Post by Kitty on Aug 7, 2018 18:53:31 GMT
I always read the quarterly WW Earnings call transcript. I just read the last one from a few days ago that was based upon the 2nd quarter. It definitely illuminated some things. And, I think I understand now why they got rid of the attendance charms (i.e. attend 10 meetings in 12 weeks and get a charm) and possibly whey they got rid of the 5 pound and bravo stickers.
Important stuff from the transcript (I read it at seeking alpha)
1, WW is doing well financially. Membership is up about 25% over 1 year ago. Currently about 4.5 subscribers worldwide. About 1.6 million of the subscribers are in meetings. Average retention levels are up, close to 10 months. Retention is similar between meeting and online people. 40% of signups in the 2nd quarter where people new to WW which is an increase. Increase was particularly strong among online members.
2. WW aspires for its "app to become the world's everything app for wellness." Grossman gave lip service to weight management but that was all. She talked about WW going from being the worldwide leader in weight management to the world's partner in wellness. She talked about how it started with Nidetch. Basically said that WW is proud of the legacy but can be more.
She said that the top hashtag on Connect is #NSV. She quoted Oprah at some event saying "Healthy is the new skinny."
3. The clear desire is that people join WW and continue to pay for WW for wellness reason even if they achieve their weight loss goals. It was mentioned that some people stay on Connect even after meeting their goals to try to inspire others. The financial guy was asked why people cancel memberships. He gave two reasons. One was because they had met their goal. The other is they decide to spend discretionary money elsewhere. I thought it interested that he didn't mention them quitting due to NOT meeting their goals (although implicitly you may be doing that if you decide to spend money elsewhere).
My comment - It is clear to me that one of the advantages to WW of online members is that don't get lifetime membership. They don't have free eTools in their future. It is clear WW wants the people who join online to continue as WW members paying even if they get to their goals. My perception is that a lot of what is driving the whole "wellness" thing is the desire to disconnect WW membership from weight loss. That is -- that someone would want to continue paying for WW for wellness reasons even if they either (1) had met their weight loss goals or (2) had not succeeded at weight loss.
4. There was a lot about the new rewards program which actually sounds kind of great. I think that the main reason they are getting rid of the special charms (the ones for attending x number of meetings in Y weeks) is because of the rewards program.
Grossman was clear that the rewards program will not be based upon how much money you spend. It will be based upon what you do. Some examples she gave of possible things - steps you take, food you track, what you do to support your health, activity you do, attending a meeting, inviting a friend. She didn't go into a lot of detail but I could see you getting rewards based upon things like steps, exercise, attending meetings, tracking food, and so on. She said that in testing, they got retention with this.
The rewards were not detailed. She mentioned Weight Watchers "curated products and experiences." So, maybe there will be charms you can "buy" with the points as well as other things. I don't know if these will be new products or not.
My comment - I do think this could be very awesome. I worked to get charms. I would definitely work for something like that IF the rewards were things I cared about getting (a big if I know). I do worry about it being possible to game the system. For example, I connect my Fitbit to WW. The other day I entered an exercise on Fitbit but made an error. So I deleted it and entered it again properly. On the WW app, BOTH exercises showed up and gave me FitPoints. That has been a bug forever. I've reported it before. It never sets fixed. Right now, the only problem there is a get extra FitPoints. But if that kind of thing would give me extra points for a tangible reward that could be a problem. Maybe that would incentivize WW to fix that problem....
It is clear the rewards program is starting this year.
5. She said that about 1.8 unique members engaged on Connect during the first 6 months. About 1.3 millions synced a fitness device. So that is about 40% who got on Connect and about 30% for a fitness device. Both are a little lower than I would have expected.
She did say involvement with Connect was correlated to retention. Also that they are investing in new capabilities so people on Connect can form their own member groups.
My comment - I wonder if there will be private groups where the posts can't be seen if you aren't in the group? If so, that might actually be kind of cool.
I also could long term see them making that kind of thing a type of meeting. If you put a leader in a group like that then it might be a real substitute for an in person meeting. Very interested to see how that goes.
