- Growth Classics
- Posts
- WHOOP: The $3.6 Billion Growth Story
WHOOP: The $3.6 Billion Growth Story
I’ve spent 20 hours dissecting WHOOP’s growth journey to give you the best insights
Growth Classics
April 30, 2024
WHOOP: The $3.26 Billion Growth Story
I’ve spent 20 hours dissecting WHOOP’s growth journey so you don’t have to.
Find out how three Harvard graduates raised $400 million and took on Apple & Google head to head.
Here is what you’re in for:
Founding story and thesis behind WHOOP
Market opportunity
WHOOP’s brand positioning
How they acquired their first users (e.g. Lebron & Micheal Phelps)
Early growth breakthrough (Subscription model)
Using elite brand ambassadors to reach the masses
How they use affiliate partners to scale
How Whoop uses paid media in their funnel
Viral growth mechanics e.g. Social growth loops, referrals
How acquisitions are fuelling the future of growth and product development
What’s next for WHOOP? Going big internationally
Founding story in 30 seconds:
In business, you wouldn’t commit decades to a project without continuous feedback to ensure you’re on the right track.
Sounds insane, right?
That’s exactly what we do in our everyday lives.
We put ourselves, or get put, in stressful situations.
We get injured and exert our bodies for decades.
We have sleepless nights and hope for the best the next night.
We eat what we think we're meant to without seeing if it actually makes a difference.
This was the line of thinking that haunted the founder of Whoop, Will Ahmed, while studying at Harvard.
While on a sports scholarship, training 4 hours a day at one of the most elite institutions.
Will had no data to show for it.
No way of actually tracking his own performance and how his body was feeling.
Not just in exercise, but in the other 20 hours of the day.
All of this while studying at a school that was obsessed with deeper knowledge.
That bugged him.
Like most great business ideas do!
This took him down a rabbit hole of reading research papers.
Over 500!
The beginnings of Whoop:
A lot of people talk about being obsessed with the problem they're trying to solve, but how many founders can point to a paper they published in university which nearly exactly mirrors the business 12 years later!
While studying at Harvard, Will actually published a paper called:
“The Feedback Tool: Measuring Intensity, Recovery, and Sleep.”
He argued that to obtain a comprehensive understanding of one's physiological condition, you must continuously monitor all relevant metrics, such as heart rate.
At the time, heart rate was a common metric to track, but it was difficult to do without bulky and cumbersome product designs. Will pioneered performance tracking by creating a product that was minimalistic and compact in design, while also being highly accurate at measuring heart rate - using a technique called photoplethysmography (try pronouncing that!).
So…What is WHOOP? (Scroll down if you already know)
WHOOP is an advanced wearable that monitors your key health metrics such as sleep, strain, recovery, and health.
This is the WHOOP 4.0 strap, it has a battery life of 4-5 days and can be charged whilst on the wrist, so you never have to take it off.
The WHOOP can be customised with up to 75,000 variations of design.
The core metrics WHOOP tracks are:
Recovery
Strain
Stress
Sleep
To read about these metrics in more detail, check out the site here
What is the WHOOP AI coach?
“WHOOP Coach takes proprietary WHOOP algorithms, a custom-built machine learning model, the latest in performance science and research, and your unique biometric data to identify patterns and connections in your WHOOP data. With OpenAI’s latest technology, WHOOP Coach generates highly individualized, conversational responses to your health, fitness, and wellness questions – all within seconds.”
Why WHOOP Has No Screen…
The Founder of WHOOP Will has always refused to add a screen to WHOOP as a conscious design choice as it increases the perception of its “scientific” effectiveness.
Psychological Moonshot…
This is the psychological principle I want to highlight here.
'psychological moonshot’, a term coined by Ogilvy’s Rory Sutherland.
A psychological moonshot is a relatively small investment that drastically improves the perception of something.
In Steven Bartlett’s book “The Diary Of A CEO, The 33 Laws Of Business & Life” (Page 122) Steven breaks down what this is and why it can be so pivotal.
Here are some of the best examples from the book
Uber - Idleness Aversion:
Uber Labs has tapped into a fascinating psychological insight: people are generally happier when they're busy, even if that busyness is imposed or based on a thin pretext. This human tendency to avoid idleness can be leveraged to enhance customer experiences.
For Uber, this means transforming the waiting time for a ride into an engaging experience. By adding captivating animations, like a moving car on a map, Uber effectively keeps customers occupied.
