1-month Case study, Royal College of Art, 2024
5-month Academic project, Royal College of Art, 2025
ZOE choice
ZOE choice
ZOE choice
ZOE Science & Nutrition: Grocery Personalised Nutrition Choice
ZOE Science & Nutrition: Grocery Personalised Nutrition Choice
ZOE Science & Nutrition: Grocery Personalised Nutrition Choice
A 4-week case study using ZOE, the UK's leading personalised nutrition brand, as a critical lens, exploring the root causes of low user retention and the challenge of converting short-term users into long-term memberships, then translating those insights into business strategy and UX/UI ideation to increase the frequency of ZOE's presence in everyday food decisions.
A 4-week case study using ZOE, the UK's leading personalised nutrition brand, as a critical lens, exploring the root causes of low user retention and the challenge of converting short-term users into long-term memberships, then translating those insights into business strategy and UX/UI ideation to increase the frequency of ZOE's presence in everyday food decisions.
A 4-week case study using ZOE, the UK's leading personalised nutrition brand, as a critical lens, exploring the root causes of low user retention and the challenge of converting short-term users into long-term memberships, then translating those insights into business strategy and UX/UI ideation to increase the frequency of ZOE's presence in everyday food decisions.
SERVICES | INDUSTY
User Experience Design; Strategy Building | Healthcare; Food; Business
User Experience Design; Strategy Building | Healthcare; Food; Business
challenge
ZOE's science is credible, and its food scoring engine is genuinely personalised, yet 50% of users churn within six to nine months. Through user research, I found the core barrier wasn't dissatisfaction with the product itself. It was a structural friction in the user journey: ZOE intervenes after a meal is already cooked, after a product is already bought. The knowledge arrives too late to change behaviour.
From the nutrition industry landscape, the existing traffic light labelling system on food packaging actively misleads consumers, rating low-calorie products as "healthy" regardless of nutritional value. In a market where personalised nutrition is still far from mainstream, this widens the gap between what people think is healthy.
How Might we
How might we bring ZOE's personalised nutrition knowledge into the moment of everyday food decisions, empowering people to make healthier choices with confidence?
How might we bring ZOE's personalised nutrition knowledge into the moment of everyday food decisions, empowering people to make healthier choices with confidence?
Impact
In March 2025, five months after this project concluded, ZOE launched an AI food scanner to open its American market, securing $15M in Series B+ funding, which independently validated the strategic direction this project identified.
In March 2025, five months after this project concluded, ZOE launched an AI food scanner to open its American market, securing $15M in Series B+ funding, which independently validated the strategic direction this project identified.
understand who is ZOE
What sets ZOE apart is their scientific foundation, which has revealed eye-opening findings about the significant variations in individuals' responses to the same meal.
With their flagship product, the ZOE plan, they offer a test kit that analyses your unique biological response to food. Through advanced scientific insights, ZOE uncovers valuable information about your body and creates personalised eating plans tailored specifically to your gut microbes and inflammation after meals.
What sets ZOE apart is their scientific foundation, which has revealed eye-opening findings about the significant variations in individuals' responses to the same meal.
With their flagship product, the ZOE plan, they offer a test kit that analyses your unique biological response to food. Through advanced scientific insights, ZOE uncovers valuable information about your body and creates personalised eating plans tailored specifically to your gut microbes and inflammation after meals.
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the Landscape
Instead of a "one-size-fits-all" approach to dieting, ZOE champions the belief that an individual’s unique biology determines how they should eat for optimal health. However, the data suggests that Zoe is struggling to fulfil its mission of ‘improving the health of millions by providing knowledge of personalised nutrition’. This formed the starting point and design direction for this project.
Instead of a "one-size-fits-all" approach to dieting, ZOE champions the belief that an individual’s unique biology determines how they should eat for optimal health. However, the data suggests that Zoe is struggling to fulfil its mission of ‘improving the health of millions by providing knowledge of personalised nutrition’. This formed the starting point and design direction for this project.
Instead of a "one-size-fits-all" approach to dieting, ZOE champions the belief that an individual’s unique biology determines how they should eat for optimal health. However, the data suggests that Zoe is struggling to fulfil its mission of ‘improving the health of millions by providing knowledge of personalised nutrition’. This formed the starting point and design direction for this project.
Users are not staying
Product Retention
Personalised nutrition products struggle to build lasting habits. ZOE lost 23% of its user base in a single year. Half of all subscribers discontinue within six to nine months.
