Fiit Website eCommerce
Optimising the website for free trial and checkout conversion improvements
When
2018-2021
Team
UX / Product designer / Researcher (me)
Product Manager
Head of Engineering
Visual designer / agency branding
Results
The foundation created is used to this day - Fiit.tv
Up to 100k monthly visits converted to 10k weekly active users on the platform
Media coverage - Tech Radar and Wired articles
1. Challenge
Fiit launched its highly rated interactive fitness platform in 2018 and by 2022 Fiit’s ecosystem included mobile apps, TV (Sky, Amazon) apps, web app and even physical studios in partnership with the Gym Group. I joined Fiit at the very beginning - I defined the UX for the launch website, then optimised it for free trial and helped turn more visitors into paying subscribers.
The website had a few key goals:
Teach users about unique features of the interactive Fiit experience (vs Youtube videos or other apps)
Explain membership options
Educate about the Fiit device
Provide a seamless checkout experience
2. Customer experience
One of the first steps I took was to sit down with the founders, marketing and head of product to create a holistic map of the whole end-to-end experience - from awareness to churn. The website was one of the key touchpoints in creating awareness and driving sign ups.
The underlying strategy was to invest heavily into fitness influencers on Instagram and drive traffic to the website, where they would convert into paying Fiit customers.
3. User Focus Group
To determine the structure, content design and messaging on Fiit’s website, I arranged an in-person focus group with potential users. We gathered feedback on early website wireframes and competition concepts. The main concern was around using more aggressive wording like ‘addictive fitness’ and displaying competition / stats visuals. We learned that users generally liked these concepts, wanted an extra push, and (some) loved the interactive competitive features like leaderboards.
User Focus Group materials - testing website landing page messaging and competition visuals
3. Mapping out user flows
For the launch of the Fiit platform, I created a set of wireframes for the website. They were based on the outcomes of the focus groups and specific business and technical requirements.
Some challenges at this point:
The Fiit device had to be purchased as part of the sign-up process to ensure a truly connected experience (e.g. it counted number of reps user does, not just heart rate)
Fiit was not available outside of the UK
Promoting extra ‘Fiit kit’ items for a better class experience (e.g. TV cable, Fiit mat)
Homepage and Studio page wires showing some early thinking and a mobile-first approach.
4. Multi-step checkout journey
In order to upsell the Fiit device and Fiit kit items, the original checkout process ended up split into several pages. When I looked at data to assess performance of this design, I saw that only a small % of users made it to the end of the checkout. I started to think how to simplify the checkout.
Original checkout designs of the multi-step checkout journey on Fiit’s website. Only 1% of users made it to the success page.
5. Shorter checkout
After multiple design iterations and reviews with product, marketing and engineering, we agreed on the vision for reducing the length of checkout.
Dependencies were:
Changing strategy to not making Fiit device mandatory during sign up
Free trial enabled in-app and on the web
Creation of a separate eshop to upsell Fiit kit items
After implementing these initiatives, the journey was shortened and we saw a 10x uplift in people starting free trials. This pushed more people into the platform but created more challenges with activation and engagement.
A shorter 2 step checkout designs - pushing 1000s more users to create Fiit subscriptions
6. Web Usability Studies
The WHAT: I set up several usability studies (Userlytics) and reviewed data heatmaps (Fullstory) to understand where on the pages the users were spending the most time.
The WHY: Conducted remote tests with users to understand areas of confusion and how the UX could be improved.
Fullstory tool showing heatmaps of clicks. In this test version the ‘free’ tab was taking away users from the sign up journey.
Remote usability studies - users reviewing the pricing options on the homepage. Users’ faces have been blurred to respect privacy.
7. Free vs Free Trial
Initially we tested a promotion that allowed users to enjoy 30 days of Fiit for free. However, it could only be used when signing up on the web and 30 days proved to be too long a trial. Most users tried the platform for a few days - up to 2 weeks.
The decision was to roll out 14 day free trials across the web and in-app sign up journeys.
8. More free trial testing
Working closely with the marketing team, I designed and tested multiple combinations of the Membership section on the Homepage to arrive at the most optimal combination of pricing plans, free trial and special promotions.
Key learnings:
Quarterly and Monthly plans were both most selected (40% each)
Annual was only 20% of sign ups due to commitment
Engagement of users on the Monthly plan dropped earlier than those on Quarterly, so it was important to upsell it where possible.
9. Device decoupling
When the Fiit device was no longer required to sign up for Fiit (users could go unconnected or use wearables like Apple Watch). This was a crucial step in increasing conversion.
Users could select ‘I have a tracker’ in the checkout. Conversion on the payment page increased. Note: this work happened alongside steps reduction and free trial roll-out, so it’s showing the longer checkout funnel.
Impact
The foundation I created for the website is still used today in 2024 - Fiit.tv
Up to 100k visits a month converted to around 10k weekly active users on the platform during my time (likely higher in 2024)
Great media coverage - Tech Radar and Wired articles
