Cardio Trainer Gets Emotional
I recently started using the Cardio Trainer app on my new Android phone — and I am hooked! This is an amazing app! I’ve been using it for just over a week and I have not been disappointed. The marketer in me couldn’t wait to share this story, because it’s a fantastic illustration of how emotional marketing works — moving beyond what the product does — and getting to the core of what it means for the end user.
Some quick background: Cardio Trainer is an app that tracks and documents your workouts — running, walking, bicycling, treadmill, climbing stairs, dancing, Pilates, skating, and many other activities — it tracks them all — in real-time. I’m a walker, so I use the app to monitor my distance, time, calorie burn, and number of steps. It even records my path using GPS, and shows me a map of my actual journey. Amazingly cool technology wrapped in a very intuitive design that is super-simple to use. The app also lets me post my workout results to Facebook and Twitter. And this is where things get really interesting, especially when viewed through an emotional marketing lens.
Accountability and Aspirations
I have several friends who do hardcore workouts several times a week. They’re the ninja freaks — the exercise outliers. These people aren’t normal, and I often wonder if they’re even human. Look, sweating your ass off isn’t that much fun. And when I ask them about how they stay so motivated to consistently workout, they confess that there are many days when they’d rather cuddle up to a pint of Häagen-Dazs than hit the gym. Working out is hard work and it takes an incredible commitment. And this is some of the brilliance of Cardio Trainer.
By allowing people to post their workouts on social networks, Cardio Trainer has baked-in personal accountability and made it very public. Face it, it’s easy to cut short a workout, or even blow it off completely when no one else will know about it. I wanted to sleep in. I needed to go grocery shopping. The meeting ran long and I got home too late. It’s easy to find reasons not to workout. “Hey, man, looks like you’ve successfully reclaimed your slacker status!” Nobody wants that posted on their wall or in their feed.
Accountability is important, but there’s also a very transparent aspirational element. I choose to workout and use Cardio Trainer because I aspire to become a healthier me. I want to feel better, have more energy, maybe drop a few pounds — all of which are very powerful emotional motivators. It’s empowering and gives me more of a sense of control over my health. And that’s definitely a good thing.
Last thing — I found out about Cardio Trainer through Facebook. A friend started using it and was posting his workout results. Product placement — the app essentially sells itself — no advertising needed.
Are you using Cardio Trainer? If so, please share your story about it in the comment section below.
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