Understanding the pain of fitness customers led to Peloton's success

Note: This was originally posted in a discussion as part of a Boston University Metropolitan College graduate-level course in Innovation with Professor Kathleen Park.

Painstorming helps identify customer problems/ pains / needs by providing in-depth understanding of the customer (who they are/are not), their emotions, their pain and what is causing their pain. This helps innovators find the solution-to-be-done that solves a real pain for the customer (Dyer & Furr, 2014).

Understanding customer pain has been a huge part of Peloton’s success. Co-Founder/CEO John Foley’s had a key insight into customer pain - it is hard to find time to work out in a gym (Huddleston, 2019). Similar to Apple’s iPhone, Peloton solved a problem customers did know they had by providing a workout experience that is fun and communal from the comfort of their home.

Every job has functional, social and emotional dimensions (Dyer & Furr, 2014). Peloton provides a solution that is (1) functional through technology, (2) social by building a community and (3) emotional via gamification. By providing a market solution that meets not only the functional need, but also the social and emotional needs of customers, Peloton has connected and engaged deeply with customers and rapidly grown its business (Huddleston, 2019). It has won over skeptics (Mull, 2019), and analysts see Peloton’s increased earnings as an acceleration of longstanding trends (Smith, 2020).

Focus on customer pain also helped Microsoft develop Windows 10. After flopping with Windows 8, Microsoft leveraged customer input throughout its entire development process and hyper focused on its target customers as opposed to spreading a wider net. As a result, Microsoft regained its footing with the most quickly adopted version of Windows in their history. Focusing on customer pain is equally important to innovation no matter who you are, a new company or an established one. (Korst & Whitler, 2020).

References

Dyer, J. & Furr, N. (2014). The Innovation Method. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.

Huddleston, T. (2019, February 12). How Peloton exercise bikes became a $4 billion fitness start-up with a cult following. CNBC. Retrieved May 19, 2020 from: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/12/how-peloton-exercise-bikes-and-streaming-gained-a-cult-following.html

Korst, K. & Whitler, J. (2020, January 8). Why the best tech firms keep customers front-of-mind. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved May 21, 2020 from:

https://hbr.org/2020/01/why-the-best-developers-keep-customers-front-of-mind

Mull, A. (December 2019). I joined a stationary biker gang. The Atlantic. Retrieved May 20, 2020 from: https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/600748/

Smith, C. (2020, May 19). Peloton will remain popular even after gyms reopen an analyst says the stock is rising. Barrons. Retrieved May 20, 2020 from: https://www.barrons.com/amp/articles/peloton-will-remain-popular-even-after-gyms-reopen-analyst-says-the-stock-is-rising-51589904312