Anyway there was a lot in the transcript that was very interesting:
seekingalpha.com/article/4195580-weight-watchers-international-inc-wtw-ceo-mindy-grossmanon-q2-2018-results-earnings-call
Important stuff from the transcript (I read it at seeking alpha)
1, WW is doing well financially. Membership is up about 25% over 1 year ago. Currently about 4.5 subscribers worldwide. About 1.6 million of the subscribers are in meetings. Average retention levels are up, close to 10 months. Retention is similar between meeting and online people. 40% of signups in the 2nd quarter where people new to WW which is an increase. Increase was particularly strong among online members.
2. WW aspires for its "app to become the world's everything app for wellness." Grossman gave lip service to weight management but that was all. She talked about WW going from being the worldwide leader in weight management to the world's partner in wellness. She talked about how it started with Nidetch. Basically said that WW is proud of the legacy but can be more.
She said that the top hashtag on Connect is #NSV. She quoted Oprah at some event saying "Healthy is the new skinny."
3. The clear desire is that people join WW and continue to pay for WW for wellness reason even if they achieve their weight loss goals. It was mentioned that some people stay on Connect even after meeting their goals to try to inspire others. The financial guy was asked why people cancel memberships. He gave two reasons. One was because they had met their goal. The other is they decide to spend discretionary money elsewhere. I thought it interested that he didn't mention them quitting due to NOT meeting their goals (although implicitly you may be doing that if you decide to spend money elsewhere).
My comment - It is clear to me that one of the advantages to WW of online members is that don't get lifetime membership. They don't have free eTools in their future. It is clear WW wants the people who join online to continue as WW members paying even if they get to their goals. My perception is that a lot of what is driving the whole "wellness" thing is the desire to disconnect WW membership from weight loss. That is -- that someone would want to continue paying for WW for wellness reasons even if they either (1) had met their weight loss goals or (2) had not succeeded at weight loss.
4. There was a lot about the new rewards program which actually sounds kind of great. I think that the main reason they are getting rid of the special charms (the ones for attending x number of meetings in Y weeks) is because of the rewards program.
Grossman was clear that the rewards program will not be based upon how much money you spend. It will be based upon what you do. Some examples she gave of possible things - steps you take, food you track, what you do to support your health, activity you do, attending a meeting, inviting a friend. She didn't go into a lot of detail but I could see you getting rewards based upon things like steps, exercise, attending meetings, tracking food, and so on. She said that in testing, they got retention with this.
The rewards were not detailed. She mentioned Weight Watchers "curated products and experiences." So, maybe there will be charms you can "buy" with the points as well as other things. I don't know if these will be new products or not.
My comment - I do think this could be very awesome. I worked to get charms. I would definitely work for something like that IF the rewards were things I cared about getting (a big if I know). I do worry about it being possible to game the system. For example, I connect my Fitbit to WW. The other day I entered an exercise on Fitbit but made an error. So I deleted it and entered it again properly. On the WW app, BOTH exercises showed up and gave me FitPoints. That has been a bug forever. I've reported it before. It never sets fixed. Right now, the only problem there is a get extra FitPoints. But if that kind of thing would give me extra points for a tangible reward that could be a problem. Maybe that would incentivize WW to fix that problem....
It is clear the rewards program is starting this year.
5. She said that about 1.8 unique members engaged on Connect during the first 6 months. About 1.3 millions synced a fitness device. So that is about 40% who got on Connect and about 30% for a fitness device. Both are a little lower than I would have expected.
She did say involvement with Connect was correlated to retention. Also that they are investing in new capabilities so people on Connect can form their own member groups.
My comment - I wonder if there will be private groups where the posts can't be seen if you aren't in the group? If so, that might actually be kind of cool.
I also could long term see them making that kind of thing a type of meeting. If you put a leader in a group like that then it might be a real substitute for an in person meeting. Very interested to see how that goes.
Anyway there was a lot in the transcript that was very interesting:
seekingalpha.com/article/4195580-weight-watchers-international-inc-wtw-ceo-mindy-grossmanon-q2-2018-results-earnings-call
The Q4/FYE earnings call was yesterday afternoon and the transcript from that was available as of last night.
