As part of my Thinkful Capstone project, my goal was to create an app that would appeal to cyclists who primarily ride their bikes to stay in shape or lose weight. To challenge myself, I decided to strategically create a product that would be a direct competitor to STRAVA. A fitness app that currently dominates the market and immensely caters to people who are avid cyclists.
Through extensive research and usability testing, I created an app that helps cyclists set fitness goals and plan out their rides. It also allows riders to be well informed about weather and route conditions to avoid unpleasant situations. As part of my solution, I created an immersive cadence experience of audio, touch, sound, and sight to help rides stay motivated when climbing on their rides. Lastly, drawing inspiration from AAA and UBER/Lyft type services. I designed an "assistance" section that connects riders to local bike shops to receive roadside assistance if they experience a flat tire. The concept also allows a cyclist to get connected to drivers who can transport them and their bike home should they need to cut their ride short for whatever reason.
What problem was I trying to solve?
Cyclists become unmotivated to exercise because they get bored riding the same routes or trails.
They have difficulty finding new places in their immediate area to ride their bike.
Research Survey Objective:
• Prove or deny my initial assumptions about cyclists.
• Find out what can lead cyclists to become unmotivated to ride their bikes.
• Develop a deeper understanding of a rider's biking habits.
•Uncover pain points a cyclist may commonly experience.
Participation Criteria:
• Participants must live in the U.S
• Own a non-motorized bicycle
• 18+ years of age
Recruitment Plan
At this point of my process, I quickly learned that the biking community is very diverse and has groups ranging from your casual city cyclist to cross-country biking. I didn't want to neglect any particular group, and my plan was to target and interact with as many groups as possible. I accomplished this by finding several forums on Facebook and Reddit dedicated to cycling enthusiasts.
Initially, my goal was to gather 25 to 35 survey responses. To my surprise, within 4 days, I recruited over 350 participants, with 98% of the participants passing the screener questions. When analyzing the responses I had gathered, the data didn't fully support my initial hypotheses. Here is what I uncovered.
I get bored and unmotivated when I continuously ride my bike on the same route or trail.
I get unmotivated to ride my bike because it's hard for me to find new routes or trails.
While my research didn't fully support my initial hypotheses. By analyzing both the quantitative and qualitative data I received, I uncovered several pain points. The information I gathered also helped me develop a more in-depth understanding of riders and discover what can lead them to become unmotivated to get their rides in.
69% agreed or strongly agreed that they do not like being bothered by things such as phone calls, texts, or push notifications during their rides.
70% indicated they set goals for themselves when going on their rides, such as burning more calories, beating their time, or riding longer distances.
82% indicated they ride their bike to stay in shape or lose weight
Cyclist are heavy tech users.
So what cause a rider to become unmotivated? Here is what I uncovered:
After analyzing the quantitative research from the open-ended questions on the survey, I deduced several pain points that riders commonly experience from analyzing the qualitative research I had gathered
During the process of sketching out my design solution, which was days after I had completed my competitive analysis. STRAVA launched a new update that literally addressed the first two bullets under the opportunity section. My challenge at this point was to conceptualize other key flows and features that would allow me to still produce a product that would be considered a direct competitor to STRAVA.
Provide a motivating experience that helps riders set and reach their fitness goals.
Keep riders very well informed about weather conditions to avoid undesirable riding conditions.
A "do not disturb" experience that riders can quickly activate.
Provide solutions for bicyclists when they experience mechanical issues or flat tires when on their rides.
Be well informed about route/trail conditions to plan accordingly or find alternatives if trails are congested or closed.
Educate users on proper hydration to make informed planned decisions on how much water to take on their ride.
Objective:
• Test the functionality and flow of the calendar function.
• Will users find the “route details screen” helpful.
• Uncover any missing elements in the “live ride dashboard” screen.
•Test the function and flow of the “assistance” feature of the app.
Recruitment Plan:
• Unmoderated user testing through maze.design
• Posting test link through various forums and groups on social media sites. The same forums I uncovered during my research phase.
• Outreach to survey responses who opted in to participate in further research studies.
This was such a fun project to work on! I was genuinely humbled by the overwhelmingly positive responses I received from the usability testers. So much that I'm strongly considering taking this to market and exploring different avenues I can make EverRide a reality. I even had several people reach out to me personally on social media, asking when the app would go live.