This not only makes the wait feel shorter but also decreases the likelihood of cancellations. Interestingly, Uber's research highlighted a counterintuitive preference among users—they often opt for longer wait times if it means they can stay engaged over shorter, idle periods.
“This, in part, explains why restaurants bring you freebies while you wait, why streaming sites like Netflix and YouTube play previews when you hover over videos, and why Google Chrome installed a T-rex game that appears when you lose connection.”
Another great example is lifts adding mirrors to give you something to make the journey up or down go quicker.
Dominoes Pizza Tracker - Operational Transparency:
In 2008, Domino’s Pizza tackled a major customer service challenge not by speeding up delivery but by enhancing transparency. Recognising that uncertainty was the main issue—more than delivery speed—Domino’s leveraged its existing order-management software to create the 'Domino’s Pizza Tracker.'
This innovative tool provides real-time updates through a five-step visual process, clearly showing customers the status of their order.
This strategic shift dramatically reduced customer inquiries, improved satisfaction, and increased loyalty, saving and earning Domino’s millions.
The Pizza Tracker exemplified how understanding and addressing customer needs through transparency can transform a business.
Link to Steven Bartlett’s book here
Reflection questions:
What psychological moonshot can you take?
During the customer journey, where are your customers currently experiencing idleness?
Market Opportunity:
Leading the Charge: Tapping into a Growing $5.6 Trillion Wellness Economy!
The United States dominates the global wellness economy, commanding a staggering $1.8 trillion—over twice the size of China’s market. Within this thriving $5.6 trillion global market, the U.S. leads in nearly every sector, showcasing a dramatic shift towards health and lifestyle optimisation. Source here
The fitness tracker market is set to explode, with forecasts showing an increase from $47.65 billion in 2023 to $57.77 billion in 2024, marking an impressive 21.2% growth. This surge is fuelled by heightened health awareness, broader integration of wellness in insurance and corporate sectors, and a cultural shift towards preventative health.
Wearable tech remains at the forefront of fitness trends, consistently popular since 2016, highlighting the consumer demand for personal health monitoring and workplace health promotion. Source here
Additionally, the sleep economy is booming, projected to hit $585 billion in 2024, driven by increasing public awareness of sleep’s essential role in health, backed by rising investments in sleep technology. Source here
What does this mean for WHOOP? A golden opportunity to leverage state-of-the-art technology and innovate within these booming sectors. WHOOP is not just participating—it’s poised to lead in the dynamic health and wellness landscape.
How does WHOOP position itself in the market?
Brand statement:
“OUR MISSION IS TO UNLOCK HUMAN PERFORMANCE”
“We’re revolutionising the way that people understand their bodies. WHOOP provides unprecedented visibility into the relationship between physiology and performance, helping people reach their highest potential physically, mentally, and emotionally.”
What makes WHOOP different to other fitness trackers?
Science backed metrics:
“WHOOP doesn’t count steps—instead measuring only the metrics scientifically proven to make a significant impact on your physical and mental health. WHOOP outperforms other leading wearables, delivering over 99% heart rate and HRV tracking accuracy and gold-standard sleep tracking, making it one of the most powerful, most accurate, and most wearable human performance tools you can buy.”
WHOOP collects A LOT of personal fitness data on its users, on the order of 50MB-100MB per day, which is 1,000x-10,000x the quantity collected by a Fitbit/Apple Watches [2]. Source
Proprietary algorithms:
WHOOP monitors strain, recovery, and sleep using proprietary algorithms based on Heart Rate Variability (HRV), the variation in time between each heartbeat, as well as four other variables tracked 100 times per second [1]. Source
WHOOP In-house research lab:
“WHOOP is the only wearable in the game that has a dedicated research facility that empowers its own members to influence product features and be a part of groundbreaking discoveries about health and performance. When you participate, you are eligible for free months on WHOOP or select gift cards.” Source
Personalised AI Coach:
“As featured on their website, a WHOOP Coach combines WHOOP’s unique algorithms, a tailored machine learning model, cutting-edge performance science and research, along with your distinct biometric data, to discern patterns and correlations in your WHOOP data. WHOOP Coach provides tailored, conversational feedback to your queries about health, fitness, and wellness in just seconds. Instead of exhaustive internet searches for health and performance insights, WHOOP Coach offers a more direct solution.”
Link to source to learn more here
Distraction free design:
TLDR: No screen to distract you with notifications. More room for science.
