The leading running coaching app launched a fully integrated in-app community that's now 15x more active than its existing Facebook group — without replacing it — boosting retention, reducing support load, and turning users into active contributors.
+40% retention uplift vs. control group
3.7× more sessions from community users
50% of all users (31% of MAUs in average) entered the community
15× more active than the Facebook group
Community-powered support reduced inbound ticket volume
Fully automated moderation — 0 issue managed manually
RunMotion is a fast-growing European app helping runners train smarter — from beginners to marathoners. To stand out in a crowded market and strengthen its value proposition, RunMotion sought to go beyond training plans and foster real connections between runners.
Motivation is essential to succeed in running but users didn’t have a dedicated space to connect, share, and support each other within the app, beyond a Facebook group.
At the same time, RunMotion’s fast-growing user base and high engagement levels led to an increasing volume of support requests, many of which could be answered by peers.
→ RunMotion partnered with Octopus to turn an in-app community into a smart, scalable solution to both challenges.
RunMotion embedded the Octopus Community native SDK into its main navigation, giving users direct access to a dedicated social space. The setup included:
To measure the impact of the community on key app metrics, RunMotion ran a live A/B test on Android: 90% of users had access, while 10% formed the control group.
User-powered support
Community members answer each other’s questions in real time — and in over a third of cases, support never needs to step in. This peer-to-peer dynamic has significantly reduced ticket volume and freed up the team’s time.
Outpacing Facebook with real in-app interaction
Within weeks, the in-app community generated 15× more activity than RunMotion's existing Facebook group — making it the team's primary channel for engagement.
Monthly challenges = regular engagement
RunMotion runs recurring “Monthly Challenges” in the community, creating rituals that give users a shared, intermediate training goal and encourage them to share their progress together.
Effortless moderation
With zero manual interventions needed, moderation is fully handled by Octopus.
Blog content = fuel for engagement
RunMotion pushes relevant blog articles into the community feed, driving qualified traffic to their content and opening new discussion threads around training and motivation.
For RunMotion, the in-app community is no longer an add-on, it’s a growth lever. It supports the product, fuels retention, reduces support pressure, and strengthens the brand’s long-term position.
With just a few hours of dev time, the team turned social interaction into a strategic asset and let runners take the lead.
The leading running coaching app launched a fully integrated in-app community that's now 15x more active than its existing Facebook group
A +40% retention uplift vs. the control group, 3.7× more sessions from community users, and 50% of all users entered the community (31% of monthly active users).
You don't have to. RunMotion kept its Facebook group — the in-app community simply became 15× more active within weeks, because members engage where they already train. The group faded into a secondary channel on its own.
Ideally, you don't have to: with enough reach, a community becomes self-sustaining. At RunMotion, half of all users entered the community — enough critical mass for members to spark discussions and answer each other daily. Rituals like monthly challenges and blog posts shared into the feed amplify engagement, but the end goal is a community that runs itself.
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