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How to Find Product-Market Fit:
A Case Study
Revitalizing Monetization Strategy for Askipo Health and Fitness App
Introduction
Background
Askipo is a comprehensive health and fitness mobile app, cherished by over 290,000 users for its diverse features including calorie, water, caffeine, period, and exercise tracking, alongside online dietitian and psychology services. Despite its popularity and utility, Askipo struggled to convert its free user base into paying customers, with its paid features failing to capture enough attention to generate a sustainable revenue stream.
The Challenge
The heart of Askipo's challenge lay in its inability to effectively monetize its offerings. Despite various experiments with monetization strategies, the startup couldn't establish a steady revenue flow, essential for its bootstrapped operation. A scattered focus among numerous app features made it difficult to pinpoint and communicate a clear value proposition to its users, leading to low conversion rates from free to paid users.
Taylan Tüfekçi, Founder; Askipo Health and Fitness App
"Three years into our journey at Askipo, a health and fitness app with over 290K+ users, we struggled with monetization despite our popularity. The structured approach of the 7 Fits Framework was a game-changer for us. Their methodical process, particularly the customer discovery interviews, provided profound insights into our users' needs and the jobs our app was hired to do.
The results were eye-opening. For a company well into its growth phase, realizing we had missed such critical user insights was both humbling and enlightening. 7 Fits Coach Ilke not only helped us see our value proposition in a new light but also guided us in rethinking our feature development to align more closely with our users' actual needs.
Although we're in the early stages of implementing these insights due to other priorities, the clarity and direction we've gained have already made a significant impact on our strategic planning. I'm deeply grateful for the 7 Fits Coach's guidance and highly recommend their services to any startup looking to truly understand and serve their market."
Our Approach
Analyzing the Current Situation:
Going Back to Basics with The Pre-Launch Fits
Our initial discussions with Askipo's founder highlighted fundamental issues in the app's business model, including a lack of clarity in its value proposition and mismatches in the 3 Pre-Launch Fits inspired by the Design Thinking; Customer-Problem Fit, Problem-Solution Fit, and Customer-Solution Fit. It became evident that Askipo needed to redefine the core problem it aimed to solve for its users and understand why its free users would consider purchasing its paid services.
Developing a Problem Hypothesis
The Askipo team and we collaboratively explored potential Problem Hypothesis Statements, applying the 7 Fits Framework towards achieving Product-Market Fit and introducing the Jobs to Be Done methodology to better understand user motivations.
Engaging in Customer Discovery
We conducted interviews with Askipo's users to validate or refute our problem hypotheses and uncover additional pain points. These discussions revealed a pattern of core functional jobs that Askipo's features could address more effectively.
Identifying Core Functional Jobs
Through analysis, we identified two core functional jobs with significant relevance to Askipo's offerings. We developed prototypes to visually represent these jobs within the app's context, testing them with users to gauge their potential impact on the app's value proposition.
Testing and Feedback
Initial feedback from a second round of user interviews was promising. Two prototype screens, designed to represent the core functional jobs, were particularly well-received, suggesting a clear path forward for Askipo to refine its offerings and better meet its users' needs.
Implementing the Findings
As of this writing, the Askipo team is in the midst of addressing other technical updates and has not yet implemented the recommended changes based on our findings. However, the groundwork has been laid for a strategic overhaul that could significantly enhance user engagement with paid features and, by extension, improve monetization.
On the way to Finding Product-Market Fit:
Conclusion and Next Steps
This case study underscores the critical importance of a clear value proposition and the alignment of product offerings with the core needs and jobs of the user base. For Askipo, the path forward involves a focused effort to implement the changes inspired by our customer discovery process. Although immediate results are pending due to the bootstrapped team's current priorities, the insights gained offer a promising avenue for Askipo to enhance its value to users and achieve a healthier revenue stream.
The experience with Askipo highlights broader lessons for startups:
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The journey to Product Market Fit and effective monetization is iterative and demands a deep understanding of the users' true needs.
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User growth can occasionally be deceptive, potentially serving as a misleading indicator of Product-Market Fit (PMF).
As Askipo prepares to act on these insights, the anticipation grows for the potential transformation in its business model and the subsequent impact on its success.