Rethinking Fitbit’s future software vision
Date: 2018
Role: Design Lead, IC
Project type: Product strategy, vision development, persona and user journey development, business transformation
In Fall 2018, I was asked by my immediate Design Manager and Design Director to jump onboard a project to help transform Fitbit’s business model in order to increase recurring revenue. At the time, Fitbit was still very much hardware-focused even though they had acquired two software companies (Fitstar and Twine Health). So, from a product perspective, the goal was to come up with “the next million dollar idea” that showed the value and impact of rethinking the future software experience, and articulating that thinking in a vision narrative that would eventually be shared at the upcoming QBR—one month away.
Below is a high-level breakdown of my process with my design partner, Stephanie. Details are intentionally vague due to the proprietary nature of this project. If you’d like, I’m happy to discuss the project in more detail upon request.
Product’s ask
At 4:00pm on a Thursday, I walked into a conference room with three Product Managers, 1 UX Researcher, 1 Designer, and my Design Director. For two hours, the lead PM was soliciting ideas from the group in order to create “the next million dollar idea.” Furthermore, he said that the idea should be built around the concept of “weight loss” because of its viability as a revenue generator.
Having been at multiple health and wellness companies who had sought to transform the weight loss industry themselves, I knew that this wasn’t a simple problem to solve due to the varying degrees of user behaviors and habits. Additionally, weight loss is more than just activity and nutrition—it’s a holistic health problem that involves other core pillars of sleep and mindfulness. However, being at Fitbit made it feel like solving this problem was well within reach.
Due to its strong battery life, users typically wear their Fitbit devices 24/7, giving the company access to multitudes of data, behavior patterns, and inferences that serve as its competitive advantage. So, if Fitbit could leverage its hardware, Design, and R&D functions, as well as the expertise and talent of its acquired products and teams, the company could definitely transform itself from being just about “wearables” to being a holistic health company that integrates its hardware and software experiences to personalize and foster behavior change, weight loss, and other positive health outcomes.
So, an hour-and-a-half into the meeting, I threw out a question to the group—”what if we focused on the idea of coaching? Fitbit Coach (formerly, Fitstar) is already like one’s personal trainer, users perceive Insights as a coaching voice, and, taking that a step further, you could imagine that someone could have a personal dietician or sleep coach.”
Aligning around this idea of personalized coaching, UX Research then went to work digging through previous studies to harvest supportive data, and the lead PM designated Design in charge of creating this user-centric, future software vision.
Starting with the user
Weight loss is challenging, and building habits that promote consistency is hard. So, in order to reimagine a future software experience that better helps users achieve their health and wellness goals, we had to understand and empathize with their journey, regardless of focus area. To do this, we created the User Journey Cycle (UJC).
The idea behind the UJC is that, with anything a user sets out to do, whether that’s deciding what to make for dinner tonight, completing a half marathon, losing 15lbs., etc., they essentially go through four phases of setting a goal, creating a plan to achieve that goal, making progress towards that goal, and eventually celebrating achieving that goal. Then, once they achieve their goal and celebrate the outcome, they can quickly create a new goal to one-up their previous one or repeat the overall process in general. Understanding the user journey in this way allowed us to map the Fitbit product experience to each of these phases, and then identify areas of opportunity to build, support, and maintain user engagement throughout their journey.
User Journey Cycle.
Fitbit product offering today (left) vs. the future (right).
HMW create user value and generate revenue?
Having mapped where the product currently was and where it could eventually be in terms of the user’s journey, we then thought about monetization strategy and how we might expect users to pay for such a digital software experience.
Taking a step back, the current Fitbit experience was very DIY—users hack their own health and wellness journey with little support or guidance. From a user perspective, users wouldn’t want to pay for something that they could continue to do themselves, and we as a business shouldn’t expect that. So, if users are craving more guidance and support to stay on track with reaching their health goals, how might we create subscription tiers based on the idea of increased guidance, support, and accountability?
“If Fitbit were a person, it would be a friend or my gym buddy. I’d like it to be more like a coach: tell me what to do rather than just coming along for the ride.”
User narratives
Once we aligned on our strategic approach to reimagining the future software experience, it was then time to prepare our pitch to executives and business stakeholders. So, what better way to make this business case than to tell a story from the eyes of the user?
Partnering with UX Research, we first developed three software personas that spoke to the three strategic areas of our product offering—condition management (Leah), weight loss (Lauren), and performance/activity tracking (Luke).
Since market research validated that our target user was Lauren, we explicitly chose to craft a narrative that focused on that persona, articulating the highs and lows of her 6-month weight loss journey, and how Fitbit was able to help support, guide, and motivate her to stay on track despite life’s curve balls.
At a high level: Lauren onboarded to Fitbit by setting a goal (weight loss); she tried Programs as way to have some structured guidance; she learned more about her behaviors and habits with the help of personalized insights; she earned rewards for her continued engagement and healthy habits; she eventually worked with a personal coach for increased accountability and tailored action plans when times got tough; and she became a Community ambassador to inspire and motivate other Fitbit users.
Sample screens from Lauren’s journey narrative.
Getting the green light
As we shared initial drafts of our vision strategy and narrative with Product leadership and executives, we started to build momentum and excitement for the future of Fitbit. Five presentations and one month later, we were asked to present our thinking at QBR, and soon after we received the green light to make this vision happen. Post-green light, Product Management reclaimed the project in order to chart an iterative plan with Engineering for phasing and rolling out this vision to the public.
Fast-forward to today
What was once a future software vision is now alive and thriving in the form of Fitbit, Fitbit Premium, and Fitbit Premium + Coaching. In just less than a year since launching in 2019, Fitbit Premium has reached more than 500,000 paid users, proving that its business model transformation is resonating with users and their health and wellness journeys. Fitbit is also advancing its brand perception of being more than just steps-tracking and devices—it’s a digital health company that integrates its hardware and software experiences to help users lead healthier, more active lives.
