The Numbers Don't Lie: A Deep Dive into Whoop vs. Oura Ring

Intro

I decided to get an early start with my New Year’s resolution and am finally fixing my chaotic sleep schedule. I’m a data enthusiast at heart so naturally I invested in a Whoop to help me track both my sleep patterns and movement. I honestly love the results I’m seeing so far with my sleep schedule improving quite a bit (no more 3am bedtime😵). I was talking with a friend about my results which got him interested in purchasing one too. However, he’s torn between the Whoop and its rival, the Oura Ring which offers similar functionality but in ring form. 

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Purpose of Analysis

Our program (Cotera) is great for figuring out dilemmas just like this so I used it to run a sentiment analysis on thousands of reviews for both products. We filtered out reviews that were irrelevant to the actual product (eg. shipping speed) and focused on 7 attributes we thought were most relevant:

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1. Data Accuracy: Are you getting reliable, trustworthy metrics? 

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2. Subscription Cost: On top of the hundreds you’ll drop on the product itself, what does your monthly bill look like? 

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3. Sleep Tracking: How effectively is your sleep monitored? Do these results help lead people to better sleep habits? 

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4. Design and UI: From initial setup to daily use, is the product easy and intuitive to use? 

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5. Customer Service: How responsive and helpful is the team when you run into issues? Do their solutions work? 

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6. Battery Life: How long before you have to plug your device in again? 

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7. Workout Tracking: Beyond step count how is your movement monitored? Can these results help you exercise more effectively? 

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The Analysis

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Common Pain Points

It’s not super surprising that both Subscription Costs and Customer Service are ranked pretty low as customers don’t typically mention these types of attributes in a positive light. 

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Distinct Strengths

Interestingly, it seems that each product has a clear strength with Oura dominating Sleep Tracking and Whoop dominating Workout Tracking. 

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Design and UI

Oura is significantly better here which surprised me as I actually really like the UI of my Whoop. I used Cotera to dig a little deeper to find out why Oura is so much better here and found these two customer reviews which I think sums up the difference between the two pretty well:

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In regards to Whoop: 

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“I enjoy the Whoop app however it can be somewhat confusing and it’s easy to get into information 

overload. What would make the Whoop app even better is an option to see a more simplified 

“everyman’s” view so to speak.”

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In regards to Oura: 

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“I love my ring and the app. It’s easy to use and the data is displayed in a lot of different useful 

ways.”

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It seems that Whoop aims to provide extensive data that, while valuable, can overwhelm the average user and detract from the usefulness of the product. On the other hand, Oura provides more focused feedback that is a little easier to digest. 

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Meaningfulness of Results

Taking all our results into consideration, it seems that the two products are geared towards slightly different users:

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• Whoop is great for the data savvy and athletes who can digest all the information it provides. 

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• Oura on the other hand does a lot less but is great for average users especially if their focus is around sleep. 

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Both products are ultimately quite effective in improving overall health, the better choice really just comes down to your lifestyle and data preferences.

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