Expanding Paths and User Feedback Open Up Bright Future for Pliability
ROMWOD underwent a rebrand in September 2022 as the company changed its name to pliability. This was the first step toward a brighter future, which has only continued with branching daily mobility paths and a focus on international customers.
One big thing: A mainstay in the CrossFit community, pliability has not abandoned the customers that have helped it expand. Instead, managing director and founder of pliability Scott Perkins and his staff have only found ways to expand with daily mobility routines that benefit people from a variety of athletic backgrounds.
- One major focus early on was golf. Pliability joined forces with standout golfer Lee Westwood while addressing common concerns about the ability to rotate without pain while making important shots.
- The paths have also focused on runners, weightlifters, swimmers, and a variety of other fitness enthusiasts. Though pliability’s biggest move thus far was a partnership with Tia-Clair Toomey and The MINT Prjct to support expectant mothers.
Cody Mooney, Director of Performance, pliability: “So for me, that is probably the one that stands out the most. I just thought it’s an amazing space to be into. I thought we could give a lot of good education and just kind of help that world.”
- “It’s such a unique moment for a lot of mothers. And it was just, for me, it was a really good starting point where this is the foundation we should build off [as] we’re entering into other spaces.”
Branching out and rebranding was not a simple task. The change from ROMWOD to pliability took multiple years, and the decision to focus on other paths is an ongoing job. Everyone at the company has to continue the pursuit of knowledge in order to better address the widely different markets, and they have to put together a solid technical foundation that can support the new content.
- The process has not been simple, but pliability has seen positive signs. The new pregnancy paths marked the biggest launch for the company outside of its partnership with WHOOP. Pliability has also been able to grow the company by 9.2 percent since the initial rebrand.
- Perkins: “I mean, it was a big transition. I think when you take a company that’s been around for seven years and decide to change the name, especially when it’s so tied into the community that you built into, it was a scary but exciting transition. We were able to retain 97 percent of ROMWOD customers from September into October through the transition, so we didn’t really see a whole lot of fall off there, which was great.”
- “And I think it just feels like it gives us a lot of room for not only expanding into new sports, but it’s giving us the platform, kind of resources and features, to expand into training in general. So that way, we still come back and really expand content functionality for the CrossFit market.”
Important information: User feedback is a key part of this expansion. As Perkins explained, there is a dedicated platform that aggregates all of the user reviews into one place so that the team can see the biggest “ailments.” This provides a roadmap of sorts that the pliability team can use to plan out future moves.
One of these “ailments” mentioned by customers is a further expansion of the mobility test that recommends certain routines. The goal is to have more customized content plans that will fit specific needs.
- “I think like Scott said, a lot of our content that we produce – like we produced the back pain pathway that had Laura Horvath in it, which is really cool,” Mooney said. “And we get a lot of good feedback on that because I mean, obviously, I think as a whole, there’s certain things and traits that we do too much of. One could just be sitting.”
- “It’s cool to hear that feedback because I think that as a whole, we have sometimes similar problems. Just from my coaching, like for years and hearing so many things, I’m almost like… When we launched the back pain, I’m like, ‘That’s gonna be great for people because this is such a common problem area.’ Like low back pain, is it left or right side?”
Moves on the horizon: The focus is currently on further expanding into different training styles and building up pliability’s content library without sacrificing the app’s functionality. This is not the sole item on the to-do list.
- Pliability continues quietly working on significant changes that will benefit users outside of the United States. One that actually launched with the rebrand was the ability to pay with 130 different currencies, which helps lift barriers and remove fees.
- Another significant change will take place in either Q3 or Q4. Pliability will launch native support for users in a variety of languages. Early examples will be Spanish, French, German, and many other European languages, but there will be a concerted push toward further supporting users around the world.
Perkins: “We are US based, but one cool thing that I love about CrossFit is going to the events and stuff. And you find out how big the international community actually is. I learned from a couple of close international friends that there’s something really special when a company takes the time to make it native to you.”
- “That’s a big, big goal of ours. You can imagine with the way we deliver content through voice and video what a lift that really is. But we started on the tech side, and it was kind of one of those silent stealth launches through pliability, but there were some huge upgrades in our building capacity and even just the types of payments we can accept.”
One final note: Pliability has been working nonstop for several years. The company has gone through a rebrand, and it has inked important partnerships that will only help it further address the needs of its users. This sets up a bright future, but there is still more work to be done.
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