Over the past two months, I’ve been using Intercom to send an in-app message to every single Push Training device that comes online.
Hey, happy to see you here! How did you find us?
BTW, this isn't an automated message! I like to reach out to some of the new users like you to hear about what brought them in.
The responses have been incredibly insightful. Some replied instantly with how they discovered Push Training, and some ignored the prompt altogether and just provided direct feedback.
Why DM Every User
I initially added in-app chat as a way to reach out to users to ask for feedback. The first user to try the free product and purchase a subscription was incredibly active and accumulated hours in the app, yet I knew nothing about them, what prompted them to try Push Training, and what kept them coming back. Because the app doesn’t require an account, I had absolutely no way to contact this power user. My solution was to implement Intercom’s chat in the app, allowing me to contact users who had not created accounts. The power user updated their app, and I sent them an enthusiastic message. I could see that they read the message, but ultimately, they didn’t reply!
I then tried thinking of ways to expand the reach to other users. I added a video message from me that appeared after a user’s first run, directing them to the chat to provide feedback. While users did watch the video, few ever reached out through the chat. Since I wasn’t getting a higher number of responses, I left the in-app chat feature tucked away under the Settings view and didn’t think much about it.
Several weeks passed until one day, I listened to a particular episode of the Sub Club podcast. The guest, Greg Stewart, from another consumer fitness app, Ladder, said in the podcast:
“We learned that for every person that was answering the quiz, three were going directly to the App Store. And they were taking a screenshot of the ad. They were sharing it with themselves. And I talked to these people. Once they're in the app, I'm DMing them. Like, how'd you get here? Like, I'm trying to extract and learn.”
That little podcast snippet unlocked something for me. I needed to increase my top-of-funnel for 1:1 communication. Instead of reaching out to the top users in one-off cases, I decided to start sending a message to every single device that came online. I crafted a short, friendly message, asking one simple question that's easy to reply to, and included a callout to the message not being automated.
Flooded with Feedback
The results have been incredible. Still, only a small percent of users reply, but increasing the number of conversations initiated has increased the amount of feedback received. Below are just a handful of the replies I've gotten from my initial message. Give them a quick skim and see if you notice what I notice.
"I was looking for a treadmill app and tried this one pretty pleased with it"
"Hi Jacob. I did a search in the App Store for treadmill workouts and found you. I used to be a half marathon runner so I’m excited to get going again!"
"Hi! Thank you for reaching out. I found you guys on App Store honestly. I wanted an app that gives a diverse selection of guided treadmill workout and really liked what I saw on your app."
"Hey Jacob I founded this app in the AppStore I like it"
"Hi! This is such a cool concept! I came across the app by searching for treadmill apps on the Apple Store and push came up after looking through a few others. I landed on push because of the treadmill focus and music aspect WITH real voice coaching ( not automated bot sound or bleeps). Excited to dig in!"
"Hi Jacob I found this app when I was searching for workout apps this one popped up. It stood out because I have a treadmill at home and I use it often and I walk on it and I would like to try different workouts for the treadmill."
"Hey Jacob. I was just searching new workout apps that seemed relatively affordable for a year. This seemed motivational but also not douchy."
"Hey what’s up? Found the app in a search on my apple phone great simple app to keep me moving! First few runs have been great! Getting into the mode and not stopping!"
"I saw an an ad and been trying to get back into running, can’t find something that keeps me motivated..... Well i really loved the app, and you got a new member for the year! 😁"
"I found you guys in the App Store and you seemed like the best app"
"i need to get back to running for weight loss and mental health. facebook ad."
"Helllo!! I’m looking to push myself and increase my VO2 max. I would like to incorporate more treadmill hiit and was looking for something that I could do on my own."
"Hello! I saw the add on instagram and I typically see ads for work out apps on instagram, but since this one was purely for running I was more interested. I love to run and always run in competitions when I can."
"I was just looking for a running app that is good on treadmills."
"Does your app sync with apple watch?"
"I believe I found you on instagram. I look forward to starting your program!!"
"Hello, i just did a search on the App Store and came across it. I wanted to try an alternative to the fitness app. The fact that you pay for it, without a trial makes me reluctant to try though.... Actually, i just read the FAQs at the bottom and saw that i could close the pay wall to have a look at the app, so all good."
"hey, i recently bought a treadmill and i found this app in the app store. the app makes your running experience much more fun!"
"I think it was a Facebook app I saw. I’m enjoying it! Is there a program containing workouts in a specific order, or is it the user selects a workout each time? As a new user it’s rather daunting to look at a long list of workouts and try to figure out which is best for me at any given time."
"I thought the workout was good. I didn’t really like the music choices but played over them with my own music. Wish it synced with my Apple health."
"I was looking around for treadmill training apps to get back into running and found this one on the App Store. Thought I’d try the free trial and go from there (how did first run go?) It was great! And the other run I did today went well too. Enjoying the pacing and alternating speeds for sure"
"Been running in the treadmill for about a month, needed more motivation to keep running. Did a simple Apple Store search and found this! Now I need a spin bike app, can you work on that? ..... Either way, this is a great product, I tell everyone when it comes up in conversation. A family subscription might be something, too."