“We engineered a device with superior accuracy and durability instead of superficial bells and whistles. The minimalist, screen-free design means every detail is intentional—like the 5 LEDs and 4 photodiodes that capture your data more often and with more precision than most wearables. And, you never have to take it off to charge—making WHOOP the most wearable wearable in the game.” - Whoop.com
Mastering The Art Of Brand.
2023 Campaign - “Only The Best Obsess”
“WHOOP Drops Brand Campaign “The Best Obsess” Featuring Legendary Athletes and Global Leaders in Health and Wellness” - Link here
“The creative for the WHOOP “The Best Obsess” campaign showcases the deep commitment of some of the world’s high performers including rock climber Alex Honnold, Whole30 co-founder and CEO Melissa Urban, the most decorated swimmer of all time, Michael Phelps, leading entrepreneur Steven Bartlett and Liverpool football star Virgil Van Dijk.
Each of these key leaders openly discuss their personal obsession with their performance by leveraging insights from WHOOP, allowing them to be the best version of themselves.”
Why this campaign works:
For me this campaign perfectly encapsulates the Whoop brand and for me is a masterstroke in brand positioning.
It’s easy to look at this campaign and think, how does that apply to your average person?
You only have to look as far as the plethora of sport or business documentaries that have captured the attention of hundreds of millions of people worldwide in recent years to understand why.
Or even the success of Nike and their sponsorship of the most prominent athletes of the 60 years.
The majority of Nike’s customers are your average weekend enthusiasts.
Yet Ronaldo, one of the greatest athletes of all time is worth hundreds of millions a year to Nike?
People love greatness.
They can aspire to it and even if they never achieve it, they can appreciate it.
That seed of inspiration from a prominent figure can change someones life.
Michael Jordan has reportedly earned over $1.5 Billion from his Nike deal and earned Nike a hell of a lot more than that.
Michael Jordan is one of the most obsessive sportspeople of all time, yet everyone wanted to “Be Like Mike” (Link to “Be Like Mike” Gatorade commercial here)
By connecting your brand to the halo effect that these superstar athletes have, you tie your brand to the emotions people already have towards these athletes.
They can feel connected to these people by owning your product.
By owning a WHOOP you feel connected in a way to these superstars and it embeds itself as a part of your identity by owning a WHOOP.
The campaign leans into obsession, attempting to unlock the positive side of the word.
Obsession has had a rough ride during the “hustle porn” era and was often connected to overworking, burnout and has negative connotations.
This campaign is “encouraging members to embrace their healthy obsessions.”.
Giving users the power to take control of their life by giving them the data to make the necessary changes and optimisations to achieve their goals.
One definition of brand is simply ‘the associations customers have with your product / service.’
Being associated with the greatest athletes and entrepreneurs has got to be good thing right?
How WHOOP acquired their early adopters?
Not many businesses can say they got Michael Phelps and LeBron James in their first 100 users.
How did WHOOP manage this feat (organically)?
When WHOOP set out to transform health monitoring, they started at the pinnacle of human performance—elite athletes like LeBron James and Michael Phelps.
But how did a startup convince such high-profile figures to sport their tech?
"It was about finding the right entry point," WHOOP's founder explains, revealing the strategy behind their early success.
Instead of the usual routes crowded with pitches—agents, managers, even family—WHOOP targeted an often overlooked yet influential figure: the personal trainer. This approach proved to be a masterstroke. By connecting with personal trainers who were pivotal yet under the radar, Whoop positioned their product directly into the routines of these top athletes.
"We got to know their trainers, Mike Mancias for LeBron and Keenan Robinson for Phelps," the founder recounts. These trainers, recognising the value WHOOP could offer in tracking recovery and performance, integrated the technology into their training regimens. The result? A seamless endorsement from some of the biggest names in sports.
This early adoption wasn't just about celebrity endorsements; it was about proving the product's worth in the most demanding scenarios. "If we could get the world's best athletes to organically like WHOOP, then building a brand around performance that could scale to consumers would follow," he shares.
The strategy was rooted deeply in the company’s ethos of high performance and credibility, mirroring approaches by iconic brands like Nike. By aligning with top athletes through their trusted trainers, WHOOP didn't just sell a product; they built a compelling narrative of elite performance and recovery, setting the stage for widespread consumer adoption.
This clever manoeuvre not only launched WHOOP into the spotlight but also established its foundation as a leader in health technology.
