Utilized primary and secondary research to create a consumer profile for the wearable fitness tracker user. Produced with a team of four in a strategic communication research and theory class at Ohio University.

1. Table Of Contents
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Research Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Research Methodology Number 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Research Methodology Number 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Consumer Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Consumer Segments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,7
Consumer Demographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Consumer Psychographics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Media Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Consumer Insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Conclusion & Recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2. 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
After conducting our research on the wearable fitness tracker, we were able
to divide users into the three distinct consumer segments of steady steppers,
competitive couples and accidental advocates. In addition, we identified three key
consumer insights based on the cumulative research from our focus group and in-
depth interviews:
1. Consumers would not have paid for a wearable fitness device before getting
one but now that they are avid users, would be willing to upgrade and/or buy
a new one in the future.
2. Consumers are less concerned with losing weight and more concerned with
reaching their step goal.
3. Consumers are not bothered by the fact that their tracker calculations could
be a little off.

3. 2
INTRODUCTION
The shrill, piercing scream of an alarm clock startles Josh awake. Is it morning
already? It feels like he didn’t sleep a wink and he’s already on track to be late for
work. He quickly rushes through his kitchen, spilling hot coffee on his sleeve as he
leaps into his car to start the day. Arriving at the office with moments to spare, he
squeezes into the elevator and zooms up to the fifth floor where he spends the
morning sitting at his desk, catching up on emails.
A slight buzz awakens Stacey. Her eyes flutter open as the soft, yellow glow of
morning sunlight floats through her window. She feels refreshed and rejuvenated,
checking to see that she only woke up once all night. She decides to bike the short
distance to work and upon arriving at the office, bypasses the line for the elevator
and walks up the three flights to her office. To incorporate more movement into her
day, she gets up and walks to hand deliver memos and meet with coworkers face
to face.
So, what is the difference between these two young professionals? Fergie is one of
the 8.5 million Americans who uses a wearable health and fitness tracker.
It is no secret that a huge portion of the U.S. consumer is seeking healthier,
cleaner and green options to improve their way of life. But what drives so many to
become so dedicated to this lifestyle that they choose to wear a reminder of it on
their wrist? With a large portion of these healthy consumers being below the age of
30, we decided to observe the American college student to find out how their
wearable fitness tracker affects their day-to-day activities, habits and motivations.

4. 3
RESEARCH RATIONALE
In the present day, the average consumer is beginning to focus more
heavily on the health fads dominating today’s industries. Men and women are
addicted to being fit, whether their goals are to look good, feel good or any
combination of the two. Even the food industry is filled with companies like Pita Pit,
who markets their wraps with “Fresh Thinking, Healthy Eating,” and Chipotle, a
company who serves only fresh ingredients and food with no added GMOs.
Gyms are crowded. Especially on Mondays, the start of new semesters and
the beginning of each new year. People love to get their sweat on, whether they
are running, lifting, participating in group exercise or finding their zen through yoga.
With the public becoming increasingly more aware of their own health, wearable
fitness trackers are a huge development in the wearable technology industry and
have come at an opportune time.
Therefore, we decided to research the rationale behind the use of fitness
trackers, why consumers feel they need them and what motivates them to track
their daily routine using a wearable device. In essence, what sets the wearable
fitness tracker user apart from the rest of the health-conscious population.

5. 4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 1 - Quantitative
To construct our three consumer segments we utilized secondary quantitative
research to help identify our consumers. This quantitative data provided us with
detailed demographic data on whom is wearing fitness trackers. We focused
mainly on two secondary research sources.
The Pew Research Center 2013 Tracking for Health Report is a combination of
past reports about the phenomenon of tracking health, how consumers are
tracking their health and the usage mobile health apps. This report provided
demographic data on who is using health trackers.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and it’s Health Research Institute provided
reports on the present and future of wearable technology including health
wearables. PwC surveyed 1,000 United States consumers and asked about their
use of wearable technology and why they decided to buy one.
The graph shows how many wearable devices, including smartwatches and fitness trackers were
sold from 2014 to 2015. It shows the unit sales of fitness trackers has increased by 77 percent from
2014 to 2015.

