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Ladder · B2C · strength training app

Add a home-screen calendar widget that lights up workout days, and show how to install it

About a third of users have it; guest sees it correlate with retention

Workedretentionnotificationsword-of-mouth

What they did

Calendar widget lights up each day a workout is completed and launches workouts. Not shown as the first thing (trust not yet earned); positioned later, made to look good, with step-by-step install instructions since most people don't know how to add widgets. Acts as a home-screen billboard reminding users of their third workout, and strangers who see it ask about it.

What happened

~1/3 of users have the widget; retention correlation observed; some conversation/referrals from others seeing it.

In their words

The Art of Driving Retention Through Product – Ben Gammon, Ladder

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Ben Gammon… right? So, you have the check mark is what gives you like for a completed workout, you have to get three of those. And three of those equal a streak for a week. And then the widget is what takes that outside the app to, again, reinforce that. So, as you're scrolling your phone subconsciously or consciously, you're seeing that and has a huge effect to say like, "Oh, I need to remember to go do my third workout." Or there's that sense of pride.

Ben GammonAnd I think one of the things that's underrated about the widget too is other people see that, right? It might not happen often, but there's times where you're seeing as other people are swiping their phone, they see that widget and they're like, "What is that?" And that can drive conversation and referrals in a way as well.

David BarnardSo, do you have any sense for how many people install the widget and how that has impacted retention?

Ben GammonApproximately, I'd say a third of people have the widget. It's one of those things that benchmarks are tough. I think every product has different ways of doing stuff. So, whether a third is good or bad, it seems positive, right? We've definitely tried to increase that over time. And I think it matters when you pop that, it can't be the first thing that you show. You haven't earned that trust, but we've tried to position it and try to build it out where, again, it looks cool. You give them the instructions because it's not exactly intuitive for the majority of people. I think the people listening to this podcast, they all know how to do it, but the average person, it's difficult. But once you get it there, again, it's very, very powerful feature to serve as that billboard.

David BarnardYeah. And not every app is going to have a way to create a meaningful widget where people would want to have it on their home screen. But boy, if you can crack that, it really can be so powerful. And a third of your users having a billboard on their home screen is pretty cool. And yeah, it's like, I don't know what a benchmark would be. I should ask more guests this over time and people I talk to in the industry. But yeah, if you can unlock that …

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Tags: ios, widget, streaks, home-screen