With the Tour de France in full swing, one might almost forget that underneath this sportive and almost unreachable tip of the iceberg lies a huge world of amateurs: touring cyclists.
The industry that has so eagerly been built around the spinning wheels and lightening speed has managed to deliver a sublime customer experience (CX).
What we can learn from cyclists: CX lessons
Some curse them, other admire them: touring cyclists. An increasing number of enthusiasts wear lycra or merino wool once or several times a week and pedals on for miles, either individually or in a group. Me included. We are not aiming for a podium finish; we just cycle for fun, health, and social contacts.
This hobby is known for its obsession with material. Regardless of level, the true enthusiasts purchase the most expensive bicycles, clothing, and accessories. But the greatest innovations are currently not taking place in this visible ‘hardware’, but rather in the digital services for this target group.
By means of sensors, data analysis, and 3D technology, this niche industry creates experiences that seek the boundaries of technological possibilities, and certainly knows how to retain a lot of fans.
Two manufacturers are, certainly technologically, the main initiators: Zwift and Strava. With Zwift, you can cycle in a virtual world. Not outdoors, but inside on a cycletrainer, behind your monitor, laptop or tv screen. Strava is a social platform on which users share their cycled rides, including performance data such as average speed, distances covered, altimeters, and cycled wattages.
Both services bring the CX to new levels thanks to technological ingenuity. Other sectors can not only look on in admiration, they can learn valuable lessons from it too. I will list five of these lessons.
Make the CX intriguing
Few experiences are as intriguing as playing a game in a 3D world. Zwift understand this, and offers a fully three-dimensional world in which users can cycle together or against each other. This world feels very realistic due to the relatively high quality of graphics and the respect for the laws of physics.
Zwift first of all consists of varying environments, from wide streets in the middle of London to narrow mountain passes with gorgeous panoramic views. The weather conditions change. You see other users in real-time in the same environment. Zwift also takes aerodynamics into account: it is actually lighter to pedal and you indeed go faster in a team, and you really have to pedal to cycle uphill. Thanks to these wonderful graphics combined with this lifelike ‘feel’, you truly feel as if you are cycling through a varied landscape with other cyclists.
Use the benefits of gamification
Gamification is adding a competitive game element to the experience. This works as people are competitive by nature, and it also creates a psychological reward mechanism that binds people to your service.
Strava has tapped into a very effective gamification principle: the so-called KOMs/QOMs (King/Queen of the Mountain). Users can enlist streets or parts of streets as a ‘segment’. Strava subsequently keeps score of who is fastest on that specific part. A very simple approach, which immediately turns the worldwide road network into a racetrack on which cyclist can compete with one another. This makes a lot of cyclists fanatical.
In Zwift, sportsmen of any level can cycle real races, which is usually impossible for many of them as only a small part holds an official racing license. The courses are divided into multiple levels, so the differences are marginal. Full rankings are created afterwards, and the Dutch Championship Zwift was recently organized. Finally, cyclists can save up for very expensive virtual bicycle equipment, just by cycling miles. This is a smart way to bind users.
Open up your technology platform and seek collaborations
Both Strava and Zwift have made it easy for third parties to latch on to their services.
In this way they add options for their users without having to actively invest in this themselves. Moreover, they also increase their horizon.
Strava has for instance made available a powerful API, which gives developers easy access to all of the ride data shared by users. This is proving successful. Third parties have meanwhile developed dozens of plugins for Strava that add all kinds of functionality, hereby enhancing the full user experience.
An example is Relive.cc, a service that creates a 3D video animation of a ride that is added to Strava. StravistiX is a plugin for real data freaks that enriches the results on Strava via numerous performance graphs. And with Storyteller, cyclists can endow their rides with stories that include photographs, video, and text, and can in this way share their adventures with the rest of the world.
Strava furthermore connects to ample cycle computers. The fact that the mobile app itself provides such functionality has not stopped the producers from throwing the door wide open for ‘competitors’ in this field. Virtual rides via Zwift can also be shared via Strava. This is a smart move, as Strava hereby also generates a reason for using the platform during winter and in poor weather conditions.
With regard to integration, Zwift opted for a somewhat different approach. Rides can most certainly be shared via websites like Strava, but Zwift’s integration options are mainly directed at connecting smart cycletrainers, which is equipment that users can hang their bicycle in so they can cycle indoors. These trainers register aspects such as speed and the number of revolutions, but also modify the resistance in real-time during climbs and descents. Luxurious models even offer the vibrating feeling of cycling on gravel paths or cobblestones. This further increases the realism, and thus the experience.
Zwift provides support for cycletrainers from all kinds of manufacturers, from small to large and from simple trainers to the most advanced models. This not only heightens the realism, but also increases the potential user basis.
Make the ‘unreachable’ approachable
Technology can ostensibly realize your target group’s unattainable fantasies. Strava lets you compare your performances in detail with those of pro riders.
But Zwift’s approach is even more exciting, as it regularly facilitates a ride with a real pro rider. In Zwift, cyclists have a good chance of cycling behind the wheel of Laurens ten Dam or perhaps Puck Moonen. Cycling teams and individual pro riders frequently organize races, or ‘social rides’ in which anyone can join.
The platform creates an imaginary bridge between the, for many almost untouchable, pro riders and the wide mass sport, which is an experience that users will gladly return to. Involved parties also profit, as it is a fine way for professional teams (and their sponsors!) to retain fans.
Facilitate the ‘feeling of togetherness’
Apart from being a platform for recording your cycle performances, Strava is also a social network. Cyclists can join virtual clubs, with their own discussion fora and performance ranking lists. The service recently added a blog functionality, so that people can adorn their shared rides with text and images.
Strava supports this sense of community with marketing campaigns that respond to this togetherness. A good example is its Athletes Unfiltered campaign from 2017, in which the brand calls on their users to primarily show an unfiltered, raw version of reality. So abrasions, sweaty faces, and suffering, instead of the polished images found on other social media. The brand in this way creates an own identity and the platform strengthens the feeling of togetherness.
Zwift has also shrewdly tackled the establishment of communities. It facilitates group rides of clubs that organize themselves on platforms like Facebook. Users can furthermore chat to each other during cycling and virtually cheer each other on. It also gives other brands the chance to form communities within the extensive Zwift community. Manufacturers of bicycle parts or sports clothing can therefore organize weekly or even daily recurring races and group training.
Source of inspiration
Not every target group is as devoted as the cycling sector. But the efforts of this branch nevertheless form a source of inspiration. With an open platform, collaborations, and gamification elements, you can lift the CX to new heights and sustainably bind the target group.
