An Informal Case Study On My Own Customer Journey with Aro

(Or, Why I Paid $288 For A Box)

Like any wise elder millennial, I am acutely aware of our collective tendency to social scroll during even the briefest moments of downtime.

Yet I do it anyway.?

Waiting two minutes for someone to hop onto Zoom? Refresh LinkedIn.?

Watching the dollars tick up as you fill your gas tank? Check Instagram.?

At a social function that’s really pushing your limits as an introvert? Peak at Slack.?

Even as I get further and further from the coolest shticks of teens and young adults, I get it. I entered college alongside the birth of Facebook and navigated my twenties with the rise of Instagram. (Are hashtag weddings still a thing?)

Now that my oldest kid is in elementary school and has some friends who have phones, (Lord help us), the ongoing but future-oriented conversations that my husband and I have about our approach to the use of technology and social media in our home is suddenly here. It’s today. It’s right now.?

By this point, we’ve all seen the research connecting adolescent use of social media and worsening mental health outcomes. There are a lot of risks associated with unchecked scrolling. And it’s not just mental health. Just last week, NPR put out a story about increasing myopia rates in kids. The solution? Getting them outside.?

We try our best to prioritize family time over screen time. Playing outside over watching shows. Reading books instead of playing on iPads (that my kids don’t have). Sitting with wonder and curiosity for a minute instead of immediate gratification from asking Google or Alexa.?

Yet, I'm hooked. I’ve had a smartphone and some form of social media for more than a decade. I work remotely and I am always checking Slack and email.

2024 resolutions be darn.?

I’ve been wrestling with how to model healthy phone and technology use for my kids. Ultimately, it comes down to my struggle to put technology in its proper place, viewing it and using it as a useful tool instead of the default for … everything.?

Enter: Aro .?

Awareness

I started seeing ads for Aro about a year or so ago.?

I follow plenty of accounts on Instagram that offer advice for how to raise these digital natives of ours – the generation of kids who have never known anything but a world immersed in devices. The influencers and companies I follow offer tips for when to introduce screen time to young children, how to approach social media with your tweens and teens, why to delay smartphones as long as possible, and so much more.?

The irony is not lost on me – I consume a lot of content about how to stay off technology and social media while I am on technology and scrolling social media.?

PS: Andy Crouch has a great book called The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology In Its Proper Place. It’s an actual book that you can hold with your hands.?

I wasn’t really thinking about how I was looking for a solution to help ease my tension of how to approach technology in a moderated way, but when I saw Aro 's posts with its founder describing how he missed his kid’s first soccer goal because he was (you guessed it) scrolling his phone, I started to pay attention.?

I didn’t miss my kid’s first soccer goal, but I might have.?

The founder went on to describe why he created Aro. Which, by the way, is a company that helps you put down your phone. It’s an app and also they have a box. I’ll get to that shortly. They talk about helping families prioritize real life moments over screen time.?

Yes, this is what I want!?

Evaluation

When I first clicked into their website from the Instagram ad, I saw that you had to buy a subscription to an app.?

That’s silly, I thought. How are they going to say they help you use your phone less when their product is an app that you access on your phone??

Time passed.?

I saw more ads about being present in real life instead of scrolling. They showed me families having dinner and talking, they showed me working parents putting down their phone when their kid asked them a question, they showed me connection. None of their messaging ever said “technology is evil” or “phones are bad.” It was about moderation and, simply, putting technology in its proper place.?

Yes, this is what I want!?

I clicked into their website again.?

This time I read more. I learned that the app more or less gamifies your good habits. It rewards you for increased discipline with encouraging messages and beautiful graphs. It helps you see the hours over the day and throughout the week that you spent with your family and (not) on your phone.?

Yes, this is what I want!?

When I looked at the price, I was bummed. I didn’t want another subscription fee that would get lost in the black hole of things I didn’t really mean to sign up for and now I don’t know how to cancel.?

Time passed.?

I saw more ads about being present in real life instead of scrolling.?

Yes, this is what I want!?

