'Everybody's Baseball' began at Hangeulthon, a hackathon held on Hangeul Day at the Apple Developer Academy @ Postech. Our team, 'GAMAEGUIZ', was composed of one product manager, four developers, and myself as the designer. Given the two-day timeframe, we aimed to launch an app by identifying a market with clear user demand.
We found that KBO baseball fans are genuinely passionate about baseball chant songs. An Android app dedicated to baseball chants had 500,000 downloads, and YouTube videos compiling these chants were averaging 300,000 to 600,000 views. Fans were already pre-listening to and memorizing these chants to cheer at games.
A survey showed that 83% of KBO fans supported only one team, scoring an 8.7/10 in terms of team loyalty. When users selected their favorite team, we evoked their fan spirit by using colors and images associated with that team. We launched 'Everybody's Baseball,' an app that allows users to learn the chant lyrics for their team.
After the launch, as the 2023 KBO season commenced in April, there was a surge in app users. Approximately 400 to 500 new users joined weekly, resulting in 2,500 new users in April alone, totaling 4,000 users.
The Problem
Despite spending significantly on marketing for user acquisition, the weekly influx of users remained constant at around 400 to 500. Given the lack of increase in user acquisition, we suspected a PMF (Product Market Fit) issue. Our user retention rate confirmed our concerns, standing at a low 6.67%.
In other words, very few users returned to engage with the app after their initial download.
Recognizing this, our team set the goal of "improving app retention to secure loyal customers." We chose retention rate as our key metric because it reflects the proportion of loyal customers who find value in our app. Achieving this goal meant we needed to create enduring value for the users, building long-term growth foundations for our app.
The Hypothesis
Upon closer analysis of the new user influx, we discovered an interesting pattern. New downloads during the week hovered around 40 to 50 users, but on weekends, this number averaged 100 downloads, doubling the weekend acquisition rate.
Through Instagram marketing, we learned that fans typically attend games over the weekend. Subsequently, Instagram stories featuring live game feedback frequently appeared during weekends.
I interpreted this as: "KBO fans primarily download the chant streaming app for weekend games they attend. However, unless attending another game, they seldom revisit the app." We analyzed research and user feedback to understand fans' listening behaviors regarding chant music.
This led to the discovery of two distinct user types within our user base.
1. The type that memorizes chants to cheer at games, aligning with 'Everybody's Baseball's initial target.
2. The type that supports only one team but enjoys listening to chants from any team in everyday life for leisure.
Our internal survey indicated that fans who enjoy chants for leisure made up about 40% of the KBO fan base—a significant proportion. Therefore, we hypothesized that rebranding as "a baseball streaming app for everyday enjoyment like music" would attract and convert this leisure-oriented user segment into loyal customers.
The Solution
In addition to individual chant playback with lyrics for those cheering at games, we added continuous play and background play functions for users who wanted to enjoy chants like a music app in their daily lives. We also allowed users to edit the playback order in playlists.
We expanded app functionality from exploring chants for a single team—based on the assumption that users would learn them for cheering—so users could favorite and save chants from any team. The search capability was broadened to include all teams.
The Results
The Gamaeguiz team is currently progressing through Sprint 4, focusing fervently on our goals. We are sequentially releasing features from background play to playlist updates.
After prioritizing the deployment of the background play feature, we observed an initial uptick in retention. Currently, as Sprint 4 is ongoing, we are considering our next steps based on achieving the sprint goals. If retention improves, it may indicate successful customer segmentation and identifying loyal customers; hence, we could further develop our app to expand baseball chant culture into everyday life. Conversely, if retention remains unimproved despite updates, it might suggest our hypothesis was incorrect, warranting a re-evaluation of the demand for a chant player app. Moreover, simply increasing retention doesn't fully validate the hypothesis. Analyzing feature usage will determine whether fans listening for leisure genuinely constitute loyal customers.
Lessons Learned
The journey towards PMF is undeniably challenging. While download numbers were high, ensuring continuous app usage required users to perceive ongoing value. Continuous interviews and VOC collection were crucial, allowing us to identify potential loyal customer segments within our target audiences. Through Everybody's Baseball, we realized an increasing proportion of young female fans and those who appreciate chants for leisure.
Our dedication to customer-centricity will help us foster an even better baseball chant culture through Everybody's Baseball! Indeed, baseball chants are best enjoyed with Everybody's Baseball!
