Product Teardown - Nike Training Club - Mobile App

Nike has been pushing boundaries in health-tech for some time now. I remember their early Nike+ Sports band kit (2008), Nike+ fuel bands (2013) that promised individuals of an active lifestyle. They were the pioneers in bringing this new accessible tech to consumers and eventually other companies caught on to this namely Pebble, Fitbit, Adidas (Mi-coach) and Apple.

I have been a considerable fitness, health and nutrition enthusiast. Over the years, I have tried various fitness formats like gym, functional fitness and CrossFit. I used to cycle and occasionally run to my previous workplace. Being a curious person helps me to think, question and analyze many things from signboards on the highway, aisles arrangement in supermarkets, mobile apps and much more.

Since the lockdown, various fitness apps have helped me plan a workout daily. I have particularly liked Nike Training Club app over the others. Their plans integrate a running module in addition to strength and conditioning. I have used it several times in the past but have never paid attention to several aspects of the app.

I took time and tried understanding different elements of the app as a user. Below is my understanding, observation and thoughts of Nike Training Club mobile app.

Nike Training Club (NTC) helps individuals to work out at any place, without any cost and tailors the workouts to individuals needs

Index

Below are the topics that I have covered in this analysis:

1. Registration
2. Onboarding
3. Experience
   • Workouts
   • Feed
   • Activity
   • Inbox
4. Overall

1. Registration

Nike has always been community-centric when it comes to their product launches, and it reflects in the language they have used throughout NTC. When you open the app for a new user, the screen mentions 'Join' instead of 'Sign-up or Register'.

Once the individual registers, it asks a few questions to personalize the experience. At this stage, I found a few interesting things:

• I didn't get any email from NTC about the app to the registered email address
• In the registration page though, it says sign-in instead of login. Whoopsies.
• If you look closely, you cannot skip the onboarding process
• It doesn't distract the user from uploading a display picture at this stage

2. Onboarding

When you click on 'Get Started' button, it asks two questions:

• gender
• and current active schedule

Observations

• The individual has to choose one of two genders mentioned, and there is no option of 'other' or 'don't want to disclose'
• I like how they have shown 'Female' 'Male' arrangement on the screen
• The onboarding screen specifies the number of filters (1/2 and 2/2) a user has before she/he discovers or engages with the core functionality

NTC doesn't ask the individual about her/his goal. It only asks individuals current active schedule and recommends the workout.

After choosing the gender and current active schedule, below are the two screens the individual sees:

• Achievement locker - virtual badges that one can earn (gamification element) and
• Language - surprisingly, NTC asks to select the language

3. Experience – core functionality

a. Workouts

Once you click on 'Okay', NTC recommends a personalized workout.

Observations

• NTC directly takes you to the workouts section in the app (check the app footer)
• It still doesn't ask you to upload a display picture
• It allows you to discover different types of workout in the 'Top Picks for You' section
• When you scroll horizontally, It enables you to find new workouts

When you still want to explore the app, by clicking browse NTC gives a plethora of options. It gives you an almost infinite number of possibilities that can outlast any excuses that you might have. The options range from:

• Muscle group
• Workout type
• Equipment

Scrolling further below, gives you more options based on time and athlete-specific.

Observations

• The discovery of exercises is on the muscle group, workout type and equipment. If you look closely, the filters are not time-specific. This logic could be due to the assumption that time is not an essential criterion when you select a workout in the beginning. If you choose a 5-minute workout but don't have any equipment required, you will exit the app. The same logic follows for the other two.
• NTC the large selection of workouts that are available in the app to persuade users to work out and have an active lifestyle. There are about 200 workouts in the app.

When you click on collections, you will find more workouts grouped in different catalogues.

b. Feed

When you on click feed, it helps you connect with people you might know on NTC platform. NTC asks your permission to access contacts to connect you with your friends.

Observation

• NTC doesn't ask you a bunch of permissions at the start of the customer journey. It is an excellent way to educate the user about the consent necessary for enhancing a particular feature.

The feed persuades the user to be active and highlights' workout of the week'. If you scroll down, it informs the duration and demystifies a popular belief of a workout.

When you enter the exercise, it re-informs the length, the level of intensity and the level of workout. It also gives a set of options for the user to set from displaying the exercise on a different screen via Airplay, audio preference and music source.

c. Activity

The core value NTC wants its users to engage is to discover more workouts and be active. When you click on the activity section, it shows your activity history and the achievement section. It also allows you to add an activity by clicking on + sign on the top right of the screen.

When you click on the achievement section, you see the badges you have earned on NTC.

d. Inbox

This section communicates various things to individuals from NTC. Again, if you read the content carefully under 'Progress Starts Today' NTC clearly says the core value that individuals get, is for them to pursue personal progress and not think about goals.

So they are emphasizing on the process and not the result. This mindset is the holy grail of excellence. Process > Result

4. Overall

• I particularly how NTC doesn't ask users permissions at the beginning of their journey.
• Content disconnect at the registration screen as well as selecting a language late in the onboarding process isn't what users would expect. The flow might be wrong, will do more reading about this flow and update it here.
• If you look closely, NTC doesn't give users the option of using the app through Facebook or Google sign-in. I wonder why?
• NTC help individuals to focus on their workouts without distracting them with secondary features.
• I haven't been bombarded with emails from NTC so far.

Learnings

• I will focus on user experiencing the core features and won't burden users with distractions.
• Keeping consistent CTA's on all registration pages will help users to sign-up quickly.
• Users get to choose language before their journey.

I am hoping to write a few more of these to improve my understanding of products. Thank you, Vindhya for helping me write a good blog article.

If you have any suggestion, thoughts or feedback, please share with me on twitter @anifooty