MSPC App

Introduction

This wiki page has been created for the class of Sport Business Innovation at Bond University in order to track and expose the important aspects of a personal fitness app through a customer discovery process. The idea was created by Masters Student and current MSPC (Momentum Sports Performance Centre) Marketing Manager, Micah Dwayne Wilcher. This personal fitness app is known as the [http://momentumsports.com.au/mspc-app/ MSPC App] and the idea behind it is something of the new age with the technology available, which would ultimately allow the members of MSPC to carry the performance centre with them at all times. MSPC is a new and upcoming performance centre on the Gold Coast of Australia that focuses its target on people who consider themselves athletes. MSPC is in the process of truly differentiating themselves from the other competitors in the market of fitness and health and the idea of having an app molded to the specifications of the facility and its capabilities may help lengthen the gap in the differentiating process.

Project and Design Background

With the new introduction of firmPOS into the performance centre, MSPC now has the capability to connect with its members on a more personal basis by sending updates, individual workouts, promotions and internal ability to track any member regarding their frequency of the facility. The implementation of the club management technology is the driving force behind how this app would work based on the technology and system connection it could provide. The performance centre's website would also go hand in hand as users will eventually have the ability to sign in online and check their workout and nutrition outline for the month. The platform of the app would be focused on smart phones (i.e. iPhone or Blackberry) and or similar devices such as an iPad. The interface of the app design has four distinct buttons at the bottom. The first button is the home button where users can check and see all posts made by MSPC whether its through social media or blogging from the website. The second button is the myPlan button which would allow users to view their workout, nutrition plan, schedule appointments, track their goals, see their current progress, check any trainer comments, upgrade or deactivate their MSPC membership and have access to a archives section where they could see how far they have come. The third button labeled Gym Bag entails virtually everything to aid in a workout such as a tabata timer, stopwatch, round counter, access to music source (i.e. Pandora or personal music library), order gym equipment (i.e. jump rope, towels), see the MSPC calendar, investigate MSPC training tips and a discussion board to see what other MSPC members are talking about. The fourth and final button is the settings of the app where users could sign in, contact MSPC if needed, get directions to MSPC, view app FAQ, enable a sleep-mode based on notification settings, help page and instant access to the MSPC website.

Customer Discovery Process

The proposed idea for the customer development phase was to use a four-week model of introducing the MSPC App and getting possible key information about the reality of the App to current MSPC members. The customer development phase took place at the actual MSPC facility with a make shift booth set up at the front desk in order to become more in contact with the members on their way out of the gym. The timeframe of this process was exectued on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with the meetings aimed at a goal of no more than two minutes. The initial idea on how many MSPC members to talk to over the four weeks was 50 (which is about 30% of the population of the gym), however only 64% of that desired number was met. The front half of the population's age ranged from 18-37, but the age drastically decreased based on the members availability therefore a new population was hit. The second part of the population was the AFL Excellence Program members whose age ranged from 10-15. During the first week of the customer development phase, MSPC members were asked a series of questions on their thoughts of an MSPC App and also shown the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for the App. Based on the answers given in week 1, week 2 would be molded around the ability to slowly perfect the app as this trend would continue all the way up to week 4 using the previous week as a benchmark for the next week.

Customer Discovery Process Phase 1

The first week could be viewed as a success as a large majority of the population indeed owned a smart phone or planned on getting one in the near future. This opened up the feasibility for this App to come to life if it were ever created because that is how users would ultimately access the MSPC App. This first week was all about introducing the idea and showing the App off. Based on the introduction questions and MVP, a recommendations or users input was asked at the end of the 2 minute meeting on what they might like to see in this App that hasn't already been mentioned or shown. Those highlights of those results are show below:

User Input: "Love the Idea because this would allow them to remain more focused on achieving their goal"
User Input: "The idea of combing everything into the GymBag feature is key because I currently have multiple apps (i.e. tabata timer/stopwatch) to get me through whereas the MSPC does it all in one location"
Recommendation: Have a section where users could pair themselves up with other MSPC members to see how they are competing against each other in certain workouts

Customer Discovery Process Phase 2

The second week was difficult to reach out to the same week 1 customers to build off of their input and recommendations because some of the customers didn't repeat their weekly routine or ran out of time to meet. However, for the repeat customers and their previous knowledge from week 1, the customers seemed more enthused about the MSPC App. They obviously had more time to reflect on the ideas presented to them and that was seen through the answers to questions regarding if they would ever choose a gym simply based on that gym having a personalized App. A few of the responses were indifferent but a majority definitely agreed that it would be taken into consideration and ultimately depended on everything included in the App. The highlights of those meetins are listed below

