TrainingPeaks Messaging Feature Case Study
Implementing a messaging feature for busy coaches and athletes to centralize and organize communication.
Project Background:
TrainingPeaks is the world-leading coaching platform for endurance athletes and coaches to communicate and collaborate together. Coaches can write, plan, and analyze training plans so athletes can reach their training and racing goals. Coaches and athletes can access the platform through desktop, tablet, and mobile.
My case study is about creating a way for coaches and athletes to communicate more effectively by adding a messaging feature to the TrainingPeaks mobile app,
Project Timeline: 2.5 weeks
Role: Research, Design, User Testing
Outcome: Created a working prototype for coaches and athletes to use in both individual and group settings to communicate with and amongst each other. From research, identified and implemented additional features to enhance the use of the messaging feature.
Project Process
01.
Research & Discovery
02.
Product Strategy
03.
User Experience Design
04.
Prototype, Test, & Iterate
05.
Project Outcomes
01.
Research & Discovery
I took a three-step research process to fully understand both the competitive market and the communication styles of both coaches and athletes.
Competitive Analysis & Identifying User Types
Conducted to understand the coaching platform market, analyze our competitors, and identify key users for these types of platforms.
Surveys
Surveyed 23 coaches and athletes to determine how athletes and coaches communicate with one another or with teams of athletes.
User Interviews
Four coaches were selected, two of whom also coach a group of athletes, to better understand their communication needs and frustrations.
Competitive Analysis & Identifying User Types
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Secondary research identified emerging market trends such as AI and emerging markets in developing countries.
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Researching direct and indirect competitors helped me understand how competitors are handling communication between coaches and athletes.
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Identifying user types helps frame research questions in surveys and user interviews.
Survey Results
Total Participants: 23 total, 7 coaches, 16 athletes
Platform: 16 on TrainingPeaks, 7 on Final Surge
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Digital platforms were the leading method of communication. -
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Texting was unanimously used followed closely by communication through comments in the app and email.
Methods coaches use to communicate with their athletes
Methods athletes use to communicate with their coaches
6/7
Coaches
Prefer using the app as their primary means of communication
2/7
Coaches
Find it challenging to separate their personal life communications from coaching communications.
15/16
Athletes
Would switch to an in-app messaging platform if their coach preferred it.
9/16
Athletes
Prefer texting their coach over other forms of communication.
Empathizing with Key Users
User Interview Process
From the survey, I selected four coaches, two of whom also coach a group of athletes, to understand what features would encourage and enhance their use of an in-app messaging feature.
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I used an empathy map to group their feelings, actions, and ideas voiced during these interviews.
​Notable Findings
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The most notable frustration was losing track of information in a messaging thread such as athlete travel or race plans. Coaches want a way to tag a specific message in a messaging thread.
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Most would like the ability to share a workout from the workout library or photos within a conversation.
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All saw the benefit of centralizing communications with their athletes if they coached over 30-50+ athletes. Only one interview participant has this many athletes.
Meet Kate​
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From this research, I developed a persona for the type of user who would use an in-app messaging feature most.
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Kate is a "Career Coach" user with 30+ athletes and a need to centralize communication with her athletes onto one platform. Kate represents a user-type that values open and frequent communication with her coached athletes.
02.
Product Strategy
From this research it was clear that there would be a benefit to adding a messaging feature into the TrainingPeaks app. I then identified 3 key features that would encourage adoption and use.
Create the ability to save messages
Keeping track of every athlete's race schedules and vacation plans is challenging and often lost in long text threads unless a coach makes note of it immediately. Having a way to save messages that athletes communicate these things helps keep key information at a coach's fingertips.
Adding Media to a messaging thread
We live in an increasingly visual world. A coach needs to be able to send athletes pictures of exercises, workout locations, gear recommendations, and more.
Group messaging for coaches with teams
For coaches with local training groups or large teams, being able to communicate information to these teams within the app is better than a group text or email and centralizes communication, allowing athletes to coordinate amongst themselves, too.
03.
User Experience Design
Taking a nod from research and product strategy, I developed an updated sitemap, task flow for the new messaging feature, and made decisions on minor changes to the current Training Peaks UI.
Pioneering a New Feature Sitemap
An entirely new sitemap was created within the current TrainingPeaks framework while taking cues from commonly used messaging platforms such as iMessage, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
A Task Flow with Product Strategy in Mind
I created a task flow that included the three strategic features I identified in research to encourage current users to use and adopt the in-app messaging feature.
Wireframes Based on Existing UI
I used the current TrainingPeaks UI to develop the framework for the messaging feature wireframes. Strategic changes were made to accomodate the new feature.
Messaging Feature Sitemap​
This sitemap helped guide me in creating the wireframes and prototype for the messaging feature. By creating this, it narrowed down the required pages and flows that users would take to complete the most important tasks.
Main Task Flow
This task flow focuses on the primary task of sending a message to a user or users.
This task flow also includes the strategically identified features including:
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Saving a message to a conversation thread
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Sending a photo within a messaging thread
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Sending a group message
Wireframes
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Using the current TrainingPeaks UI, I developed wireframes for the messaging feature based on the current TrainingPeaks App, such as the current notifications page.
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Key Notations
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"Peaks" was replaced with the Messaging button in the bottom navigator. Messages also has a notification indicator in the top navigator bar.
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The Messages feature models many popular messaging and texting platforms in order to create an intuitive experience for all users.
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New screens were created, modeling off of the TrainingPeaks UI to focus on specific tasks in a prototype
04.
Prototype, Test & Iterate
Testing revealed that a messaging feature not only works, but by including surprise and delight features with coaches in mind, the coaches tested see the validity in adopting this new feature.
Prototype & User Testing
Test Objectives
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Test the usability of the new messaging feature
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Make sure the prototype is intuitive to navigate
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Ensure the tutorial explains how to use the messaging feature and save a message
Participants:
4 Participants were recruited through my coaching and social network. All tests are conducted over Google Meet, sharing their screen as they walk me through their designated tasks.
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Prototype:
Users were asked to walk through five flows with instructions that are now notated in the description of this working prototype.
Testing Results
​​​Usability testing had a mixed bag of results. Users found the most important task flows easy to complete and understand. User testing did reveal that the original prototype had weaknesses in touch targets and navigation options.
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4/4 users found sending messages easy and intuitive.
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3/4 users initially tried to click on a user's name when adding them to a message thread rather than the plus button.
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3/4 users tried to tap the message button in the bottom navigator or the back button on the top navigator to navigate back - the prototype was not initially designed this way.
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1/4 users were confused by the steps to save a message.
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Changes made after initial usability testing:
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Accounting for every way a user might navigate a prototype by making top and bottom navigators fully functional
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Added a confirmation page to the saved message feature to alleviate confusion.
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Increased the size of touch targets to make navigation flawless and less frustrating.
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The tutorial was updated to explain the minor update to the saved messages flow.
05.
Case Study Outcomes & Lessons Learned
As one of my earliest projects as a UX student, this project was a great opportunity to use immersive research to identify ways to implement a new feature into an existing app.
Thorough Research to Guide Design
The research process taught me to analyze and understand how athletes and coaches communicate currently and helped me identify key features, such as saved messages and the ability to add images to a message thread.
User Experience Modeling
In mapping out the sitemap and primary user flow, I was able to identify the most important pages needed to start message threads, start group messages, and save messages to a conversation thread.
A Prototype to Build on for Future Testing
Through testing a new prototype, I was able to identify and elliminate errors in navigation and touch targets. Future testing can focus more on testing and adding additional features coaches and athletes might use.