Improving the Marketing for the Fitbit HR
Fitbit’s goals were to create products that would change the way people move. Its mission is to inspire its customers to live a healthier and more active life. Fitbit designs products that fit seamlessly into the user’s life. With products priced between $60 to $250 Fitbit aims to make its products affordable for it's customers.Wearable devices aim to constantly track your steps, sleep, heart rate as you wear it. The company's Fitbit HR is aimed at tracking all these features at the tap of a button. You will need to use Fitbit’s app in order to track how long you sleep.
Threats to the Fitbit HR
Threats for a company such as Fitbit tend to be battery life. The Fitbit HR's battery on average last between two - three days. The novelty of a new device may wear when a customer has to constantly charge their device. Perhaps the greatest threat to Fitbit is that the tech industry is constantly changing and releasing new products every year. So there is always a new product on the horizon that has better specs than the previous model.
The Competition
The Fitbit HR’s top competitors are the Jawbone UP2 and the Garmin Vivosmart HR. The Jawbone UP2 is the least expensive of the three products by priced at $89. The UP2’s battery will last 10 days. The styling of the UP2 is minimalistic in nature and doesn’t have a lcd screen like the two other products. For consumers that prefer style and fashion the UP2 would be an excellent choice. The Garmin Vivosmart HR is priced similarly to the Fitbit HR and has some of the same features. The battery of the Garmin Vivosmart HR will last 5 days. Compared to the Fitbit HR, the Vivosmart has a larger lcd screen which allows the device to display text messages. There have been some complaints from customers regarding accuracy with tracking on the Vivosmart HR. The Fitbit HR ranks last in terms of battery life between these three products.Fitbit’s main advantage over its competitors is the number of users it serves. Another advantage it has is its availability through its online stores and brick & mortar retail locations. In addition to purchasing products online, you can walk into a diversified list of stores such as REI, Target, Walmart, etc, and find a Fitbit product of your choice.The FitBit HR is for customers who want something light and simple to track physical activity. This device is an alternative to bulky touch screen wearables such as the Moto 360 and the Apple Watch.
Improving the Fitbit HR
The major problem with products like the Fitbit HR and similar fitness trackers like it, is that there are so many competitors entering the health tracker market, each product has the same features. All these products becomes difficult to differentiate. To improve the Fitbit HR’s marketing, I would plan to implement a social network for Fitbit. Fitbit currently has a community forum for its users but it’s primary focus is on topic discussions. I think having a social platform for its users where they can share their status, activity, and data with other members would be benificial. Users can post their activity numbers and compete for high scores. Competition in fitness tends to bring out the best in individuals in regards to activity. Fitbit offers a premium option that does let you export and compare your activity, food, sleep, to your fellow Fitbit users for $49/yr. These are however in the form of reports that you export. I’d rather see these features used in way that enhances the experiences for its users in real time.The number of users that use Fitbit is a strength and putting out a social platform that updates daily with the customer’s activity would strengthen user engagement. The social platform also does not need to be a standalone product. Fitbit could construct an API to connect to other popular social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. As seen with Nexus phones for Google, it helps to have a social media plaftorm that can be used as a tool to help promote products and continue to grow your company as well.