About Equinox+

In partnership with Equinox clubs, Equinox+ is a fitness platform that offers live and on-demand classes from expert instructors. The content is cross-modality, so it serves everyone from strength training enthusiasts to meditation guru’s. Equinox+ also integrates with the physical in-club experience and retails an at-home bike.

My Role

Associate Design Director of Product—discovery and product thinking, all the way to high-fidelity designs and specs. I worked with another UX Designer, 2 Product Managers, a User Researcher, a Technical Product Manager, and 10+ Engineers.

Launched

June 2020
iOS, Android

Committing to physical and mental health is a tremendous undertaking, and many people who try a fitness program often drop out before reaching their goal. There isn’t a clear-cut solution to this problem, especially because physical and emotional barriers are so unique. We had the exciting opportunity to design and launch the first programs feature that not only gave our members a direct path towards achieving their goal, but promoted healthy habits along the way.

Problem

Programs, originally built by Personal Trainers, are a mechanism made to reach specific goals by sticking to a schedule that gradually advances. We’ve seen a few examples of them digitally, and they highly rely on self-guidance and motivation. This shift to digital, along with other experience gaps, are preventing people who use programs today from reaching their goal.

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To understand more about this problem, we reviewed the research which pointed to some of the obstacles and fundamental flaws in programs. I also facilitated a design sprint so we could dig deeper and rapidly test concepts. Throughout this project we tested often to validate solutions and to learn more about our audience’s pain points.

Challenges

We worked within the Equinox program framework and encountered technical, content, and human constraints throughout. By overcoming these, we were able to deliver a viable and iterative product. A few key challenges:

Customizations:
Members wanted it but we had technical limitations to start. We had to find ways to be explicit about program flexibilities and implications.

Motivation:
This was difficult to spark and maintain digitally. We had to re-define what success looked like in a program.

Program Guidance:
Educating, placing contextual queues, while influencing healthy habits are all critical to the member’s success. We had to surface those in a digestible way.

Content:
We had limited access to our recording studios due to COVID, which effected the amount of content on the platform. We had to improvise on our strategy.

Impact

Equinox+ Programs, Ready When You Are

By combining our unique class curation with a fluid, flexible, and expert-driven experience, our members could rely on Equinox+ programs to help them progress towards their goals. This feature offered significant value to the business too, particularly in how it created pathways into core offerings such as club memberships and training plans. For launch, we focused on the highest impact areas:

Personalization

We connected members to a recommended program that matched their target goal. They could now set up their schedule through a simple onboarding and get started on their watch.

Content Variety

The wide range of brands, instructors and modalities on Equinox+ gave program users a chance to broaden their fitness experience, while also making their schedule dynamic and engaging.

Education and Guidance

Giving members the information they needed, and at the right time, helped in building trust and confidence as they moved throughout their journey.

Progress Tracking

Members could focus on one day at a time while also tracking progress to stay accountable for the week. They always knew where they left off, and could quickly navigate to what was next.

Motivation

Through positive tone, memorable UI and animations, we encouraged all efforts and accomplishments, both large and small, so that our members could spark and maintain that inner-drive.

Flexibility

By including the functionality for small customizations, our members could now live in a world where conflicts wouldn’t prevent progress.

Outcomes

— Program users completed 15% more classes than non-program users.
— The number of weekly active users in the app increased.
— About 18% of active members enrolled in at least one program.

Version 2.0

An Iteration of Programs

One of the biggest influences driving the next iteration was technology. Between the new robust program engine and learnings from version 1.0, we had the opportunity to make this feature more impactful.

More Personalization

We moved away from pre-packaged programs to a truly personalized experience based on specific parameters. This was set up through an onboarding and physical assessment process, making the program tailored to the member.

Improving the Movement Player Experience

We learned from research the original player was difficult for our members to use. Since movement-based exercises were a big part of Programs 2.0, we led a full re-design to improve the experience.

Introducing Customizable Program Sessions

To encapsulate a day in a program, we designed a dedicated area for it. Members could swap workouts, as well as see tips about their program. This increased the level of guidance and customization that our members craved.