50% churn within 6–9 months
130k (2023)→ 100k (2024) users in one year
digital product design
Users are not staying
Product Retention
Personalised nutrition products struggle to build lasting habits. ZOE lost 23% of its user base in a single year. Half of all subscribers discontinue within six to nine months.
50% churn within 6–9 months
130k (2023)→ 100k (2024) users in one year
digital product design
Users are not staying
Product Retention
Personalised nutrition products struggle to build lasting habits. ZOE lost 23% of its user base in a single year. Half of all subscribers discontinue within six to nine months.
50% churn within 6–9 months
130k (2023)→ 100k (2024) users in one year
digital product design
Primary user group are not targeted
Business Opportunity
Research showed users managing chronic conditions(Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, menopause,etc)gained the most from personalised nutrition. Yet no product in the space is purpose-built for preventative clinical use.
business development
Primary user group are not targeted
Business Opportunity
Research showed users managing chronic conditions(Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, menopause,etc)gained the most from personalised nutrition. Yet no product in the space is purpose-built for preventative clinical use.
business development
Primary user group are not targeted
Business Opportunity
Research showed users managing chronic conditions(Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, menopause,etc)gained the most from personalised nutrition. Yet no product in the space is purpose-built for preventative clinical use.
business development
Food Nutrition is still misunderstood
Systemic Innovation
Over 50% of supermarket food is ultra-processed. Decades of industry-funded research have trained people to judge food by calories alone , making genuinely good choices harder than it should be.
50%+ of UK food is ultra-processed
user awarenss
Food Nutrition is still misunderstood
Systemic Innovation
Over 50% of supermarket food is ultra-processed. Decades of industry-funded research have trained people to judge food by calories alone , making genuinely good choices harder than it should be.
50%+ of UK food is ultra-processed
user awarenss
Food Nutrition is still misunderstood
Systemic Innovation
Over 50% of supermarket food is ultra-processed. Decades of industry-funded research have trained people to judge food by calories alone , making genuinely good choices harder than it should be.
50%+ of UK food is ultra-processed
user awarenss
how might we
how might we
how might we
bring ZOE's personalised nutrition knowledge into the moment of everyday food decisions, empowering people to make healthier choices with confidence?
fully realise and maximise Link Workers’ unique value, leveraging the frontline nature of their role to create Social Prescribing as a proactive preventive care model?
fully realise and maximise Link Workers’ unique value, leveraging the frontline nature of their role to create Social Prescribing as a proactive preventive care model?
Renew the ZOE app service touchpoint
Based on the research that ZOE's food scoring engine isn't the problem, the user journey is the main barrier cause the main user group to quit after 5-6 months. Research identified one critical moment where engagement consistently breaks down: meal logging step. By the time a user opens the app to score what they've eaten, the decision has already been made. The friction of the upload process, the wrong ingredients, the sunk cost of cooking a low-scoring meal with no way to course-correct, these aren't usability failures.
The strategic response wasn't to rebuild. It was to reposition the key touchpoint of the product. So the new strategy moves ZOE's intervention much earlier to the meal preparation stage, which means when people are shopping for groceries, ZOE could help them make nutritional choices based on trusted personalised advice.
Based on the research that ZOE's food scoring engine isn't the problem, the user journey is the main barrier cause the main user group to quit after 5-6 months. Research identified one critical moment where engagement consistently breaks down: meal logging step. By the time a user opens the app to score what they've eaten, the decision has already been made. The friction of the upload process, the wrong ingredients, the sunk cost of cooking a low-scoring meal with no way to course-correct, these aren't usability failures.
The strategic response wasn't to rebuild. It was to reposition the key touchpoint of the product. So the new strategy moves ZOE's intervention much earlier to the meal preparation stage, which means when people are shopping for groceries, ZOE could help them make nutritional choices based on trusted personalised advice.
From a brand strategy perspective, the new service model introduces a single addition to the existing design system and restructures what happens after membership ends, shifting ZOE from a one-time service into a continuous presence at the point of decision.
The result addresses two problems simultaneously: reducing user churn through sustained post-membership engagement, and extending ZOE's personalised nutrition science to a broader public, reaching people at the supermarket shelf who would never have encountered it otherwise.
From a brand strategy perspective, the new service model introduces a single addition to the existing design system and restructures what happens after membership ends, shifting ZOE from a one-time service into a continuous presence at the point of decision.
The result addresses two problems simultaneously: reducing user churn through sustained post-membership engagement, and extending ZOE's personalised nutrition science to a broader public, reaching people at the supermarket shelf who would never have encountered it otherwise.