As you can see in the graphic I put above, a year after their launch they became the official licensed recovery wearable of the NFLPA and got huge news coverage because of the big players in the NBA seen wearing their strap.
Source for these insights in this podcast here
Reflection questions:
What underutilised entry points to key influencers have you not tried yet?
Do you know the right people to be speaking to? Do you really know exactly what your customers are hiring your product for?
Do you have an organic adoption strategy for influential figures? Could that be a useful work-stream?
Do you know if any influencers are already using your product organically? If not, why don’t you know?
Early Growth Breakthrough - Changing The Entire Business Model
At its commercial debut in late 2016, WHOOP initially priced its devices at one-time fee of $500, with production costs ranging between $250-$300 per unit.
As production scaled and costs declined coupled with observing user retention over extended periods, specifically low churn in those extended customer lifetimes, CEO Will Ahmed recognised the strategic advantage of transitioning to a subscription model as there was revenue there to be made.
During a podcast interview, Ahmed explained the rationale behind the pivot:
"We're going to bet on our technology and our product and our analytics and give people the ability to try WHOOP for a dramatically lower price. And if they fall in love with it and we continue to add value to their life, then it'll be better for both parties in the long run."
Inspired by the market performances of Fitbit and Peloton, Ahmed saw the substantial value investors assigned to subscription models over one-time hardware sales, prompting WHOOP to adopt a similar approach.
Now, WHOOP focuses on "keeping your customers every day," a strategy that demands constant innovation and the addition of immediate value. The move to a subscription model means Whoop must "release new features that are adding value now," ensuring customer retention and satisfaction daily.
This deeper focus has intensified strategic discussions within WHOOP, making every feature development decision a step towards enhancing their customer-centric mission and strengthening their competitive advantage. By embedding a relentless pursuit of innovation in its DNA, WHOOP not only sustains its subscriber base but also drives its market leadership.
Source here
Current models available in the UK:
Either pay upfront for a 12 or 24 month membership. Or you can even trial the band for a month and then choose the payment plan you want to transition onto.
In all these models you receive the device for free and just pay a membership fee to include access to all their offerings.
Or during the checkout process you can switch to a pay monthly plan but they cleverly use this very bold red underlined link to highlight the 29% saving you can receive by switching to annual billing.
WHOOP Pro - Increasing Revenue Per Subscriber
After releasing a line of sportswear and accessories in 2021 WHOOP added a PRO subscription to their offering, adding some exclusive benefits for customers wanting to extend their WHOOP range.
I think this is a sign of what’s to come for WHOOP.
Now they have you locked into the “WHOOP” way of life, they have the credibility with their customer base to start expanding the product and services they offer.
Potential revenue ideas for the future:
Further expansion into the fitness wardrobe e.g. Shoes
A Hyrox style fitness event for WHOOP users
‘Monzo’ premium style access to complementary partners e.g. discounted membership to elite gyms e.g. Third Space or UNTIL. Link to Monzo premium here
1-1 consultations with experts
Recovery equipment e.g. Therabody or sleep aids e.g. EightSleep
Hardware → SaaS - Pays The Bills
Shift to SaaS Metrics:
Switching to a subscription model essentially repositions WHOOP from a standard hardware company to a Software as a Service (SaaS) business. In the SaaS world, business valuations are often much higher due to predictable recurring revenue, scalability, and typically higher profit margins once the customer acquisition cost is recouped. This not only augments WHOOP’s valuation multiples but also makes the company more attractive to investors who value the consistent revenue streams and long-term customer relationships inherent in SaaS models.
Valuation Implications:
For businesses, especially in the tech and wellness space, subscription models can command higher valuations because they demonstrate stable future cash flows and an engaged user base. Recurring revenue is more predictable and can lead to smoother scaling, as opposed to the erratic cash flows associated with one-time sales. This reliability is a significant factor that can drive up company valuations.
Reflection questions:
Are there any existing or future services that you can introduce, that would create an opportunity for a membership plan?
Do you offer any ongoing service / benefit to customers after first purchase that could be moulded into a subscription?
Can you partner with complimentary partners as an incentive to join your member programme?
How are you continuing to earn your customers through innovation and product development?
Who is Whoop’s target customer?
How did WHOOP gain credibility in so many demographics?
WHOOP’s Initial Users = The Best Athletes In The World
“Our origins are really in professional sports. We started working with the best athletes in the world when the first product came out.
