Overview
Expanded the Challenges feature to include activity tracking at three difficulty levels and limited-time seasonal challenges, building on Phase 1's food-tracking foundation to give members more variety and engagement options.
My role
Led the designs for Phase 2, creating 5 new challenges (3 activity challenges and 2 limited-time New Year challenges). Facilitated brainstorming sessions with Product and Engineering, collaborated with Marketing and Content on messaging, and worked closely with the Behavioral Design team to ensure designs supported sustainable habit formation.
Outcome
Validated that variety drives sustained engagement by expanding Challenges beyond food tracking. The new challenges engaged 1.5M+ members in the first two months with a 35% completion rate, with 515K members joining Phase 2 challenges in the first 10 days alone
SETTING THE SCENE
Building on early success
Challenges launched in July 2021 with three food-tracking challenges designed to help WeightWatchers members build consistent meal tracking habits. The initial launch showed promise, with strong opt-in rates and member enthusiasm.
I joined the project during Phase 2 to expand the feature based on what we learned. The goal was to introduce activity tracking and explore limited-time challenges that could create urgency and align with member goals, especially around the New Year.
the challenge
Expanding beyond food tracking
Phase 1 focused exclusively on food tracking. But our members were asking for more variety, and the data showed an opportunity to expand into activity.
My task was to design new challenges that maintained what was working while expanding into new behaviors.
ux research
What we've learned from phase 1
01
Members craved variety
Members wanted challenges beyond food tracking to add novelty to the WW experience.
02
Consistency built habits
Weekly challenges created consistent engagement touchpoints that kept members coming back.
03
Agency increased commitment
Opt-in challenges gave members agency and increased their commitment to completion.
04
Rewards drove motivation
Badge rewards created a sense of achievement and ownership.
ENHANCING VISUAL DESIGN
Testing hierarchy and information architecture
While planning the new challenges, I also worked to improve the overall Challenges experience. Phase 1's time constraints limited visual exploration, so I created four design variants to A/B test different visual styles, color palettes, and information hierarchies within our design system.
Variant 01 performed best, validating that members valued clear information hierarchy and direct calls-to-action.
Variant 01
Content-heavy with improved information hierarchy, visual design, and a "Start Now" CTA.
Variant 02
Reduced content with refined visual design.
Variant 03
Similar to variant 02, with added explanatory content about what Challenges are.
Variant 04
Introduced an "intro challenge card" explaining challenges, followed by variant 01's flow.
DESIGNING FOR VARIETY
Three activity challenges
Based on Phase 1 research showing members wanted challenges beyond food tracking, I designed three activity challenges at different difficulty levels.Members had different starting points. Offering bronze, silver, and gold options let everyone find a challenge that felt achievable without being too easy or impossibly hard.
the impact
Sustained engagement and validated hypotheses
EXPLORING WHAT'S NEXT
From 26 ideas to limited-time challenges
After launching activity challenges, I led a brainstorming session with Product and Engineering to explore what's next. We generated 26 concepts and distilled them into limited-time New Year challenges, a direction that would shape our strategy for seasonal engagement.
The goal: test whether creating urgency and aligning with seasonal resolutions (lose weight, get in shape) would drive stronger engagement.
A concept poster that was created during a brainstorming session
LIMITED-TIME EXPERIMENTS
Fresh Start challenges for the New Year
Working closely with Marketing and Content, I led the design of challenge mechanics and visuals, ensuring they fit within our existing system while feeling special and time-bound.
The "limited time" element created urgency and gave us a way to test whether scarcity drove higher engagement.
Members will track breakfast every day for seven (7) days. Upon completion they will earn a badge.
Why is this important?
Ready, Set, Sweat Challenge
Members will track any activity 3 times in a seven day period. Upon completion they will earn a badge.
Why is this important?
From our Drivers of Members’ Success Research, early activity is an early sign of later success. This Challenge is easily attainable and will help Members form a habit.
key learnings
01
Activity challenges met a real need
Members engaged with bronze, silver, and gold challenges at different stages of their journey, confirming that varying difficulty levels expanded accessibility.
02
Limited-time challenges created urgency
Fresh Start challenges saw strong opt-in rates, validating the concept for future seasonal offerings.
03
The library approach worked
Offering more variety kept the feature fresh and gave members reasons to return week after week.
reflections
Lessons from expanding an engagement feature
Iteration builds on foundation
Phase 2 succeeded because it respected what Phase 1 built while expanding thoughtfully. Rather than reinventing the wheel, I focused on adding value through variety and experimentation.
Cross-functional collaboration amplifies impact
Working with Marketing and Content on Fresh Start challenges taught me that the best product work happens when everyone's expertise is leveraged. They understood messaging and timing in ways that made the designs stronger.
Constraints drive focus
Time and technical limitations forced prioritization. By simplifying designs to fit existing systems, we shipped faster and learned more quickly whether our hypotheses were correct.
Members want variety and choice
The strongest signal from Phase 2: members appreciated having options at different difficulty levels and being able to choose challenges that fit their lives. Agency matters.
