Competitive Analysis:
The very first step in overcoming this challenge was to investigate the competitors. I initially read many articles online that described existing nutrition tracker apps then downloaded and used them myself to gain a better understanding from the perspective of every user and considering accessibility. Then I analyzed those apps using the reviews provided by existing app store users.
- Comparison
Competitors:
These are the best options available in the market
- MyFitnessPal
- MyPlate Calorie Counter
- PlateJoy
Competitors Insights:
From the analysis of the competitors, it was found that:
- MyFitnessPal provides a barcode scanner for easier nutrient tracking, but its detailed nutrient analysis is only available with a premium membership.
- MyPlateCalorieMeter includes a community forum for support and motivation, as well as nutrition tracking, meal plans, recipes, and workouts. However, it does not provide the ability to filter recipes based on dietary restrictions or food allergies.
- PlateJoy requires a membership to use, and it creates a nutritious meal plan based on user preferences and needs.
Overall, the competitors provide a variety of features, but none of them address the needs of users looking for reminders, the ability to track nutrition without having to enter detailed meals, or the ability to track their eating habit history.
Research goals:
- Understanding user needs.
- Noting Insights and feedback.
- Identifying the pain points of the users.
- Empathizing with the Users and Extracting Valuable Insights
Primary Research
Interviewed 4 people that lead to empathizing with users and understanding their thoughts in order to define the real issues.
Manish, 20, Student
"I am aware of my diet, which is to eat more proteins and less fats and carbohydrates." I want to keep track of my calorie intake, and I go to the gym on a regular basis, but I get bored eating healthy food and ending up eating junk food”
User Persona
Name: Manish
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Goals: To keep track of his calorie intake, and to go to the gym on a regular basis.
Challenges: Gets bored eating healthy food and ends up eating junk food.
Needs: A Nutrition Tracking app that will help him stay on track with his food intake. The app should have a reminder feature, barcode scanner, and meal plan/diet feature.
User Story
As a 20 year old student, Manish wants to keep track of his calorie intake and wants to be reminded of his diet plan so that he can stay healthy and maintain his physique.
Empathy Map
What does he say?
- "I am aware of my diet, which is to eat more proteins and less fats and carbohydrates."
- "I want to keep track of my calorie intake"
- "I go to the gym on a regular basis"
- "I get bored eating healthy food and ending up eating junk food"
What does he do?
- Monitors his diet
- Goes to the gym
- Eats healthy food
- Eats junk food
What does he think and feel?
- Aware of his diet
- Wants to keep track of his calorie intake
- Gets bored of eating healthy food
- Feels guilty for eating junk food
What does he hear?
- Advice from friends/family about diet
- Encouragement from people for going to the gym
These users were mostly health-conscious individuals.
These Interviews provided me with the following key Insights:
Most of them mentioned,
- Users keep forgetting to use the app, a reminder feature will be helpful
- Many people are conscious of their food intake but they lack the discipline.
- Users want to track nutrition without having to enter detailed meals.
- Users want to track my eating habit history which will help them examine.
Some of them mentioned,
- As a Vegetarian/Vegan I’m unaware of my protein Intake as I eat at the mess.
- As I’m from the Southern part of India. I’m unable to know the food about the particular food mess is providing.
- Many of the nutrition tracker apps run based on the subscription model.
After the Insights, we Extracted from User Research:
- The Product: Nutrition tracker app that allows users to keep track of their daily food intake and nutritional count. Users will also be able to set reminders here. Additionally, users can click a picture of the food and browse the product's nutritional details.
The problem in the existing nutrition tracker
Mostly users are also not aware of these apps, and these apps uses some complex words which limits users considering accessibility can tackle this problem.
The goals:
- Primarily we must focus on the accessibility which can lead to trust our app more.
- auto tracking would definitely help users, the features such as barcode scanner.
- Gamifying the app interface for better and increasing usage time.
- Eliminating ads
Pricing and Improving user base:
- The ads makes users feel the app less trustful. And mostly the age group who nutrition tracker apps are students as they are more health conscious. And students mostly cannot afford or don’t want to invest into this apps.
The pricing of the apps are as follows
Show, Don't Tell
These apps lacks in trust as they can include free-trials which would definitely leads to build trust. And including a students exclusive prices would also highly impact improvising users.
**Free-trail:**
- Increase in customer satisfaction.
Excellent Sales Strategy
Still, despite the risks,
a free trialis an excellent sales strategy that can lower your cost of new-customer acquisition. Free trials work best for companies attempting to sell an intangible product or service, such as software, apps, games andanalytics.
Apps often target weight loss but there are also peeps who require weight gain.
Water tracking and macro-tracking also help users but there are many other apps which helps users to do so.
Design
https://www.figma.com/proto/3Y3smHAp43zFA75Zg3Xzpw/Nutrition-Tracker?page-id=0%3A1&node-id=2%3A76&starting-point-node-id=2%3A76&scaling=scale-down