6. 5
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2 - Qualitative
We utilized two different qualitative methods for discovering our information on
those who sported wearable fitness trackers. First, we conducted a focus group,
observing students 18-26 years old and their inputs to their personal fitness
tracking devices. The focus group involved three girls and three boys, each of
whom practiced fitness in different forms. Some topics of discussion included: why
is fitness important to you, what drove you to buy a wearable fitness tracker and
have you seen changes in the way you observe fitness due to the purchase of your
tracker?
For our second methodology, we performed individual one-on-one interviews. The
discussion guide influenced each member of our group as we performed our in
depth interviews, which were then elaborated on as the interviews were continued.
Each interview involved a student from 18-26 who wore a fitness tracker daily:
interviewees ranging from self described health nuts, member of the Ohio
University Club Tennis team to the average college student who had a basic
interest in fitness. Through these interviews, we were able to pin-point how
individuals adjusted and respond to their personal form of wearable fitness
tracking.
Ohio University Students ages 18 - 26 Workouts per Week
This graph shows that most Ohio University students ages 18-26 workout on average three times a
week, proving that college age students are aware of their health and physical activity.

7. 6
CONSUMER DESCRIPTION
The wearable fitness tracker user is primarily female, though males also use the
technology. This user varies from young, college-age individuals to middle-age,
with the majority leaning toward the younger end of that spectrum. They are
average movers, who view health and fitness as important to them, but do not
obsess or revolve their lives around workouts or step counts. Generally, they
exercise at least one day a week and no more than six days a week, and the
majority of them focus on cardio more than any other form of fitness. The wearable
fitness tracker user enjoys being more aware of their daily activity due to their
device and is motivated to maintain a healthy and successful lifestyle that is
appropriate for them.
CONSUMER SEGMENTS
When it came to wearable fitness trackers, we discovered that most users fell into
three different segments based on their use and perspective of the product. While
all users remain concerned with maintaining their health, they can be separated
into distinct groups of those who are working on daily goals, those who are
competing against others and those who stumbled across wearable fitness
technology on accident.
THE STEADY STEPPER
This is the everyday user who generally wants to hit their daily goal but is
unconcerned with exact calculations and the total number for that day. They may
have bought their fitness tracker for a specific reason but it is now used as a
motivator and a reminder to keep up the good work. They try to keep themselves
moving as much as possible, but don’t feel bad if they have a lazy day and finish
below their goal. They are happy with their tracker but are not as passionate or
excited about it as the competitive couples and accidental advocates.
- For example, senior Stephanie Peters bought her fitness tracker to help her train
for a half marathon over the summer. She continues to use it even when she is not
training but does so more to watch her calories and exercise in general, rather than
to hit specific goals. Her fitness tracker is not her favorite thing in the world but she
is glad to have it for support when she needs it.

8. 7
THE COMPETITIVE COUPLES
These dynamic duos are friends and family members who are always aware of
their daily numbers because they share them on corresponding apps and compete
against each other weekly. Constantly trying to hold onto their lead, they avoid
escalators, elevators and unnecessarily short car rides in an effort to keep up a
high number of steps and remain on top. They may become discouraged if their
device runs out of battery and knocks them out of contention for the weekly prize
and may become motivated to overachieve the next day to make up for their lost
steps. Their tracker is a socializer for them. They are happy to see others wearing
them and often strike up a conversation about different brands, averages and
uses.
- For example, freshman Anthony DiRienzo uses his fitness tracker to compete
against his friends and father for weekly bragging rights. He uses it to track every
bit of exercise he does whether it is walking to class, going on runs or playing
lacrosse. One weekend when his tracker ran out of battery, his friends checked up
on him because his lack of steps was so uncharacteristic.
THE ACCIDENTAL ADVOCATES
These users stumbled across their wearable fitness trackers accidentally. They
had heard of the product before and may have even considered buying one, but
only have one because they won it in a contest, received it as a gift or some other
happenstance.They began using their tracker because it was convenient and free
but quickly became loyal, addicted and avid users. They may begin to overlap and
transform into one of the other segments but they tend to remain less competitive
than the couples, yet more motivated than the steady steppers. They are now loyal
consumers who rave about their tracker and will keep coming back for more as
new versions are released.
- For example, seniors Macy DiRienzo and Katie Draper received their fitness
trackers as gifts and now both say they would be willing to pay for upgrades and
replacements should they ever need to. They are dedicated to reaching their daily
goals and sometimes even do laps around the house to make sure they are
achieved. They love talking about their fitness trackers to anyone who will listen
and often meet new people because of this.