Research process
Research process
Research Perspective
User Research
User Research
Q1: What is the user group? Why do — or don't — customers choose ZOE?
Q1: What is the user group? Why do — or don't — customers choose ZOE?
Q1: What is the user group? Why do — or don't — customers choose ZOE?
Under Jonathan Wolf's April 2024 LinkedIn post, one user wrote: "My renewal came around and I was offered £160 for another 4 months of access to the App. I declined — I thought I'd learned enough."
Our first instinct was to treat this as a pricing problem. But the more comments we collected across Reddit, Trustpilot, and the App Store, the more we noticed something: most people who left didn't feel ZOE is useless. They felt done.
Who is ZOE actually for, and who does it think it's for?
To answer this, we mapped ZOE's users across two axes: depth of health need and length of commitment horizon.
Under Jonathan Wolf's April 2024 LinkedIn post, one user wrote: "My renewal came around and I was offered £160 for another 4 months of access to the App. I declined — I thought I'd learned enough."
Our first instinct was to treat this as a pricing problem. But the more comments we collected across Reddit, Trustpilot, and the App Store, the more we noticed something: most people who left didn't feel ZOE is useless. They felt done.
Who is ZOE actually for, and who does it think it's for?
To answer this, we mapped ZOE's users across two axes: depth of health need and length of commitment horizon.
Under Jonathan Wolf's April 2024 LinkedIn post, one user wrote: "My renewal came around and I was offered £160 for another 4 months of access to the App. I declined — I thought I'd learned enough."
Our first instinct was to treat this as a pricing problem. But the more comments we collected across Reddit, Trustpilot, and the App Store, the more we noticed something: most people who left didn't feel ZOE is useless. They felt done.
Who is ZOE actually for, and who does it think it's for?
To answer this, we mapped ZOE's users across two axes: depth of health need and length of commitment horizon.
Users managing their long-term health conditions, engaged deeply and consistently. For them, every data point mattered because the stakes were ongoing. ZOE didn't just teach them something; it became part of how they managed their lives.
But the majority of ZOE's acquired users sat in a different quadrant entirely: curious explorers, busy professionals, health experimenters. Drawn in by the brand's science communication, their engagement was always going to be bounded. Once the learning curve flattened, the app had nothing new to offer them.
On the other hand, ZOE currently offers only two membership options, both with a minimum four-month commitment.
For the long-term user, four months is nothing — they'd renew indefinitely. For the curious user, four months is already stretching it.
Users managing their long-term health conditions, engaged deeply and consistently. For them, every data point mattered because the stakes were ongoing. ZOE didn't just teach them something; it became part of how they managed their lives.
But the majority of ZOE's acquired users sat in a different quadrant entirely: curious explorers, busy professionals, health experimenters. Drawn in by the brand's science communication, their engagement was always going to be bounded. Once the learning curve flattened, the app had nothing new to offer them.
On the other hand, ZOE currently offers only two membership options, both with a minimum four-month commitment.
For the long-term user, four months is nothing — they'd renew indefinitely. For the curious user, four months is already stretching it.
💡
My Aha Moment
why users are not staying
💡
My Aha Moment
why users are not staying
💡
My Aha Moment
why users are not staying
The product has two very different user relationships living inside one membership model. It's about a mismatch between what the product asks of its users and what those users came for.
The product has two very different user relationships living inside one membership model. It's about a mismatch between what the product asks of its users and what those users came for.
The product has two very different user relationships living inside one membership model. It's about a mismatch between what the product asks of its users and what those users came for.
This answers the question at the beginning:
The £160 renewal doesn't compete with the feeling of having already learned enough.
However, the issue of pricing is merely a symptom; the real problem lies in the mismatch between demand and value.
This answers the question at the beginning:
The £160 renewal doesn't compete with the feeling of having already learned enough.
However, the issue of pricing is merely a symptom; the real problem lies in the mismatch between demand and value.
Product Analysis
Product Analysis
Product Analysis
Q3: What do those users really need?
How to keep their curious users while building healthy habits?
Q3: What do those users really need?
How to keep their curious users while building healthy habits?
Q3: What do those users really need?
How to keep their curious users while building healthy habits?
I conducted in-depth interviews with users who had completed at least one membership cycle but chose not to continue. Two questions anchored every conversation: Why did you start using ZOE? and Why did you stop?
Instead of hearing a lot of negative feedback on ZOE, what we heard was more specific barriers when they used this project. They didn't reject ZOE, they described falling out of a routine.
