AusLeisure

A report by the Consumer Policy Research Centre (CPRC) has highlighted challenges users face when trying to cancel subscriptions of popular fitness apps, the ‘28 by Sam Wood’ app from celebrity personal trainer Sam Wood cited for having a particularly difficult opt-out processes.

The newly published report advised that businesses often tried to elicit feelings of guilt from consumers as they try to cancel, and deliberately make it hard to for people to unsubscribe.

Surveying 1,000 Australians to find out what sort of experience they have when trying to cancel online subscriptions, the CPRC report advises "our research into ‘subscription traps’ found that three in four Australians have experienced some form of negative experience when trying to cancel a subscription.

"This can include feeling pressured to keep a subscription or giving up and continuing to pay for a service you no longer need.

"Many survey respondents found the practice annoying or deceptive."

28 by Sam Wood was highlighted in the survey as having a particularly difficult cancellation process for its $58.99 per month service.

It noted “health and fitness services have always been notorious for making it difficult to unsubscribe and online versions of these are no exception.

"The online fitness program, 28 by Sam Wood, uses false hierarchy and confirmshaming across multiple screens throughout the cancellation process, making it difficult to unsubscribe from the program."

‘Confirmshaming’ refers to a process that uses language in order to elicit guilt or negative emotions from customers for choosing not to engage with a service or feature while false hierarchies are used to promote a certain option or hide others.

The report noted that “the link or button to cancel the subscription is either in fine print or a lighter colour.

"The process - which takes a minimum of five screens - also includes grandiose affirmations of the expense being an investment, further shaming consumers as they proceed with the cancellation process."

Responding to the ABC reporting on the issue, a spokesperson for 28 by Sam Wood said the report was noted, stating “improving the experience for our 28 by Sam Wood customers is an ongoing priority for our business.

"We will take these findings into consideration and review internally."

CPRC's Deputy Chief Executive, Chandni Gupta said the increasing popularity of the subscription model had made things more difficult for consumers, noting "you can sign-up any time you like, but you can never leave; with sign-ups taking mere seconds, while cancelling can be a difficult, frustrating and time-consuming ordeal.”.

The report found 75% of customers had some kind of negative experience trying to cancel a subscription, and 30% have felt pressured to keep a subscription they wanted to cancel.

Gupta called on the Australian government to adopt similar legislation to the recent Digital Services Act in Europe, which came into effect in February.

The act is aimed at cracking down on illegal content, transparent advertising and put obligations on all digital services to better protect consumers.

Images: Sam Wood promotes the ‘28 by Sam Wood’ app (top, credit: the 28 by Sam Wood app), the first screens a customer is presented with when they look at cancelling the 28 by Sam Wood app (middle, credit: CPRC) and customers are made to click through a number of 'confirmation shaming' pages before getting to the cancellation stage (below, credit: CPRC).

Related Articles

22nd August 2024 - Fitness and Lifestyle Group launches affiliate partnership marketing program

21st August 2024 - Technogym spotlights its contribution to 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics as official fitness equipment supplier

19th August 2024 - Active Management awarded for best training and development consulting in the fitness industry

12th August 2024 - Sydney-founded fitness technology platform Hapana raises $17million

8th August 2024 - Keepme studies reveal significant delays in lead response times in fitness industry

14th March 2024 - Sam Wood’s wellness programme looks to address New Zealand’s obesity epidemic

27th January 2024 - No fair trading or consumer affairs warnings over fitness memberships during ‘gym-uary’

10th January 2024 - Less than a third of Queensland adults are living with a healthy weight

8th December 2023 - Weight Loss Clinics acquired as Xponential Fitness business model questioned

31st August 2023 - Chris Hemsworth-backed fitness app crashes as it announces own-branded fitness equipment

4th July 2023 - International Study reveals discrepancy in body weight perception among teenagers

4th January 2022 - Commerce WA highlights new rules regarding fitness memberships

24th June 2020 - GeckoSports offers new franchise opportunities to sports coaches

8th August 2017 - Australian social fitness App partners up with ZUU

12th March 2016 - Leading personal trainer sick of ‘fakes’ and ‘cash-grabbers’

2nd November 2014 - Google launches fitness app to take on Apple and Samsung

---

Support our industry news service
We hope that you value the news that we publish so while you're here can we ask for your support?

As an independent publisher, we need reader support for our industry news gathering so ask that - if you don't already do so - you back us by subscribing to the printed Australasian Leisure Management magazine and/or our online news.