Muscle Republic

Muscle Republic logo

Abstract

Muscle Republic is a small online apparel business based in Brookvale, NSW, Australia. As the business continues to grow the decisions about product lines and stock levels have become an increasing problem. They also didn't have a strong view of their customers for marketing and future product lines.

For this project I undertook contextual analysis, surveys, sales data analysis and 1:1 interviews.

I delivered

  • 6 Personas - Fashion Follower Flick, Check out my muscles Conrad, Active Alice, Sporty Sam, Old T-shirt Ollie and Timeless Classic Tina
  • A Product Journey - which documented the steps, behaviours and emotions of staff and customers from design to end of life
  • Website Feedback - Muscle Republic recently released a new website and wanted to know what the customers thought of it
  • SWOT analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats to Muscle Republic
  • Customer behaviours - including buying habits, pain points and opportunities

The deliverables are being used to create next years marketing strategy, help with the design of product lines and opening up new markets.

MSCR deliverables photo

Introduction

As a growing sports apparel, Muscle Republic, needs to know their customers better to be able to make better decisions about new designs, old designs and stocking levels, to continue to expand the business. This research will help understand their customers so the company can focus on, what their needs and wants are, how they use the products, how they choose products.

This will help with the following

  •  Product Roadmap Decisions
  •  Content Marketing
  •  Social Media Targeting
  •  SEO Optimization
  •  Pricing Tiers Determination

The research was conducted for 2 weeks in December 2017.

Method

  1. Define the problem and produce a product brief.
  2. Present to the client and get agreement
  3. Develop surveys using Survey Monkey. A separate one for
    • Existing Customers, and
    • Social Media followers
  4. Produce a interview script for 1:1 interviews
  5. Conduct contextual analysis in gyms and in popular outdoor exercise environments
  6. Source interviewees from recent sales list.
  7. Interview 5 interviewees
  8. Data analysis of sales data using Excel
  9. Data analysis of surveys using Excel
  10. Affinity mapping of qualitative survey data and interview data
MSCR Affinity Map

Tools

Software Tools

  • SurveyMonkey
  • Excel
  • LibreOffice Impress
  • Xtensio.com

UX Tools

  • Interviews
  • Affinity Mapping
  • Analysis
  • Persona development

Other Tools

  • Reporting
  • Project Management
  • Client Management

Product Journey

I decided that a product journey and the emotions that Muscle Republic and the customers went through would provide the best insights into the problems faced in the process.

Here is a sketch of my first flow.
MSCR product journey sketch
Here is the final outcome that was presented to the client.
MSCR product journey
Contact me if you would like to view the full sized version.

Personas

As part of the project I produced 6 personas including

  • Their Goals
  • Their Frustrations
  • How to find them in the gym
  • Their interaction with other personas
  • Variations
  • Shopping Preferences
  • What their decisions are driven by

This was eye opening to Muscle Republic because they had previously only been working with one persona. They are very appreciative that they now have a great opportunities for different styles and products.
Copies of the full personas now hang on several walls around the office to help with decision making for marketing and product development.

Demographics

MSCR Demographics Graphs

Insights and SWOT

The insights were

  • Why people buy Muscle Republic
  • Who their influencers are
  • The need for the story of the business to be shared
  • Lifecycle exceptions of the products
  • How people found Muscle Republic
  • Preferred Colours
  • Clothing pain points

The insights are already being used as a change in direction for marketing focussing on the connection with the story and people behind the brand.

I also carried out a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Treats analysis of the business. This confirmed improvements that have already been put in place and highlighted some opportunities and treats that can be the focus for future improvements.

 

 

What the customer had to say?

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The final presentation from Filita with customer personas, graphs and charts to define who exactly we are marketing our products to has helped clearly outline what products we are manufacturing, content we are creating for our marketing and where are customers are engaging with our brand.
We can’t recommend Filita highly enough to any brand looking for the most valuable feedback there is, the actual customers consuming their goods or service.

Vic Gigliotti Muscle Republic