I’ve been a Peloton devotee for over five years — I wrote about the company’s origin story and how it slotted into my own fitness and product journeys in I Need That. My family uses our bikes and the app consistently, and the platform has transformed our fitness routines.
But I’m intrigued by what competitor (Peloton might say “knockoff”) Echelon is doing now with AI.
They’ve just launched “Echelon Intelligence,” a personalized, generative AI-powered platform built on Amazon’s Bedrock AI models. It’s an ambitious effort to solve connected fitness’s biggest challenge: keeping people engaged long-term.
I’ve shared some of my thoughts as to the gaps in Peloton’s user connection. So this grabbed my attention:
Echelon’s AI analyzes members’ fitness goals, preferences, and historical workout data to create truly personalized training programs. It recommends specific classes, routines, and even instructors based on your actual behavior and stated objectives.
What’s super smart is how the conversational interface for schedule management and real-time progress tracking. It’s eliminating the friction of planning and tracking workouts — two major reasons people abandon fitness routines.
According to early testing, this approach could increase member retention by at least 7%.
That number might seem small, but in the subscription fitness world, it’s enormous.
Reducing churn by 7% could translate to millions in additional annual revenue.
This illustrates something else I talk about in my book — how products must not just deliver a capability, but actively help users achieve their Coveted Condition™. Echelon is taking the “smart coach” concept further than most fitness platforms have yet dared to go.
There’s a next-level aspect too.
They’re extending this AI experience to both home users and commercial gym equipment. This creates a seamless experience regardless of where members choose to workout — solving another major friction point in fitness routines.
Product Payoff: My kids’ fave educational app Duolingo applied similar personalization principles to language learning, creating adaptive pathways that adjust difficulty based on user performance. Their “heart system” and personalized practice sessions increased daily active users by 67% in a single year by making the experience feel tailored to each learner’s capabilities. This approach has helped them maintain a remarkable 9% conversion rate from free to paid users in an industry where 1-2% is considered merveilleux, if not Sorprendente.
Action for today: Noodle about where your product might benefit from more sophisticated personalization. The key insight from Echelon’s approach isn’t using AI, but using it to solve specific friction points known to lead to abandonment. What are the two biggest reasons users stop engaging with YOUR product, and how can personalization address those specific pain points?
Want to explore how intelligent personalization might transform your product experience? Tap that spiffy little reply arrow and let’s discuss your retention opportunities. Or reach out to my team of product marketing specialists at Graphos Product.
Echelon’s new AI-powered fitness platform demonstrates how personalization can directly address the biggest challenge in subscription businesses—keeping users engaged month after month.