Content Strategy Case Study

RunGo is a running app that provides turn by turn voice navigation for your runs. With a library of over 100,000 routes worldwide, RunGo allows you to rediscover your own city and explore cities like a local. In 2015, RunGo started establishing partnerships with hotel establishments and running stores around the world. It was soon obvious from various support requests and running routes being created on the app that it was a vital running partner for many users when they travelled, providing them with unique routes to run through cities they were in.  

Challenge

With the number of running routes being created by users increasing exponentially every day, there was a need to ensure they were relevant and could be shared with other users of the app.

Process

• Discovery

We analyzed the current running routes we had. Although routes were being created on a daily basis, not all of them were good running routes. A good running route was one which was safe to run along, somewhat scenic (e.g. close to waterways, mountain views, panoramic city views) and with few stop lights as they interfered with the running experience. 

We also analyzed data based on the geographical locations RunGo's users were located as well as major running cities. Based on our findings, we focused on larger running cities and ensured we had content for unique destination races and cities around the world that may entice our users. 

• Design

We then created a featured list for every major running city and a generic list for  non-major running cities. Working with the UX designer on the team, I ensured all the content (routes, route names and descriptions of routes) were up to date and found relevant pictures that would be taken along the route. 

Some of these routes included the London Running Tour, Charlottetown Historical Loop and Dublin Running Tour ☘.

• Development 

When a user in a major running city, such as Vancouver or Boston, opened the app, the catalog view featuring the best running routes in the city would be launched. If a user was in another city, a generic catalog view featuring the best running routes around the world would be launched instead. This was facilitated by the localization feature on the app. 

• Ownership

To ensure content was consistently fresh and inspiring, I curated a variety of routes that could be shuffled on a timely basis. I created content calendars that would tie in routes with certain festivities around the year. 

Conclusion

Many users enjoyed this new curated list, especially with the use of images, with one runner dubbing the London Running Tour as an immersive cultural experience unlike any other. The catalog view allowed us to inspire users to check out different runs as they travelled and allowed them to immerse themselves in these cities like a local. Hence, it increased downloads and user retention.