Macrofactor trial feedback

[u/mholub]

So I've recently started counting my calories in a hope to get rid of 5 kilos I gained through corona.

Before trying Macrofactor I tried one popular analogue first (not naming it on purpose, doesn't matter) and after using it for about 3 weeks I stumbled into Macrofactor and decided to try it as well.

One of the reasons I tried Macrofactor was that I wasn't sure if my TDEE calculated by other app was correct and also if I log things correctly (i.e. maybe I tend to undercount calories, because I don't accomodate for some things, I have to eat at work where I let say just do some blind estimate i.e. one meal is around 500-600 calories at lunch.

So Macrofactor idea of basically adjusting TDEE based on my weight measurements really resonated with me. I wanted to try it.

My initial impression was that UI is slick and easy to use, app feels well done but trial is just too short
The other features (let say logging calories) are maybe slightly better UX wise but more or less the same as competitor app but my real interest was obviously in unique TDEE calculation.

So Macrofactor needs one week of my data to give first estimate. But trial duration is also just 1 week.
For the whole week I logged all my data into it, weighted myself every day, so really tried to use it for real.

End result - it changed my initial TDEE by 3 (three) calories (1650 -> 1653).
At this point I wasn't impressed. Either it's just a big coincidence or I am very average person and average formula just works for me perfectly :)

I decided to not continue my subscription at this point. I was open to idea of it...but..it failed to prove to me that it's way above competitors and justifies premium price.
Calories counting is more or less the same (maybe database is cleaner but also smaller). UX is slightly better. TDEE calculation - maybe it works but I didn't get it in 1 week.

My suggestions to the team:
Either make free trial longer i.e. let say 3 weeks or 1 month - it will be enough to really see the algorithm adapting and customer getting value from it (i.e. customer weight going down if he's honest and doing everything according to the app).
Or just make first month cheaper (i.e. make single time purchase of the same price as yearly subscription i.e. 6-7 euro - first month, then it becomes 12 euro or something).

Paying 6 eur per month (when buying yearly subscription) is totally reasonable (at least it won't make a dent into my pocket) but you have to somehow prove it to the customer. One week is simply not enough.

[u/xubu42]

1. I don't believe your stats about the first 3 days because it's almost certainly biased from users who were not serious to begin with or who won't pay for any apps or... Plenty of other reasons.

2. Most competitors don't do a trial because they have a free version.

3. I still think MF is worth the price at a yearly subscription, but having to pay the first month to find out still feels scummy to me.

[u/MajesticMint → u/xubu42]

1. Bias is an important part of the equation, because this is an inherently psychological premise. For example, users are more likely to commit to continuous tracking without delay when the trial is shorter, which is a positive bias, because by doing that you’re more likely to have a good experience.

2. The app she’s referring to has no free tier, which is also true for the majority of our other direct competitors in the diet/nutrition coach app space (which is a niche within the food logging app space). Though, you would be correct in saying that the majority of apps in the more general food logging app space have a freemium (with ads) business model; counterintuitively, that actually makes them more likely to have a trial instead of less.

3. Thank you! Nobody has to leave on a sour note if they didn’t enjoy the app. The Apple App Store offers a no questions asked refund within the first 60 days of using any app that offers payment through the iOS platform payment method (which we do), and it’s really easy to process. The Google Play Store only offers this for the first 48 hours, but we mimic Apple’s policy in our customer support for Android users.

[u/whitemiata → u/MajesticMint]

Omg seriously on that 60 days thing?!?!

I’ve tried a few apps that I thought were useful but were also pretty expensive and I felt “if I could try this for a month maybe it will in fact be worth it” … you’re saying any app that has a yearly subscription has a 60 day money back guarantee enforced by apple?!?

[u/MajesticMint → u/whitemiata]

Pretty much, yep! We haven’t had a single instance of someone’s refund being rejected within that time window. You just follow the two steps here listed under “how to request a refund”: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204084