Two of our first 100 users were LeBron James and Michael Phelps. We became partners with the NFL Players Association, so we were distributed to every player in the NFL. We became the first [wearable] approved in Major League Baseball.
And over time, we developed WHOOP into a consumer brand. … It’s been pretty fascinating to go from a high-end sports wearable to now a product that a lot of people are finding value in in just bettering their daily lives.” Source here
Transitioning into the consumer market.
Once the brand had cemented its legitimacy amongst the greatest athletes on the planet, it gave the brand the credibility to win over your average consumer.
If something is good enough for LeBron it’s going to work for me right?
Takeaway:
If you’re entering a market and competing against Apple & Google (Fitbit) then you’re going to need to stand out somehow.
Winning over peak performers in the most popular sports in the world, you give yourself a huge stamp of credibility with fans of the sports and fans of those athletes.
This gives you a huge competitive advantage over competitors who simply went straight to market targeting your average consumer.
How did they build upon this model to scale?
Superstar ambassador programme
WHOOP managed to sign an epic global ambassador deal with some of the biggest names in sports and business.
This has allowed them in some cases to invest in the company and become an official ambassador for the programme.
Source here
Source here
Source here
Here is another cool ambassador they landed.
Rock climbing.
They have partnered with Alex Honnold who rose to fame with the film Free Solo, where he free climbed (No ropes or saftey equipment) El Capitan a 2,900-foot cliff face in Yosemite National Park.
Link to the documentary here
Insta link here
How do they maximise each partnership?
Let’s take a look at WHOOP’s partnership with Rory Mcilroy.
“He has spent over 100 weeks at number one in the world during his career. He is a four-time major champion, winning the 2011 U.S. Open, 2012 PGA Championship, 2014 Open Championship and 2014 PGA Championship. Along with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, he is one of three players to win four majors by the age of 25” Source
How have WHOOP integrated Rory into their brand?
Insider insights into his training programme here:
Link to article here
Video campaigns that can be used across all forms of media:
This video can be found across all major social platforms.
Link to video here
Feature on the official WHOOP podcast:
Link to podcast here
Connecting Rory’s WHOOP data into live sports coverage:
Link to post here
Having ambassadors that regularly play on the world stage means you get extra coverage purely by association:
Link to article here
What is the strategy here?
Sponsoring athletes isn’t a new strategy, it’s something that Nike have employed for decades.
They find sports that have huge potential for growth, seek out the best athletes in those sports and sponsor them, integrating them into their brand and products.
Let’s have a look at Nike sponsoring Ronaldo.
They made the news after giving him a lifetime contract worth $1 Billion
How the hell are they going to make that money back?
In 2016 Ronaldo generated Nike $500 million in media value alone…
“Here is the breakdown of how he generated half-a-billion dollars in value over 12 months for Nike, above and beyond the cleats, apparel and gear he helped Nike sell.
Ronaldo posted 1,703 times overall on social media in 2016. Those posts generated 2.25 billion social interactions (likes, comments, shares, retweets and views on videos), per Hookit. Nike was referenced or its logo visible in a photo or video in 347 of the posts, which had 477 million interactions. Hookit’s methodology looks at promotion type and quality, as well as interactions and market-driven rates. The result: $499.6 million [USD] for Nike in media value from Ronaldo’s posts.” Source here
The impact that these superstar athletes can have is almost unbelievable:
”Back in 2009, sales of Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid kits raked in a whopping 100 million. Fast forward to 2018, his Juventus kits achieved around 64 million sales. Also in 2021, his Manchester United jerseys hit an astounding 233 million, marking a historic high in T-shirt sales.”
Source here
Now let’s look at a golf example:
Source here
Let’s take a deeper look at Golf and why it’s a good investment for WHOOP:
1. Growing number of participants
Source here
2. Big investments being made into the sport
3. Increasing popularity in culture - Netflix Full Swing
Link to show here
4. Pro golfers love WHOOP!
In 2020 WHOOP Founder Will said that he estimates 60% of the PGA tour players started using WHOOP organically. Source
This is an example of just one sponsored athlete in one sport.
Now you’ve got a better picture of what sports sponsorship can do for a brand, you can start to extrapolate exactly what this could look like across all the superstars they’ve signed as a part of their global ambassador programme.
Pick a winning category
Find the best in the world
Sponsor them
Integrate them deeply into your brand
Repeat
I think it’s worth noting that this is an extremely expensive strategy.
