Redesigning engagement for Joyrun — a social running platform with 80M+ users across 2,100 cities. Built real-time PvP competition, ranking systems, and gamified motivation loops to drive retention.
Joyrun's PM identified declining user engagement — runners were completing runs but not returning. Market research surfaced three root causes: lack of competitive motivation, no social accountability, and missing real-time feedback during runs.
Our brief: design a gamification system that would increase stickiness without alienating casual users.
We conducted 20+ quantitative surveys and 5+ qualitative interviews, synthesizing three distinct runner personas:
After mapping user pain points to design opportunities, we narrowed to three feature concepts — and used a gamification value matrix to prioritize them:
Ranking Run emerged as Priority 1 — highest impact across motivation, social accountability, and retention.
Users choose to attack (challenge others using their best records) or defend (stay open to incoming challenges). Modal popup screens keep focus on the task. Clear attack/defend framing makes the competitive stakes legible at a glance.
The system auto-matches competitors of similar rank within the selected time window. Users have 5 seconds to accept or decline — creating urgency without pressure. Seasonal resets (every 8 weeks) give all players a fresh chance to climb the ladder.
Safety first: warm-up is required before competition begins. During the run, users see competitor positions in real-time. Red/green color coding signals whether they're ahead or behind. One-handed lock and pass buttons keep interaction minimal while running.