I conducted in-depth interviews with users who had completed at least one membership cycle but chose not to continue. Two questions anchored every conversation: Why did you start using ZOE? and Why did you stop?
Instead of hearing a lot of negative feedback on ZOE, what we heard was more specific barriers when they used this project. They didn't reject ZOE, they described falling out of a routine.
Like a lot of comments we found on the internet, Matt, one of our interviewees, who left ZOE after 4 months, is a big fan of personalised nutrition. “I like the idea,” he said, “but honestly, I don’t have time to log everything I eat.”
Also, even when he rated a meal poorly, he’d still eat it, simply because it was already bought or made. “I understand the food I bought was unhealthy for me, but I still have it, since I've owned it. What should I do?”
Like a lot of comments we found on the internet, Matt, one of our interviewees, who left ZOE after 4 months, is a big fan of personalised nutrition. “I like the idea,” he said, “but honestly, I don’t have time to log everything I eat.”
Also, even when he rated a meal poorly, he’d still eat it, simply because it was already bought or made. “I understand the food I bought was unhealthy for me, but I still have it, since I've owned it. What should I do?”
The daily meal logging step is the core habit ZOE is built around, which was consistently where engagement broke down. Users described it as effortful in a way that felt disproportionate: by the time you've cooked and eaten, opening the app to upload and score a meal you can no longer change feels like paperwork, not insight. The feedback arrives too late to influence the decision it's supposedly informing.
This wasn't a usability failure. It was a timing failure.
The daily meal logging step is the core habit ZOE is built around, which was consistently where engagement broke down. Users described it as effortful in a way that felt disproportionate: by the time you've cooked and eaten, opening the app to upload and score a meal you can no longer change feels like paperwork, not insight. The feedback arrives too late to influence the decision it's supposedly informing.
This wasn't a usability failure. It was a timing failure.
If even committed ZOE users struggled to build the habit around logging, what did that mean for people who had never experienced the product's core value at all?
We took our questions into the streets, from campus canteens, to supermarket entrances, then public spaces, with a white board full of questions and an open mind for the conversations. We were trying to understand how people without any personalised nutrition experience make food decisions day-to-day, and how they think about personalised nutrition.
The data and insights showed:
Food choice: people judged food primarily by calories, made eating decisions situationally rather than intentionally
Personalised nutrition: people had low awareness that their body might respond differently to the same food than someone else's. But over 82% of them think personalised nutrition is useful and the future trend, 87% of them said they want to try it one day.
If even committed ZOE users struggled to build the habit around logging, what did that mean for people who had never experienced the product's core value at all?
We took our questions into the streets, from campus canteens, to supermarket entrances, then public spaces, with a white board full of questions and an open mind for the conversations. We were trying to understand how people without any personalised nutrition experience make food decisions day-to-day, and how they think about personalised nutrition.
The data and insights showed:
Food choice: people judged food primarily by calories, made eating decisions situationally rather than intentionally
Personalised nutrition: people had low awareness that their body might respond differently to the same food than someone else's. But over 82% of them think personalised nutrition is useful and the future trend, 87% of them said they want to try it one day.
💡
My Aha Moment
why users are not staying
💡
My Aha Moment
why users are not staying
💡
My Aha Moment
why users are not staying
ZOE's most valuable intervention is personalised food guidance; however, it consistently arrives after the moment of choice, not before it.
ZOE's most valuable intervention is personalised food guidance; however, it consistently arrives after the moment of choice, not before it.
ZOE's most valuable intervention is personalised food guidance; however, it consistently arrives after the moment of choice, not before it.
Market Opportunity
Market Opportunity
Market Opportunity
When exploring the health-curious non-converters user group, I found their answers kept pointing to something larger. They weren't avoiding any personalised nutrition knowledge or methods. They were navigating a food environment that had never given them a reliable framework in the first place.
When exploring the health-curious non-converters user group, I found their answers kept pointing to something larger. They weren't avoiding any personalised nutrition knowledge or methods. They were navigating a food environment that had never given them a reliable framework in the first place.
Q4: Is there a need for such personalised nutrition services in the food industry? How to let ZOE catch this trend and achieve long-term behaviour change?
Q4: Is there a need for such personalised nutrition services in the food industry? How to let ZOE catch this trend and achieve long-term behaviour change?
Q4: Is there a need for such personalised nutrition services in the food industry? How to let ZOE catch this trend and achieve long-term behaviour change?
Let me introduce you to the interesting experiment we did. We called it "peanut butter experiment".