"Hi Jacob, I purchased a new treadmill which had some apps available and other 3rd party ones recommended but I didn’t like them. So I did a search in the App Store for treadmill apps and yours popped up and looked good so I decided to give it a try. Have used once and liked it so it’s the one I am now using (day 2 today 😁)"
"Hi! I was looking for an app to help me start running on the treadmill. Your’s was interesting and had different levels."
Three Insights Gained
1. People are searching for treadmill apps
Time and time again, I hear from people that they went searching for treadmill apps on the Apple App Store. Being a builder first, I did not heavily research the search volume of treadmill apps before starting. I instead started with the fact that I wanted this app, a general hypothesis about others, and checked my list of 5 hard requirements before getting started. The total organic search volume may not be enough to sustain the business, but one thing is for sure: people are looking for treadmill-focused apps.
2. Users are eager to share more than what was asked
While some messages are short and to the point, some include extra insights and product feedback I didn’t need to ask for.
“I landed on push because of the treadmill focus and music aspect WITH real voice coaching ( not automated bot sound or bleeps)” expands on why they selected Push Training and what they don’t like about other apps.
“I love to run and always run in competitions when I can” sheds some light on what kind of users are coming in.
“A family subscription might be something, too,” offers valuable product feedback.
Out of respect for user privacy, I’ve omitted some more personal details that users have decided to share in their initial replies. I am amazed that such a simple prompt has led to people sharing their personal journey, health and fitness background, struggles with body dysmorphia and motivations, history of weight gains, and goals in life.
3. The messages are helping people get started
I generally send messages once a day, and even then, I don’t include devices that first came online in the first few hours. This is because 1) I only initiate messages when I’m available to respond to replies, and 2) I don’t want the message to come in so fast that people think it’s an automated bot. This delay means most users have had the app for 12-36 hours before getting my message. A surprise was that some users replied to me from the onboarding flow. I didn’t have a chat button in this flow, but the chat UI shows a banner over all other views when there is a new message! This flow was not intentional as I implemented in-app chat, but it turned out to be a great feature.
“The fact that you pay for it, without a trial makes me reluctant to try though.... Actually, i just read the FAQs at the bottom and saw that i could close the pay wall to have a look at the app, so all good.” is an example of a user that had dropped off at the paywall, and then later re-opened the app because the message push notification was sent out.
"Does your app sync with apple watch?" is not related to the initial message I sent, but because I made the initial contact, this lowered the barrier to entry for this user to ask me a question about the app. I was able to quickly reply with instructions on how to use Push Training with the Apple Watch, to which they replied with, "Wonderful! Thank you!"
Factors Leading to Success
Several changes have led to the successful use of in-app chat, including the work done in the previous months to build a connection with the user early in their app journey. Read more about how I introduce myself to the user with a walkthrough video in my post: Building with Jacob: The Living Room Turned Studio.
The in-app chat feature has also been promoted from a section in the Settings view to holding one of the positions in the main tab view. This change greatly increases the visibility—especially when an unread message exists.
Lastly, it is incredibly time-consuming to message every user, especially in the Intercom web dashboard. I was spending time each day searching for new users that came online within the last 7 days, but not within the past 24 hours, and that have not yet received a message. And because of the limitations of Intercom, I found myself doing a lot of manual cross-reference checking between different device IDs and user IDs to ensure I wasn’t messaging the same end user multiple times. To make this process faster, and with the help of my web engineer extraordinaire, Christine Luu, I built a simple tool that kicks off several queries to determine which IDs should receive this message. I’m then able to type the message and send it to this set of IDs without manually searching Intercom and doing a lot of copying/pasting. It’s not considered automated if I still manually hit send, right?
A Word of Caution
This post mainly covers the positive results of this in-app message feature, but I should also note some of the less-than-positive results. Generally, it’s still extremely time-consuming and very much a manual process to chat with users directly. Each user is a different person with unique backgrounds, motivations, goals, questions, and styles of communication. One may be quick to consider an AI bot that could chat with the users, but a bot defeats the primary purpose of the in-chat at this stage—connecting with users, learning more about them, and discovering ways I can make their experience even better.
The chat can also open you up to becoming a general support agent, answering questions about the app that a bot could answer, or fielding questions about Apple subscriptions and cancellations/renewals. That said, acting as a support agent for your own product isn’t entirely a net negative in the early stages. I’ve gained many insights that shape the roadmap and improve the explanation of features within the app, helping the subsequent users have a better experience and fewer questions.
Lastly, there are some topics on which I am not comfortable offering advice since I am not a medical professional or a personal trainer. At times, I’ve had to politely decline to answer directly, suggesting users contact their healthcare provider. (Or their repair technician, as one user asked about treadmill maintenance!)
Conclusion
All-in-all, the chat has been a huge success, and Intercom made the setup process quick and easy. I’ve worked on many chat services in my career, and using Intercom significantly reduces the complexity required to communicate with the users.
Moving forward, messaging every device will be a continued part of my strategy. To receive the welcome message (and discover treadmill runs you’ll love), all you need to do is download Push Training and open the app!
P.S. The power user mentioned above did eventually reply:
”Absolutely brilliant app. Iv tried alternative ways to do the treadmill (like just running to YouTube music ect) however ‘Push’ guides you and prevents you from slacking. Thank you for a great app”