Adapting to User Behavior Changes: A Case Study on BetterMe's Use of Amplitude

BetterMe is a leading behavioral healthcare app publisher with over 100 million downloads and is available in 190 countries. Since its launch in 2016, BetterMe has helped its members in 190 countries achieve their fitness and wellness goals. The family of apps includes workouts like yoga, meditation, walking, and strength exercises, as well as nutrition tracking, mental health coaching, and motivation and accountability through community. Awarded the Fastest Growing App of 2018 by app growth awards, BetterMe is an all-in-one solution for a fit body and mind.

BetterMe, a leading behavioral healthcare app publisher, faced a significant challenge during the pandemic. Despite being well-positioned to capitalize on the shift from gyms and group fitness classes to home workouts, the company found itself in catch-up mode. The behavioral changes of its users, such as the marked increase in time users were spending on the app, required rapid adaptation. The main challenges were the speed of experimenting and responding to user needs while maintaining a high satisfaction level. The company needed to balance velocity and satisfaction levels, which was a complex task. Additionally, BetterMe needed to understand how its new features were affecting user retention and revenue rates, and which releases were gaining traction and which were not.

To address these challenges, BetterMe turned to Amplitude, a comprehensive tool with resources for segmentation, cohorts, A/B testing, funnels, and more. Amplitude's accessibility and ability to aggregate user behavior to see the general picture were particularly beneficial. BetterMe leveraged many of Amplitude’s offerings to answer critical strategic and product questions. Amplitude’s A/B testing capabilities were an important tool in this process. BetterMe conducted several stages of A/B testing to analyze behavior and improve the user experience to boost metrics. For instance, they used Amplitude Funnel Chart to review the drop in user engagement with the Calorie Tracker feature, developed a hypothesis as to why, and created an 'ABC' test. The tests revealed that many users balked at an additional step to log meals. BetterMe responded by simplifying that process.

• The use of Amplitude has been instrumental in creating an open and data-driven culture at BetterMe. Both developer and product teams use Amplitude for insights into users and track technical metrics. The tool's multifunctional application has increased visibility across teams. BetterMe uses Charts and Dashboards to visualize data, making it clear and accessible to the whole team, and Notebooks to present reports on specific ideas. Notebooks also help aggregate thoughts and connect them in a coherent way, helping the entire team work faster. They are also used to update strategic goals and keep them in one place. In addition to using Amplitude for running experiments and keeping track of outcomes, BetterMe uses it for presentations, such as weekly meetings with the management team. This has accelerated their work and made it easier.

• 14% increase in users engaging with BetterMe’s Calorie Tracker, a key product metric

• Ability to garner data insights within minutes

• Ability to verify hypotheses within days