Freeletics

Raw Engineering helps Freeletics Increase Developer Productivity and Reduce End-to-End Cycle Time

CMS Strategy & Implementation | React JS Development | Gatsby | Jenkins

Summary

Freeletics sought to architect and build an easier-to-use and comprehensive web stack. They hired Raw Engineering to implement and configure a headless CMS, develop design templates, and migrate over 6,000 pages of existing content within a few weeks.

The result of Raw Engineering’s work:

  • Increased developer productivity
  • Significant reduction in project cycle time
  • Substantial engineering cost savings

About Freeletics

In 2013, Freeletics started disrupting the multi-billion dollar fitness industry dominated by stationary gyms and exclusive personal trainers. Freeletics is now the leading provider of AI-based fitness and mindset coaching and is one of the fastest-growing sports and lifestyle companies in the world with over 40 million users, 160 employees, and a clothing line.

Screenshot of Freeletics blog page
Image of Freeletics App Training session
Image of Freeletics conference
Image of Freeletics workout session
Image of Pop-up Freeletics training space

The Challenge

Freeletics sought a simpler and more efficient method to create, manage, and publish content on its website. The company needed a platform that better met it's business needs:

  • Shorten end-to-end cycle time
  • Increase developer productivity
  • Expedite the translation process

With only three months to implement a new CMS, deliver new UX, and migrate 6,000 pages, Freeletic's Sr. Product Manager, Christie Cleveland–Callanan, could not afford the ramp up time required to learning and implement a new system. So, she looked to Raw Engineering's strategic and technical experts for help.

The Solution

Raw Engineering approached the project in multiple phases:

  • We created an Agile sprint plan to ensure on-time delivery and developed a CMS workflow strategy
  • Our team architected the content models and designed a migration plan from the former CMS to the Contentstack headless CMS
  • The team delivered the ReactJS and Contentstack templates for the new UX. 
  • Automated migration scripts were developed to seamlessly pull content from the former CMS to Contentstack within a week - saving months of development effort.
  • Tools like Screaming Frog, Wraith, WebdriverIO, Appium, and JMeter were used for automated testing, APIs, Web UI, and performance.
  • An SEO analysis was also conducted before deploying on Gatsby.
Image of layered screenshots: Freeletics web page and command line screen with code

The Results

Just three weeks later, Freeletics was thrilled with the quality of the finished product. Cleveland–Callanan praises the project’s ability to deliver across all major business goals. Previously developers were required to code everything on the site bespoke, but the new content architecture frees up developer time and resources. 

Raw Engineering’s architectural design also vastly improved the translation process, which had previously been both challenging and time consuming. It had previously taken more than four weeks to translate content into nine languages from German. Now the cycle time for the entire translation process is less than a week; that’s an 80% reduction in time to market.

Cleveland–Callanan noted the Raw Engineering team’s collaboration and transparency throughout the project. In fact, she has implemented several of Raw Engineering’s best practices to improve her own team's remote communication and collaboration.

Increase in Developer Productivity

Reduction in End-to-End Cycle Time

Engineering Cost Reduction

“We were working within a tight timeframe and needed to partner with a team that could work quickly, with zero ramp up, to complete the project by the deadline. Raw Engineering was well-versed in content architecture and saved us from making costly mistakes down the line. The team completed the project better and faster than we could have done ourselves.”

Image of Christie L Cleveland–Callanan
Christie L Cleveland–Callanan

Senior Product Manager