We took the same everyday product, peanut butter, and asked two systems to evaluate it.
The NHS app advised avoiding it, suggesting a swap for an artificially sweetened, near-zero-nutritional-value syrup. The logic was calorie reduction: fat is bad, fewer calories is better.
ZOE has classified this particular brand of peanut butter as a beneficial food; it is a source of nutrients and essential fats that support gut health. (as the user of the account we are borrowing has digestive issues)
Let me introduce you to the interesting experiment we did. We called it "peanut butter experiment".
We took the same everyday product, peanut butter, and asked two systems to evaluate it.
The NHS app advised avoiding it, suggesting a swap for an artificially sweetened, near-zero-nutritional-value syrup. The logic was calorie reduction: fat is bad, fewer calories is better.
ZOE has classified this particular brand of peanut butter as a beneficial food; it is a source of nutrients and essential fats that support gut health. (as the user of the account we are borrowing has digestive issues)
We repeated this across a range of everyday products and found the same divergence consistently. This wasn't a corner case. This confirms that ZOE's value proposition is not just personalisation, but a complete paradigm shift away from one-dimensional nutrition metrics (like fat/calories) toward a holistic view of food's impact on gut and metabolic health.
We repeated this across a range of everyday products and found the same divergence consistently. This wasn't a corner case. This confirms that ZOE's value proposition is not just personalisation, but a complete paradigm shift away from one-dimensional nutrition metrics (like fat/calories) toward a holistic view of food's impact on gut and metabolic health.
💡
My Aha Moment
Food Nutrition is still misunderstood
💡
My Aha Moment
Food Nutrition is still misunderstood
💡
My Aha Moment
Food Nutrition is still misunderstood
The traffic light system is a public infrastructure that reaches every consumer, regardless of income. ZOE's science is a privately held tool that reaches a small, affluent minority.
The opportunity is to ask what happens when personalised, evidence-based nutrition guidance meets the point of purchase.
The traffic light system is a public infrastructure that reaches every consumer, regardless of income.
ZOE's science is a privately held tool that reaches a small, affluent minority. The opportunity is to ask what happens when personalised, evidence-based nutrition guidance meets the point of purchase.
The traffic light system is a public infrastructure that reaches every consumer, regardless of income. ZOE's science is a privately held tool that reaches a small, affluent minority. The opportunity is to ask what happens when personalised, evidence-based nutrition guidance meets the point of purchase.
Reflection
Reflection
The research journey wasn't a linear process in this case.
I started at the point: one user, one experience, one comment, another contrasting comment...
the path to the patterns and system wasn't straight, it looped back, shifted focus,
and opened into directions we hadn't planned for. Each iteration surfaced something the previous one had missed.
A green label on the label doesn't mean healthy for everyone. A one-size solution, as well, can't serve every user.
The only way through was to keep asking. Curiosity isn't a research method. It's a refusal to accept the surface answer.
The research journey wasn't a linear process in this case.
I started at the point: one user, one experience, one comment, another contrasting comment...
the path to the patterns and system wasn't straight, it looped back, shifted focus,
and opened into directions we hadn't planned for. Each iteration surfaced something the previous one had missed.
A green label on the label doesn't mean healthy for everyone. A one-size solution, as well, can't serve every user.
The only way through was to keep asking. Curiosity isn't a research method. It's a refusal to accept the surface answer.
transition design
service design
STEP:
Public Health Transformation
STEP: Public Health Transformation
The NHS introduced Social Prescribing to reach people before they get sick. In reality, it remains blocked by a medical gate. This research-based project investigated why that gap persisted and who inside the system already had the power to close it.
Grounded in Transition Design, applying Theory of Change and backcasting to map the shifts needed to move from a reactive to a proactive, community-embedded model.
workshop design
user research
workshop design
user research
From Water to Water:
London Canal Community Building
From Water to Water:
London Canal Community Building
From Water to Water: London Canal Community Building
London's canals are home to thousands of people; here is a hidden community living metres apart, often without knowing each other's names.
Partnering with 3 canal-based charities and co-designing directly with live-aboard residents, this project explored the future operational model of canal communities, delivered an asset-based seasonal workshop and social toolkit that gave residents a shared language to let the community take shape on its own terms.
London's canals are home to thousands of people; here is a hidden community living metres apart, often without knowing each other's names.
Partnering with 3 canal-based charities and co-designing directly with live-aboard residents, this project explored the future operational model of canal communities, delivered an asset-based seasonal workshop and social toolkit that gave residents a shared language to let the community take shape on its own terms.