
Sketching and Wireframing: Rapidly sketching out user flows and interface layouts to visualize how users would interact with the fitness app, from booking classes to accessing instructor profiles.
Concept Validation: Presenting initial concepts to a select group of users and stakeholders for feedback, ensuring our designs aligned with user needs and expectations.
Iterative Design Development: Refining our ideas based on feedback, iterating through designs to hone in on the most viable and impactful solutions for our users.

After mood-boarding, I moved into ideation, transforming research insights into concrete design ideas. This phase was crucial for brainstorming features and user flows, sketching wireframes, and defining the app's user journey. It was here that creativity fused with data, guiding me toward innovative solutions tailored to our users' needs.

Focusing Problem-Solving Efforts

After completing the visual research and engaging in thorough discussions with stakeholders, product specialists, and our customers, I transitioned from broad ideation to focusing on specific problem-solving efforts. This critical juncture involved refining the plethora of ideas into actionable designs ready for user testing and further discussion with our customers.

This phase was characterized by a meticulous selection process where the most promising solutions were developed into prototypes. These prototypes represented our response to the user needs and gaps we had identified, encapsulating the essence of our design thinking in tangible forms. Although I am bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that restricts the details I can share, it's important to note that this stage was pivotal. It marked our move from conceptualization to the practical evaluation of our ideas, ensuring they were not only innovative but also viable and aligned with our users' expectations.

Below, I would have loved to showcase some of the designs that emerged from this process. Unfortunately, due to the NDA agreement, I am unable to share more details. However, this phase was instrumental in propelling our project forward, enabling us to gather valuable feedback from user testing and refine our solutions to better meet our customers' needs.

Establishing UI and the Design System

From the outset, our UI design was initially influenced by our first major client, CorePower Yoga, setting the stage for our design language. However, as our customer base expanded to include major names like Planet Fitness and numerous small businesses, the need for a more flexible and universal design approach became evident.

In response, I developed a design system that not only ensured consistency across our product suite but also allowed for significant customization. Clients could tailor key UI elements, such as buttons and headers, with their brand colors, enhancing brand identity while maintaining a cohesive user experience. Crucially, this flexibility was designed with foresight, anticipating the expansion of our customer base even when we had only one client.

Despite offering customization, we meticulously adhered to color contrast rules and accessibility standards, ensuring that our design choices were inclusive and user-friendly.

This approach underscored our commitment to a design that was both adaptable and accessible, catering to a wide range of customer needs without compromising on usability.

Final Design

During the finalization phase, my focus was on crafting a design that seamlessly integrated the revolutionary AI-driven scheduling recommendations into the daily and weekly workflow of our users. The goal was to empower busy managers and business owners with a tool that offered clear, at-a-glance insights into optimal staff scheduling. Through meticulous design decisions, I ensured that the recommendations were not only accurate but also presented in an easily digestible format.

The interface underwent refinements to feature a user-friendly display of daily and weekly scheduling suggestions, strategically organized to provide instant visibility. A click of a button became the gateway to unlocking the power of AI-generated recommendations, allowing users to effortlessly access insights that could potentially revolutionize their staff management strategies.

This intuitive design approach not only elevated the user experience but also aligned with the overarching objective of SmartShifts – to simplify and enhance the scheduling process for businesses in the wellness industry. The finalized design, with its user-centric features and seamless access to AI recommendations, set the stage for a product that would empower users to make informed and efficient staff scheduling decisions with just a click.

Front Desk Operations

Post-Launch Analysis

After launching our fitness apps, we conducted a detailed post-launch analysis, emphasizing data-driven insights to gauge performance and user satisfaction. Through advanced analytics, we examined user interactions, capturing essential engagement moments and behaviors. This analysis confirmed our design decisions, showing a positive reception and strong user alignment. These insights not only validated the success of our fitness solutions but also reinforced our commitment to continuous improvement based on user feedback, driving enhancements to better serve the evolving wellness industry.

The Impact

The transformative impact of Zenoti's suite of fitness solutions on our clientele is both profound and far-reaching, underscoring the effectiveness of our comprehensive and user-centric design. From CorePower Yoga to InCycle, businesses across the fitness industry have experienced unparalleled operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Courtney Gruber, COO of CorePower Yoga, praises Zenoti for its ability to unify data across over 230 locations, ensuring consistently exceptional experiences for students nationwide. Similarly, Cathy Miller, owner and founder of InCycle, highlights the seamless transition to Zenoti, noting immediate comfort among instructors and members, maintained efficiency, and significant cost savings. These testimonials vividly illustrate how Zenoti's innovative solutions have become integral to enhancing business operations, streamlining service offerings, and fostering growth, making it an indispensable partner in the fitness industry. Read more here.