Recommendation: On-the-Go Workouts (Basically if the user could not make it into the gym, having the ability to do a workout from home or whatever location they are in)
User Input: "Scheduling of Appointments can be hard sometimes but with this App the ability to coordinate everything in one location would be key."
Recommendation: With the Nutrition Plan, include recipes that MSPC members could use to go along with their plan

Customer Discovery Process Phase 3

Week three took a different turn as the members who I had targeted in the first two weeks continued the progressive trend of inability to sustain their weekly routine. I had only envisioned talking to the customers who I had met with in both the first week and second week. However, I saw this as an opportunity to engage the youth and find a little more about the demographics of the MSPC App by questioning the Junior AFL Excellence Program athletes whose ages differ from 10 years to 15 year. This young generation is more aware of the technology that is emerging especially through social media and a wide range of mobile apps, therefore their input and the timing of this experience is perfect based on the questions asked and MVP provided.

User Input: "Love the idea to be able to sign in for all forms of social media and then track it all on the MSPC Home Page."
Recommendation: Need to be able to post updates, find users, and upload pictures from MSPC App.
User Input: "The knowledge of Pandora is relatively new in Australia, but the youth once they heard they could customize a radio station saw this as a great element because they love to workout with music."

Customer Discovery Process Phase 4

Week four is the final week in the customer discovery process and the regular Friday meeting is not included. Only MSPC members who have been targeted during the first three weeks were targeted once again, including the Junior AFL Excellence Group. The changes that have been made can be seen as an accumulation of every input the MSPC members have provided as well as the recommendation.

Recommendation: Have the MSPC Trainer Tips in abundance to fill the idle time for users to use instead of playing a game or getting involved in social media. (How can you keep the user focused on their exercise and performance goals?)
User Input: "MVP interface is a great example of what the App may entail, thus providing a better knowledge of how it would ultimately work in comparison to simply stating words to build a picture."
User Input: "Can't wait to see it come to life one day! IF members claim to experience positve experiences from this resulting in them reaching their goals or surpassing them, then this may seriously blow the competitors away".

Customer Discovery Recap

Although the customer discovery process for the MSPC App illuminated a lot of positives, the overall goal of whether to pivot or proceed is still unanswered. A more comprehensive research about the members as a whole should greatly be considered because the ability to reach all desired members and retrieve their opinions on a consistent basis was rather difficult. Also, to truly figure out more about the reality of the MSPC App, a longer timeline of Customer Discovery must be executed due to the constant change in the modern world in order to obtain optimal results for Momentum Sports and it's personal App.

Discussion

Future

The future option for growth and differentiation from the market from an MSPC point of view zones in on the message they portray. Based on the services and high performance equipment they provide, it ultimately must follow suit and compete at a high level to maintain that high performance, best quality, Apple Company mindframe that MSPC tries to deliver. If they can portraty that message out to the public about being the best with their product, then it only may makes sense for MSPC to follow through with this App idea considering no other competitor operates this option. The modern world is hooked on technology and the ability to have a personalized App to view information about yourself and your progressions offers another element to what MSPC is all about in the vision of the company based on "Going Above & Beyond" for its members.

Changes to Website Through CDP

Due to the Customer Discovery Process, many doors were opened in reference to what people were excited about as far as MSPC goes. Based on the positive feedback during the 4 week process, a live poll (bottom left) was implemented onto the website in order to reach the people that may have not had a say about their MSPC opinions. The poll question asks the members what they like best about MSPC. Since the implementation of this poll in the middle of November 2012, a total of 21 votes have been confirmed with the results showing Staff ( 7 Votes/33%) having the highest total votes, followed by Performance Equipment (6 Votes/29%), Team Training and Website Blog tying (3 Votes A Piece/14%) and Facility Environment (2 Votes/10%). This growing information is very important in the molding process of the App because the results collected could direct us on what key facts MSPC may need to focus on when creating the MSPC App. Another change to the website included linking and polishing the social media aspects in order to ensure a perception about MSPC knowing how to use social media properly. This change included a more legible Twitter Feed, Blog Site with Twitter Retweet and Facebook Like opportunities. Also, the execution of linking everything up from Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to where you don't have to log on to each and every site whereas you can post 1 bit of info and then it leaks or generates a connection to all other active social media platforms.