9. 8
CONSUMER DEMOGRAPHICS
The wearable fitness industry is a new, fast growing technology. The consumers of
fitness trackers are among different ages, education and income levels.
Mobihealth News states that:
● Millennials are 55% more likely to own wearable technology than adults 35
and over.
● 51% of millennials said they’re likely to purchase a fitness band in the next
year (compared to 45% of general consumers) and 40% said they were
likely to buy a smartwatch (compared to 35% of the general population)
● Millennials are 55% more likely to own wearable technology than adults 35
and over.
● 51% of millennials said they’re likely to purchase a fitness band in the next
year (compared to 45% of general consumers) and 40% said they were
likely to buy a smartwatch (compared to 35% of the general population).
CONSUMER PSYCHOGRAPHICS
When we focused on what type of consumer is buying wearable fitness
technology, we discovered that a lot of buyers are younger, active women.
Although a decent amount of males buy these devices, it is primarily a female
dominated trend. According to our focus group, we discovered that wearables have
also been taken over by the younger demographic, who have grown up with
technology, making it easier for them to understand, use and enjoy fitness trackers
more than their older counterparts. According to our in-depth interviews, we also
discovered that those who wear these trackers generally come from at least a
middle income household because the trackers can cost as much as several
hundred dollars. Finally, we determined that wearable fitness tracker consumers
are fairly active people that spend time outdoors and exercising.
When looking at our rationale, we decided to focus on the younger demographic
due to their drive to always improve and grow in their personal fitness goals.

10. 9
MEDIA HABITS
Most of our consumers are a part of the millennial generation, so social media and
advanced technology plays a large part in their daily lives. When a fitness tracker is
available to be worn, it’s not surprising that our consumers took the opportunity to
use it. Even though some of the wearable fitness technology allows you to make
connections with friends for competition, the social sharing of their workouts and
habits stopped there. Our focus group participants are active on social media such as
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram but were not interested in sharing how many steps
they took, how many calories they burned or how many miles they ran on their social
media accounts. They agreed that what they did with their physical activity was
personal and they didn’t want to share it on Facebook. Despite the fact that our
consumers are tech savvy and are active on social media, they do not feel the need
to share their activity with all of their followers.
CONSUMER INSIGHTS
1. Consumers would not have paid for a wearable fitness device before getting
one but now that they are avid users, would be willing to upgrade and/or buy
a new one in the future.
a. Before receiving a wearable fitness tracker our consumers believe it wasn’t
a necessity. Now that they have seen how a tracker can influence their
daily activity, they are more inclined to upgrade to use the newer features.
2. Consumers are less concerned with losing weight and more concerned with
reaching their step goal.
a. Being aware of their daily physical activity is what our consumers really like
about wearable fitness trackers. Although the tracker motivates them to
workout, it is mostly used to reassure what physical activity was done.
3. Consumers are not bothered by the fact that their tracker calculations could
be a little off.
a. Being inaccurate doesn’t bother users. Our consumers want the general
ballpark of activity that was completed in a day. If it’s a little off, it’s no big
deal.

11. 10
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
According to the qualitative and quantitative research we conducted, people who
wear fitness trackers are physically motivated individuals who care about reaching
their step goals and being aware of their daily activity. After looking over the data
we gathered, we recommend that wearable fitness tracker companies should
target a younger demographic. The younger age category tends to be more
inclined to buy new technology and exercise more often. We also suggest that
these companies adjust their tracking sensor to accommodate a greater variety of
fitness, such as cycling and swimming, and waterproof their trackers. This would
incentivize people who participate in these activities to buy a fitness tracker
because the tracking would provide more accurate readings. It would also help to
retain customers who may have been disappointed in the lack of these features
after purchasing their wearable fitness tracker.