It might explain why they’ve raised over $400 million to date.
They’re going big and swinging for the fences.
So you’ve built a die hard community and have amazing ambassadors who love your product.
How do you pour fuel on the fire?
Affiliates.
Affiliate schemes are a win win situation for a brand like WHOOP.
People who have large, engaged audiences, who love WHOOP, can promote the product in their content and simply include their own personalised affiliate link like this:
For every new member that they refer they’ll receive a commission off the back of this.
This image below is taken from their official affiliate page. However i’m sure the bigger partners might get a sweeter deal with a bespoke package ;)
Link to affiliate page here
You Tubers like Ali Abdaal (Productivity expert & You Tube Entrepeneur) and Mike Thurston (Fitness Entrepeneur) have even created “organic” content on their channel which shows how WHOOP fits into their busy lives and helps them optimise what they’re doing.
Link to video here
Link to video here
Once you click through their affiliate link, you get a personalised message which is a nice touch.
Link to his affiliate landing page here
Why are affiliate schemes great for a brand like WHOOP?
You get to tap into pre existing audiences and have someone who has trust and credibility with their audience sell your product to the customer. Virtual sales team 🙂
It enables you to reach audiences that may have been harder to reach with typical performance marketing methods.
You can fix your acquisition costs and only pay when a sale is made, meaning that it can be cheaper to acquire customers than if you had to target those people with purely paid media.
Working with various affiliates gives WHOOP access to a broad array of data on customer preferences, behaviours, and trends across different demographics and regions. This data is invaluable for refining marketing strategies, developing new products, or enhancing existing ones.
Successful affiliate relationships often turn into long-term partnerships.
These partnerships foster deep loyalty not only between WHOOP and its affiliates but also between customers and the brand.
Affiliates who feel valued tend to be more committed and proactive in promoting WHOOP, leading to sustained, compounding growth over time.
Take Chris Williamson for example, host of the podcast Modern Wisdom. Link here
He has been a WHOOP affiliate partner for a number of years and is seeing insane growth in his podcast and popularity in culture.
By partnering with such creators as Chris, as their brand grows so does yours. If WHOOP continues to partner with rising stars and fosters those relationships through having a great product and the right incentives.
They can in a similar way to their sponsorship strategy, create a Halo effect for their product through association to these prominent figures in culture.
Source here
How WHOOP approaches performance marketing:
Since researching WHOOP and being in a prime demographic for them, I’ve found myself being targeted across Meta, You Tube & Tik Tok.
Across all these platforms, advertisements typically fall into one of these three categories:
Building awareness and reinforcing brand identity.
Creating educational and informative short form videos to drive consideration.
Producing short form videos and static ads focused on driving conversions.
Theme 1: Building awareness and reinforcing their brand identity.
Landing page = Homepage
With these ads, I think WHOOP are really pushing for themselves to be seen as the category leader in wearables.
So when someone is asked about the category, the first brand that comes to mind is WHOOP.
Aiming to increase “Unprompted awareness”
Definition: Unaided brand awareness is unprompted recall of the brand name or product, with a cue (which generally, the category of products). Source
These ads are mainly video but also include static images.
The creative they use are based off the recent brand campaign “Only the best obsess”, reinforcing the brand message about the importance of (healthily) obsessing over the metrics that matter.
Take this AD for example:
“I won my 7th gold medal by a 100th of a second, details matter. If i’m losing even 1% of my sleep, I can’t be the best me I can be everyday” - Michael Phelps
Link to ad here
Here are two more examples of the top of funnel brand ads that WHOOP are running including two more superstar ambassadors Alex Honnold and Steven Bartlett:
Theme Two - Educational and informative short form video ads - Driving consideration
Landing page = Homepage
These ADs feel like they’re aimed at people who are aware of what WHOOP is but have not yet decided to purchase.
These ads move away from the super HiFi brand campaign whilst keeping a premium feel.
They seamlessly overlay and give you an insight into the metrics you’ll be able to track on the WHOOP through various different activities.
The objective of these consideration ads is to build trust and convey the value of the WHOOP and how it can solve, optimise and raise the bar for your health and wellness.
This clip highlights how WHOOP can track your daily strain score
“WHOOP Strain is a measure of cardiovascular and muscular exertion that quantifies the amount of physical and mental stress you’re putting on your body. We track your strain on a 0-21 scale.”Link
This will allow you adjust your weekly workout plan inline with how your body is feeling.
