Ladder · B2C · strength training app
Add nutrition tracking to a workout app after users asked for it in the survey
Early read: users doing both convert and stay much more; no numbers yet
Workedfeature-developmentretentionupsell-expansion
What they did
Nutrition was the clearest signal in the end-of-2024 survey. Researched from first principles what methods work and what users use today; built over ~a year (started early last year) and launched. Because 100 days is too short for retention, they judge it with compressed indicators: week 2/3/4 retention and whether users log consistently on day 1 and day 2. They segment 'hybrid users' who use both workouts and nutrition.
What happened
~100 days in, hybrid users convert at a much higher rate when new and are much more retentive.
- Effort
- Roughly a year-long build, bigger than usual projects
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · The Art of Driving Retention Through Product – Ben Gammon, Ladder“So, what is week two, week three, week four retention? And we're starting to get really in the weeds of, okay, if you can go upstream, if you just think about nutrition as a standalone product, how do they log? Do they log consistently in day one, day two?”
“we call them hybrid users. Those who are using both the workouts and nutrition, they're driving conversion if they're new, right?”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from Ladder
All 12 Ladder tactics- Target serious runners with training plans that adapt after every runWon the race-training niche; later bought by Strava
- Ask goal questions up front, then pair each user with a matching coachConverted a host who thought the app wasn't for him
- Let other users cheer you on live while you work outGetting cheered correlated with higher retention; exact numbers not recalled
- Sign a celebrity like Hilary Duff for brand adsBig influx almost at once, secondhand; ROI hard to measure
- Borrow up to 80% of ad spend, repaid from each month's new usersUsed by Ladder; 10% yearly interest, no equity given up; only for big proven apps
More from this episode
- Ladder: Read your five-star reviews to find the result users want, then target 3 workouts a weekBecame the goal the whole product is built around; no retention numbers given
- Ladder: Let users log reps and weights, then suggest next weights and show their progress70-75% of users now log every workout; guest sees it correlate with retention
- Ladder: Have coaches tell users to log their weights mid-workout, not in a help pageJournal use climbed to 70-75% of workouts; guest calls it 10x more effective than FAQs
- Ladder: Add a home-screen calendar widget that lights up workout days, and show how to install itAbout a third of users have it; guest sees it correlate with retention
- Ladder: Give a check mark per workout and a weekly streak for 3 of themGuest says it reinforces the 3-a-week habit; no numbers
- Ladder: Run a big yearly user survey and use AI to read the answers7,500+ responses in a year; led directly to the nutrition feature