Natalia Shahmetova and Oksana Demidova are leading the development of a dog training app Woofz headquartered in Warsaw. Shahmetova, the CEO, has experience launching lifestyle and music apps. Demidova, the CMO, is responsible for international growth strategy.
Fitness and language learning apps have seen a boom as people discovered the benefits of flexibility and lower costs compared to traditional gyms and in-person classes. In 2025, revenue in the digital fitness and well-being market in Poland is projected to reach $496 million, and is set to continue expanding to $604.5 million by 2029.
We saw this trend, and as dog lovers from Ukraine and Belarus, we found an opportunity. Just like people who opt for apps over expensive gym memberships, an online dog training app could also see strong demand as a time-saving alternative to in-person sessions. Moreover, the challenging economic situation in Central and Eastern Europe — and globally — is encouraging people to find more affordable options for their pets.
We launched Woofz in 2020, becoming one of the first dog training apps globally. Even today, this niche is still new, so awareness of training platforms like ours remains limited. To grow our user base, we needed a strategy to give visibility to our app and communicate its benefits, even if people don't actively search for it.
Great recall: Surveys to engage users and show our expertise
We started by identifying common issues dog owners face through Google Trends. We discovered, for instance, that "how to train a puppy to pee outside" was a common search query.
To help people solve this problem, we designed a detailed survey with questions such as the puppy's gender, breed, and circumstances in which the peeing problem occurs. We then designed similar surveys on other common issues, such as excessive barking, chewing, biting, or a dog's difficulty adapting to living with other animals.
We used Google Ads' broad match feature, which shows our ads to anyone searching for related keywords or topics, to ensure that the right people find our surveys.
For example, with the broad match keyword “how to train your dog” we could capture search queries like “dog training”, “puppy training”, “dog tricks to teach”, “dog commands”, and “dog training tips”.
The surveys help us demonstrate our expertise in dog training through detailed questions. At the end of the survey we offer a personalised solution to the issue a dog owner faced. Over 95% of users who decided to pay for this solution, which we designed with the help of certified dog trainers, would download our app.
A human approach to dog training
To further broaden our audience, we explored new topics that could resonate with them. For example, by analysing Google trends and Google autocompete predictions, we discovered that many people still search for ways to punish their dog for bad behaviour.
This was surprising to us as we only use positive reinforcement methods in our training programmes.
To engage and educate dog owners on this topic, we launched a “Don’t punish your dog” campaign on social media, debunking common dog training myths. One such myth is that owners need to show their dog who is the boss, or the dog will dominate. In reality, the idea of dominance is outdated. Dogs don’t need a boss; they need a leader.
We designed a fresh survey to understand how users currently interact with their dogs and what training methods they employ. Surprisingly, the people who come from ads about not punishing a dog have a higher retention rate than those who simply look for training methods. This has made us realise that those people who punish their dogs require more in-depth guidance on alternative forms of dog training. We are currently working on understanding their needs and demonstrating positive reinforcement training methods.
This campaign not only helped us to engage more users, but also shaped our brand's mission to promote a humane and positive approach to animal training.
The next chapter: From canines to felines
Our engagement strategy helped users find our online training solutions and resulted in over five million app downloads in just over a year. Moreover, our active user base almost doubled, reaching 80,000 customers. To further increase this, we collaborate with influencers who are passionate about pets and enjoy creating videos of their dogs' daily adventures.
We are still learning about the niche and we plan to expand our value proposition by understanding our users deeper. For example, we learned that for millennials and Gen Z, dogs are like their kids, and these owners often like to be called "dog parents" rather than "dog owners." They deeply care about the well-being of their pets, both physical and emotional, and are ready to spend on it. We keep this in mind when creating our brand voice guidelines and to find influencers who share our values.
We are also considering an app for cat care. We are still exploring this niche because the challenges with cats are different, and cats are generally considered more difficult to train. We've learned from influencers that many of their followers ask for caring tips not only for dogs but also for cats. This shows us that an app addressing cat behavioural issues also has a lot of potential.