This clip highlights how WHOOP can track your muscular load with strength trainer.
“WHOOP uses an accelerometer and gyroscope to gauge exercise volume and intensity, estimating maximum volume from your workout history. It calculates your personal muscular load by taking the highest intensity of each exercise from your profile.”
This clip highlights how WHOOP can use your strain data to give you personalised advice on workout intensity.
This clip shows a notification highlighting to this user that they have a green recovery score meaning that they can take on significant exertion today.
Having this information means users can adjust up or down the intensity of their workouts based on real data, instead of on a whim.
Theme 3 - Short form video and static ads - Focussed on the purchase
Landing page = Homepage
These ADs are clearly targeted at people who are interested in WHOOP and have been considering the brand for a while.
The objective it seems for WHOOP is to convert these customers onto a one month free trial.
I would hypothesis that they have done a lot of testing around this model and have a great conversion onto a full paid membership.
A month free trial is a very low risk, low commitment step and allows WHOOP to remove any remaining concerns or barriers that might prevent a purchase.
In this section I want to highlight some of the viral mechanics that WHOOP has in place that create a flywheel for future growth.
Growth Loops:
"Compound interest is man's greatest invention." – Einstein
Reforge description / definition of a growth loop:
“The fastest-growing products are better represented as a system of loops, not funnels. Loops are closed systems where the inputs through some process generates more of an output that can be reinvested in the input. There are growth loops that serve different value creation including new users, returning users, defensibility, or efficiency.”
Example of what might show up on someones social story:
Referrals:
TLDR: If you can get your customers to refer more than one person you can achieve viral compounding growth
What is WHOOP’s referral offering?
“A viral loop refers to the process where existing users refer new users, who in turn become referrers themselves, creating a self-perpetuating cycle.” Source
If you can get your “K” factor above 1 you can achieve exponential growth.
What is “K Factor”
The K factor essentially measures how many new customers, on average, will be generated by each existing customer through a referral process. A K factor greater than 1 indicates exponential growth (viral), whereas a K factor less than 1 suggests that the referral program isn’t self-sustaining.
The K factor is calculated using the formula:
K = i x c
Where:
i = the number of invites sent by each existing customer
c = the conversion rate of each invite (i.e., the percentage of invites that successfully turn into new customers)
Blue line (K = 0.8) = A referral programme where each customer refers fewer than one new customer on average, leading to a gradual increase. Unlikely to lead to big growth
Red line (K=1) = A referral programme where it’s reached a critical threshold, each customer is referring exactly one other person. This is sustaining a steady influx of new customers
Orange line (K=1.2) = A referral programme where it’s showcasing exponential growth, where each customer is referring more than one new customer. These creates a compounding effect that significantly accelerates the growth rate.
Reflection questions:
How many touch-points are there for customers to refer a friend at the moment?
Have you tested different incentives?
Have you conducted customer interviews to understand referral behaviour?
What % of your customers even know about your refer a friend scheme?
How quickly can a customer get to your referral scheme?
Where in the priority list is refer a friend for you? Should it be higher?
Growth & product development through acquisitions:
In the last 3 years WHOOP has made two major acquisitions:
Number one:
What does this acquisition unlock?
TLDR: Strength training data and insights
“WHOOP Founder and CEO. “The integration of PUSH’s industry-leading strength-training technology into our platform will allow WHOOP to provide even deeper insight into how these activities impact the human body.” Studies show that WHOOP can positively impact behavior and promote meaningful lifestyle changes through 24/7 continuous heart rate monitoring coupled with insights across sleep, recovery, and strain. With the acquisition of PUSH, the WHOOP platform will be equipped with a more enhanced and robust system of hardware, software, and analytics that provide comprehensive feedback on training activities and wellness.” Source
Number two:
What does this acquisition unlock?
The capabilities to extract, organise, summarise, distribute specialised information in a personalised and bespoke way to customers through their new “WHOOP Coach” AI feature.
Ed Baker was the Founder of Any Question and Will Ahmed, WHOOP Founder appointed Ed to Chief Growth Officer at WHOOP.
Ed has one of the best CVs in the industry.
VP of Product and Growth at Uber from 2013-2017
Prior to that, he was the Head of International Growth at Facebook, a company he joined after they acquired a startup he co-founded called Friend.ly, which had grown to over 25 million users
Ed has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an A.B. from Harvard University, where he concentrated in Chemistry & Physics.
What’s next for WHOOP?
