How well do you think most people abide by their new year’s resolutions of better fitness regimes?
While it used to be good old fashioned guilt that did the trick, the proliferation of wearable devices has created an entirely new market for users looking to weave healthier habits through technology. With it, businesses have been able to impact user experience in the form of mobile health apps and data services.
In fact, according to the 2015 Citrix Mobile Analytics Report, fitness increases its dominance of mobile health apps, with 78% of mobile health app users using fitness apps, up from 39% in 2013.
But how does a company in the health industry attract the right mobile users for regular adoption of their app in such a crowded marketplace? Especially when home screen real-estate for app usage is scarce and 65% of consumers fail to download any news apps each month.
If you’re 8fit, a fitness app that gets you in shape by helping you work out from home, you saddle interesting and relevant content with smart targeting, a personalized distribution plan, and a subscription offer that could turn a couch potato into a triathlete.
Addressing Campaign Dependencies
With a ton of fitness apps available, biased and misleading reviews in the app store, and not enough data storage for the average person to properly test what’s available, it can be a hard choice for consumers to whittle down. Some may even give up before getting there.
Why? Because often, although some may develop an intention to change their health behaviour, they might not follow through with an action. That action could be the actual download of a fitness app, and/or the subsequent steps involved after download which require regular use from the user in order to stick with a fitness program.
Commonly referred to as the intention-behaviour gap, a company specialising in fitness such as 8Fit would have to address this discrepancy and mediate between the two in order to make an impact.
According to academic publisher, Routledge, this can be done through detailed action planning, perceived self-efficacy, and self-regulatory strategies. So, 8fit considered the content strategy for their campaign.
Using content as a value proposition
Unlike other fitness apps, 8fit sought to bridge the intention-behavior gap and gain momentum in the market by using step-by-step instructions to explain how users can achieve their fitness goals.
With personalised fitness content to help people stay active, 8fit was able to attract potential users to its online magazine and ultimately to their app, where they could continue to encourage audiences to adopt and maintain regular exercise.
From beginners to active users, 8fit’s evergreen content included instructions for workouts, information about weight loss, and healthy recipes highlighting how easy it is to get fit.
Motivating through tactical implementation
In order for audiences to succeed with their content, 8fit had to first get their content into the hands of the right users. That meant a powerful distribution plan, and an ability to target mobile users, particularly of the iPhone variety.
Enabled by Outbrain’s premium publisher network, 8fit was able to reach new audiences targeted for fitness interests on their desired iOS.
But they knew that just as you can lead a horse to water but can’t make it drink, you can lead a person to your content but you can’t make them sign-up for a subscription.
So, they placed specific call-to-actions across their content to motivate users to install the fitness app and optimised their Outbrain campaign with the objective of converting app installations into subscriptions.
The impact of strategic content and distribution
Within a period of 4 months, starting in October 2015, the 8fit app was downloaded several hundred thousand times.
That meant a stronger opportunity to further close the intention-behavior gap through personalised workout and nutrition plans that aim to help people stay active, as well as an increased mobile app adoption rate.
In a saturated app marketplace, “8fit came with an extremely open attitude where testing and learning was welcome, and which ultimately led us to show a strong ROI” explained Magdalena Flick, Senior Account Strategist DACH Outbrain.
Scalable success boiled down to the right inspirational content, its ability to convert, targeting with precise granularity, and the ability to reach audiences at the right time, guiding them through the action planning process to better fitness in that moment of positive intention.
For more Content Marketing tips & insights visit the Outbrain Blog.
Eirini Pan is European marketing manager at Outbrain
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