Evelyn Webster - Test, Fail, Repeat: SoulCycle's Practical Approach to AI Implementation

·47 min·4 clips

SoulCycle's AI tool 'Ask Marvin' doubles retention by finding instructors who play the music you love.

This episode features host Eric Malzone interviewing Evelyn Webster, CEO of SoulCycle, about evolving consumer trends and practical AI adoption in the fitness industry. Webster brings over 30 years of media and brand experience from companies like Sports Illustrated and The Guardian to her leadership role at the iconic cycling brand. Their conversation focuses on how SoulCycle is adapting its business model and leveraging technology in response to shifting market demands. Webster notes that consumer interest in a broader definition of wellness, encompassing mental and emotional health alongside physical fitness, began before the pandemic but accelerated during it. She states that today's "holistic wellness seekers" prioritize experiences over purchasing material goods, particularly among younger generations. SoulCycle's research indicates these consumers allocate their wellness spending across multiple modalities like cold plunges, strength training, and yoga, rather than committing to a single brand. Webster suggests this shift is partly a reaction to global chaos, with people seeking "sanctuary" and a "happy place" to escape divisive external realities. A key insight from internal brand work revealed SoulCycle's identity is "tethered to the soul, not the cycle," which has unlocked expansion into areas like running and curated wellness weekends. The company is also intentionally casting instructor talent based on specific archetypes to diversify its offerings while maintaining its core class experience. SoulCycle is aggressively growing its retail business, moving beyond basic merchandise into nutrition, hydration, and collaborations with brands like Jill Martin and Love and Sport. Webster emphasizes that these retail partnerships also serve as marketing levers to reach new audiences outside the brand's "echo chamber." For AI implementation, Webster advocates a "test, fail, repeat" philosophy, encouraging her team to experiment without fear of failure. An initial application used AI to generate SEO-optimized content to recapture organic website traffic after a Google algorithm change. The company also employs AI to test advertising language and messaging themes efficiently. A notable failure involved attempting to use AI to create realistic avatars of instructors for fashion shoots, which produced alien-like results. A significant success is an internal AI tool called "Ask Marvin," which matches new riders with instructors based on musical preferences, reportedly doubling new customer retention. The tool analyzes inputs from Reddit, Spotify, instructor bios, and rider feedback to make personalized recommendations. SoulCycle plans to make "Ask Marvin" publicly available so riders can find instructors in any city based on their preferred music genre or artist. Webster believes the biggest challenge with AI is not a lack of ideas but deciding which opportunities to pursue first within the business. She concludes that consistent testing and learning is the only way to uncover valuable AI applications. The tone is a conversational and educational interview between two industry professionals. The style is practical and anecdotal, focusing on real-world business challenges and experimental solutions. This episode is ideal for fitness studio operators, brand managers, and business leaders interested in pragmatic digital transformation and consumer behavior analysis. Listeners seeking highly technical AI deep dives or debates on the ethics of automation might find the discussion too introductory and focused on immediate business applications.

As heard by us

A grounded talk about brand, talent, and the pressures of keeping a fitness company relevant.

The conversation stays grounded in the basics of growth, showing how brand, talent, and customer feeling stay tied together when a fitness business tries to scale.

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Want a grounded take on brand, product, and SoulCycle's next move?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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