Add a feature project: Adidas training and fast-food
Did you ask yourself, when seing the title, “Is she really going to tell us that Adidas training’s users will be able to order fast-food directly through the app?”, “Is she really going to implement this feature?”. Hell yes, or at least this was the challenge from Iron Hack I accepted ! Here is the story behind this unexpected feature.
1. Overview
Step 1:Brief
As you might understood, I was asked to work on a new feature on Adidas training application. This feature being the fact that users could order Fast food through it. I needed to find a solution to transform what seemed completely unrealistic into something almost logical. It included creating a prototype within five days by myself, no team work this time.
Step 2: Industry facts
Let’s first remind you what does Adidas Training exactly. It is actually different from Adidas Running, some people confuse both. With Adidas Training, you have access to many different trainings and you can customize it according to your needs. You can even have a customized workout plan. The point is to be able to train from anywhere, with or without equipment, during the time you want.
I started this project by quickly analyzing in which industry Adidas training is standing. It was actually hard to find numbers on the fitness training applications itself. I discovered that it is a booming industry, in part due to the coronavirus context. Indeed, the number of downloads of fitness & health apps increased by 40% in one semester after the beginning of the lockdown in March 2020 (in France). People spent 113 million hours on fitness apps , during the week of March 22th 2020. Impressive, right ?
Let’s also mention an interesting fact for our subject: the most regular users are between 18 and 29 users, which is the same age range for the people who loves the most eating fast-food.
Step 3: Competitive feature analysis
If Adidas training is one of the most downloaded (more than 10 millions times) and the most liked (4,7/10 with more than 100 000 ratings on the App Store), let’s not forget that it has serious competition.
I compared what it is offering with Nike Training and Freeletics, and we can say that it is hard to differentiate them. Adidas training is the only one offering nutrition advice, but we will discover later that none of our users knew about this feature. Myself, as a user, use all of these three different apps because their features are the same but the programs they are offering are various.
2. Discovery phase
Step 1: User interviews and insights
After making a quick review of the industry, I interviewed five different people, from 25 to 52, who were all users of Adidas training (occasionally or regularly). Most of them indicated me that they did not feel confortable eating fast-food after a training session, they would feel guilty as it is unhealthy. They mentionned that they would rather have nutrition advice on Adidas Training or something linked with healthy food. The fact is, it already exists on this application, but none of them noticed it and used it.
Step 2: Value proposition, new feature
The problem we have is the fact that people did not understand the link between fast-food and fitness. They want to lose weight when they use this kind of application and fast-food is opposed to this idea. My solution and the new pivot for this project is to erase guilt and increase motivation by setting up a point-earning system. How does it work ?
- Our users will gain points everytime they will complete a training.
- Once they will have enough points, they will unlock a level, allowing them to order one cheat-meal.
- Every level offers a discount over their order. For example, the level one corresponds to a 10% discount, the level 2 to a 20% discount.
- Once they order their cheatmeal, they can not order another one before reaching the next level.
3. Product definition
Step 1: Low and mid-fidelity prototypes
Once my feature was clear, I draw a low-fidelity prototype before building the mid-fidelity.
As you will see I did not change much things between the low-fidelity and the mid-fidelity prototype, except for the second step which is one of the most important. I added the progress bar for the level of points.
Step 2: User testing guide
I wrote down a complete user testing guide, to do the users testing after building the mid-fidelity prototype:
- I first explained what is UX Design, what is our project, and what I will ask them to do. I, of course, asked them if they agree to be recorded.
- I asked them to do few tasks in a specific order, to understand how they were interacting with the new feature. I first asked them to order their first cheat meal and the second mission was to check where was their order.
- I then tried to understand what they liked or did not like about the application and the feature, and how I could improve their experience.
4. High-fi Prototype
The feedback was very positive, they said the application and functionnalities were smooth and intuitive, but I had to change small things that bothered the users. I modified some pages to make it clearer for them:
The “Cheat Meals” screen
The graph was unclear for some people, and some mentionned that they wanted to see all the levels and not just the next one. The wording “sur votre prochaine commande” was not right as the discount was going to be applied on this order and not on the next one.
Choosing the menu with as few calories as possible
I noticed that our users hesitated to confirm their menu, I added a button bellow each card to make it more visual. I was also adviced to put calories bellow the name of the menu, which I did.
Overlay confirming the user’s order
I had to change the interaction part of this stage, because the overlay was disappearing (and leading back to the main page) too quickly, users did not have time to read what was written over it. I added more time to this interaction in order to make it readable
Checking where is the order
I blurred the first part because it was not clear for our users that they would not be able to order another cheat meal right away.
And that is it! We have our final prototype, ready to launch.
You can interact yourself with the prototype to see how the steps are articulated:
Key learnings
I worked very hard on this project and was quite satisfied when I completed it, I got positive feedback. So one key learning would be: work always pays off! But I know I can do better. I think I lost a lot of time on small things on Figma, which is normal because I don’t master this tool yet. But I need to keep learning, and keep watching tutorials to improve my skills.
I also noticed the difference between working alone and with a team. You go as fast as you want, you do not depend on other people, but on the other hand it takes much longer and you do not have anyone to rely on if you have problems. I think I like doing both, working alone and with a team.
Thank you for reading my article, feel free to comment! See you soon with another exciting project.
