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Attendance was driven by a combination of new members and reenrollment of prior members. Members typically attended an average of 8 to 10 weekly sessions per enrollment period; 75% of returning members reenrolled at least once on average. Because reenrollment was an important source of attendance and meeting revenue, innovation played a critical role. One was the point system, which enabled members to eat what they prefer as long as the point total does not exceed the goal. The introduction of the point system coincided with the growth in attendance and profitability. As one reviewer stated, “This trivial innovation utterly transformed the company.” [59]
Weight Watchers’ target customers were overweight females between the ages of 25 and 64. Their U.S. target market penetration was 7.3% and 95% of members were female. The other important source of advertising was word of mouth. Weight Watchers estimated that 97% of its targeted customers knew the brand. [60]
stickK.com (http://stickk.com) was a personal goal-setting website created by Yale economists on the basis of empirical research in behavioral economics. The site allows users to create personal commitments (“Commitment Contracts”), whether it is to lose weight, exercise regularly, study more hours, or make 50 sales calls each week. To raise the likelihood of success by up to 3x, users could add financial stakes and peer accountability to each Commitment Contract. Users then track their progress, receive support from friends, family members, and coworkers, and have their financial stakes automatically processed through the site. Although the program was designed to help an individual achieve any type of goal, health and wellness goals comprised roughly 75% of the total.
By early 2013, stickK had over 200,000 registered users on its public facing website. More than 200,000 Commitment Contracts were created and users placed more than $15mm on the line as financial stakes. Weight loss Commitment Contracts were the most popular on the site, comprising approximately 42% of all contracts.
There were four steps to creating a Commitment Contract:
Choose a Goal—A user commits to, for instance, losing a certain amount of weight in a set period of time, specifying an amount of weight he or she will lose per week (typically 0.5—2 lbs. per week, with an average length of 22 weeks).
Set the Stakes—To increase the motivation to succeed, users can place a weekly wager which they will forfeit only if unsuccessful. Users can designate one of three options for their forfeited stakes:
“Charity”—Users who select this option cannot specify the individual organization that receives their money. Instead, the money is pooled and donated randomly at the end of the year to non-profits at stickK’s discretion (e.g. the American Red Cross, the United Way). The rationale is that choosing a specific organization that the user supports would lessen the motivation to succeed.
“Friend or Foe”—Users designate an individual to receive forfeited stakes. Typical recipients include friends, family members, and colleagues.
“Anti-Charity”—Users select an organization from a predetermined list whose views are contrary to their own. By choosing a specific organization that personally resonates with the user in a negative manner (for example, the National Rifle Association for proponent of gun control), they may have stronger motivation to succeed. Current options include:
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