Instead of trying the Aro box, I tried my own box that I got with the purchase of my kid’s most recent pair of shoes. I started putting my phone in this shoebox that lived on the kitchen counter. My initial goal was simply to stop looking at Slack while I cooked dinner. I don’t really know how to explain why this wasn’t sticky for my husband and I, but it wasn’t. To be transparent, my husband put his phone in this shoebox never and I used it rarely. I still don’t know how to describe why this didn’t work, but it didn’t.?

Time passed.?

I kept seeing ads about being present in real life instead of scrolling.?

Yes, this is what I want!?

Now it was 9 or 10 or more months later after I saw the first ad and I wanted Aro. So, I talked with my husband about it. He had heard of Aro, too, but hadn’t done much research into it. We both wanted something to help hold ourselves and each other accountable.?

Acquisition

The $288 price point covered the cost of the aesthetically pleasing box that we put our phones in to be charged as well as a 24-month subscription to the app that gamifies and tracks our (non) screen time. Yes, I could have chosen a lower tier option, like the per-month or per-year plan. But, when I choose to do something, I usually commit to giving it my all. If I take on a task or a job or a goal or a habit, I’m all in. So we bought the box and the 24-month plan.

As a reluctant, skeptical buyer who is hesitant to make purchases from ads on Instagram and generally loathes subscription fees, I am happy to report I am still thrilled with our purchase.?

Outcomes

I use Aro daily. When my alarm goes off at 5:30 each morning, I get up and start the coffee. Instead of checking my email and Slack and LinkedIn and Instagram and the weather while I make lunches for my kids, my phone is in the box and I am either listening to NPR on the radio or I am enjoying the rare gift of silence in my household of 3 young children.?

When I have a hundred things to do for work, and as a solo product marketer, there are always a hundred things to do for work, I put my phone in Aro and focus on cranking out drafts or prepping enablements or conducting market research or (you name it).?

Around 4:00 or 4:30 or 5:00, I transition from work to home again. I am talking to my kids about their school day and sports team and baby dolls and I am starting to prep dinner.?

On the days when I put my phone in the Aro box, this goes well. I can hold my daughter while talking to my sons while stirring the pot of spaghetti instead of worrying about the most recent Slack message.

On the days when I don’t put my phone in the Aro box, I still reach for it less.?

This is what I wanted.?

This product is doing its part to help solve my challenge of inadvertently defaulting to technology in the presence of real-life human relationships that mean more to me than anything in the world.?

I decided to purchase Aro after a full year or more of seeing ads about it. They successfully moved me from unaware prospect to hot lead with many, many nurturing ads that spoke to my exact pain points. I am their ideal customer. They knew exactly exactly exactly what I was wrestling with, they could articulate it, they could show it in a video, they could point to research about it… and they said they could help.?

And indeed, they did.?

Renewal

(Ask me again in 18 months).

I have been thinking a lot about the cyclical nature of the client journey these days. Once someone becomes a customer, it is important that the messaging of what’s been promised during the sales process holds. It’s gotta stick. The product has to actually deliver. Aro does that.

(And yep, TeachTown does, too. That’s who I PMM for).

But I’ve also been thinking about the importance of the long view of things. I often think in campaign cycles and in school year quarters or semesters and feature releases and product launches. The reality is our ideal customers are paying attention even when they’re a year or two or more out from being ready to purchase.?

Brb while I connect with my colleague about our next customer success story…?

Why did I write this? (No affiliate links here, Aro didn’t ask me to write this.)

1. I was utterly surprised by my own willingness to pay this dollar amount … for a box. After I purchased Aro, I spent some time reflecting about what it was that really moved the needle for me.
2. I am a product marketer, and understanding the buyer’s journey is essential to the strategy work I do for my job.?
3. Aro has made a real difference in our family’s life, and it might for you, too. If you didn’t know about it, now you do.?

If you’re a product marketer –?

Talk to me about your work with the client journey. Where do your key priorities live within your company’s client journey or buyer’s journey map??

If you’re a parent –?

How did you approach the use of technology and media in your household? Any tips for those of you who’ve come out the other side and things seem to be OK??

If you’re @Aro –?

Thank you for creating a great product!?

Besides helping me be more present while I make dinner and chat with my kids, it helped me carve out time to write this.?