Zumba · dance fitness brand and app
Add chat threads where users talk about classes and their health journey
Users didn't engage; feature turned off
What they did
What happened
- Effort
- Built and shipped as a basic community feature
In their words
Optimizing Funnels, Pricing, and Retention at Zumba — Nicole Page & Lucy Levy, Zumba
Lucy Levylooking to unlock is how to build a a community through the app. The magic of Zumba, it's really in the power of the community. We really don't think that it can be replaced with a virtual experience. I think the in-person experience is is always going to win.
Lucy LevyBut we've tried with some basic feature of community. We we didn't succeed, so we turned it off, but we this year, and hopefully next year, we're going to have the we're going to dedicate time into thinking how can we make and build communities
Lucy Levyonline through the Zumba app, so we can actually
Nicole PaigeSo our first attempt at community was we had done some research and tested a few hypotheses for where we wanted to start, and our hypothesis was that people want to talk about the classes after they take them.
Nicole PaigeSo we ended up building a bunch of different chat threads that you could join and talk about the classes, or talk about a health journey, or talk about just starting out Zumba.
Nicole PaigeAnd we kind of were thinking, you know, "If if you build it, they will come." And we built these communities, and what we found was that people really didn't want to engage, not in the context of the class. They weren't looking to take the class and then go into a community and talk about it.
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Ask each user's goal, then put them in a matching workout programProgram users watched 2x as many videos; month-2 retention about doubled
- Let people pick a plan in the app, then pay on a bare web pageSign-ups fell 25% (35% at first) but lifetime value rose 17%
- On the web checkout, show Apple Pay or Google Pay first when availableHelped conversion a little; no numbers given
- Make onboarding longer: ask about goals and level, show value, recommend a programMuch higher paywall conversion than the short flow; no numbers given
- Show the paywall right after onboarding, before people see the appHelped overall conversion; no numbers given
- Give non-payers one free beginner class, then show the paywall when they stopHundreds of thousands of views; that paywall converts well, but no numbers
- Push new users to finish 3 classes: default weekly goal of 3 and a counterUsers who reach 3 classes are much more likely to stay
- After each class, celebrate, ask how hard it was, and suggest the next classMore people come back for their next class; no numbers given
- Send workout reminders at the day and hour each user usually works out
- Drop the free trial on the monthly plan and cut it from $19.99 to $14.99Great results per the guest; annual mix rose from ~30% to ~60% (other changes too)
- Give only a 7-day free trial on the annual plan, priced at $99Trial-to-paid rose from the 30s to ~56%; no drop in trial starts
- Interview people who quit after one class, not just your biggest fansFound many churners leave for live classes; shaped the beginner focus
- Build the app for shy beginners with easy, high-quality classes70-75% of new users say they're beginners; credited as a big retention shift
- Treat every launch as a test and check the numbers every morningGuests credit it for fast iteration; no numbers
- Run one instructor training and continue only if 60+ people show upAbout 120 came, double the bar; became the core instructor business
- Label the paywall button "Start Today"Won an A/B test of several button labels; no numbers
- Test sending paywall taps to a web checkout pageRealized LTV down 6% at first; fewer web subscribers turned off auto-renew
Tags: ios, android, in-app-community, chat