I was reading through old emails while backing up my Gmail inbox with Gmvault, an open source command-line tool. Among other interesting trips to memory lane, one message was about the first startup user study I was involved with. It was for a life-coaching startup that eventually failed. In retrospect, it’s interesting to reflect on what went wrong and how we could have improved. In that spirit, I’m sharing these notes on the user study.
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Okay, here’s my analysis based on user feedback.
We have three big issues to tackle at the moment:
- value
- mobilizing users
- clarity and purpose of the service
Value refers to a) providing such benefits customers want to pay for and b) setting the right price point.
Mobilizing refers to practical issue of getting customers to use the service on daily basis – i.e. facilitating the data input process as much as possible.
Clarity refers to layout and functionality of the site.
1. VALUE
a) Problem:
Are users willing to pay for the service?
“Sivusto ei tuonut mitään uutta tässä vaiheessa muihin vastaavanlaisiin sivustoihin verrattuna, paitsi jos sivustonne pysyy ilmaisena.” (“The site doesn’t bring anything new compared to other similar sites, except if it stays free.”)
-> There’s a need to introduce features people are willing to pay for.
I’ll doubt they’d pay at the moment, although we should have asked that in the feedback form.
Solutions:
-> Creating a mobile version for paying customers (cf. Spotify)
“Ehdottomasti mobiiliversiota tarvitaan.” (“A mobile version is absolutely needed.”)
I agree that an optimized version for mobile phones is needed. Technically this would require mobile device detection and loading appropriate html+css files to fit the smaller resolution. Later on, if the service succeeds, an iPhone/Android app would be great 🙂
-> Other additional features for paying users such as meal (1) and training recommendations (2) (integrated in the app)
(1) “You could include an suggestion for the diet. You now have something like 50% proteins, 30% Carbo., 20% fat, but would be great to see already a diet suggestion based on that.
“It could include in the categories some traditional dishes like: Fish and potatos, Pasta and tomato, Kebak, etc…”
This was a constant concern by many respondents. As Valtteri suggested earlier, building meals is a great way of providing value. We could for example divide them to three categories based on nutritional values: snacks (välipalat), light meal (kevyt ateria) and heavy meal (raskas ateria). By combining these three, the service could propose a personalised diet based on consumption and need of calories calculated from person’s weight and other factors.
Also users could be given the possibility to add own meals and make them public for other users, as suggested in this comment:
“Yksittäisten ruokalajien sijaan voisi lisätä malliannoksia ja tarvittaessa muokata niitä samalla tavalla, miten annos pitää nyt koota täysin itse.”
(2) Another idea is creating a mentoring/peer supporting system that enables users to get support
b) Problem: “How much you’re thinking to charge the subscription?”
Solutions:
- Yearly fee of 25€
- Monthly fee of 2.95€ (“less than coffee cup in Starbucks” 🙂
Free of charge -> revenue coming from advertisements/affiliate marketing
So, I think we’ll need to make a decision now of whether to offer the service for free and acquire sponsors, or make it paid and introduce such features that would increase likelihood of paying.
Also, we can think of providing a free version for free and premium with extra features for a small fee.
2. MOBILIZING USERS
Problem: Users are too lazy/busy to add daily information, ergo the app is not used actively.
“In general I think that it is really great, but the problem is to add the information on a daily basis…. :(“
“Jos palvelua alkaa käyttää niin on riskinä, että sitä vain kokeilee, eikä käytä jatkuvasti”
Solutions:
-> Creating a mobile version that allows on-the-go editing of profile
-> Creating a scheduled email system that allows easy updating (“Did you do the assigned training? Answer ‘yes’ to this message and information is updated automatically to your Muscler profile”)
-> Making it possible to update via sms? (requires an sms gateway + might be complex to use)
-> Creating community pressure for using the service (assigning personal mentors who have access to a person’s progress data — while conserving anonymity)
-> Offering rewards after completing milestones (e.g. reductions of sponsor products such as proteins)
3. CLARITY AND PURPOSE
“On vähän epäselvä. Ohjeet voisi olla vaikka tyyliä ‘ranskalaiset viivat’ settiä” (“A bit unclear. Bulleted instructions needed”)
“Parantakaa/tiivistäkää putkea, joka alkaa tarvoitteiden asetannasta ja etenee seurannan aloittamiseen ja raportteihin, tällä hetkellä minun tulee itse välillä muistaa edetä seuraavaan kohtaan ilman kehhoitusta/vinkkiä” (“Improve the process starting from setting goals to tracking and reports – atm, i have to remember to move myself”)
“Tutoriaali tai step-by-step-ohjeet olisivat hyvät :)” (“tutorial or step-by-step instructions would be great”)
-> Inserting tooltips
-> Creating “Proceed to [next]” buttons (Proceed to Tracking/Reports)
-> Creating a “How to use?” page
Besides the video, a separate “How to use?” page is needed. a bullet-type list would do ok, like suggested by the user. it could contain steps of using the service along with links, being short and simple.
“Mitä tarkoittaa tarkalleen Vahvistus tai ‘Lisää kestävyyttä’. Näistä olisi hyvä olla tietoa, sillä eri lajien ihmiset saattavat nähdä nuo eri tavoin.”
(“What does strenghten or more endurance mean?”)
-> Maybe these could be removed and focus on mass increase?
4. Bugs & Language
“Suosittelisitko palvelua ystävillesi?” kohdassa sanasta “Kyllä” puuttuu toinen l-kirjain (“Kylä”). :)”
-> Kylä should be Kyllä on feedback page
“Tavoite laatikon perässä saisi olla mitä yksikköä siinä halutaan”
-> Add units after goal form field to clarify what is asked.
“Kun lisäsin ruokia omalle “tililleni”, ei missään tuntunut olevan hiilihydraatteja. Se valikko, mistä ruuat valitaan, voisi olla selkeämpi (esim. isompi ja ADD-nappula aina samassa kohtaa). Haku-toiminto ruoka-aineille olisi myös kätevä.”
-> search function for nutrition, bigger add button with fixed position
“Itse tykkään etsiä aina lisätietoja varsinkin tällaisista urheiluun liittyvistä aiheista, joista löytyy aina monia mielipiteitä. Siksi olisin kaivannut esim. linkkejä lisätietoon “The Harris Benedict Equation” -menetelmästä”
-> Insert a link to “The Harris Benedict Equation”
“-Report is showing for today: 364% ACHIEVED (!!??)”
This is an issue I spotted myself, too. There must be something bizarre in the calculation formula, or can you give me example of a proper diet of 100% per day for let’s say a person weighing 60kg?
“- Many times a orange button option is dimmed, and little confusing (do I need to enter more infp? Does it work?)”
-> The button should be yellow in normal state and changed in mouseover, not other way around.
In reports/diet, “viikottain” should be “viikoittain”
Traning advice -> Training advice
Also, server location still shows Ukraine. There’s still some timelag which can be annoying.
There’s a logic problem -> when i insert a weightlifting training of 5 x 35kg in goals and then go into tracking, i shouldn’t reinsert the same stuff. i should be able to select the activity and then check that it’s done. if the weight was different, it should be changed in goals and not here.
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