Exploratory Research for a Mindfulness App: Identifying market gaps and growth opportunities in mindfulness app market

Project Scope

• Type: Independent project
• My Role: UX Researcher
• Research Method: Literature Review, Competition Analysis, User Interview
• Research Type: Secondary research, Generative research
• Company: Mindfulness Apps
• Timeframe: 3 week

Project Overview

Project background

Given the amount of stress and anxiety that people experience everyday and having to go through a pandemic in the middle of it. The demand for mindfulness app is at an all time high.

​There is a huge market but with more than 2500 meditation mobile applications already in market, it is essential to offer something unique to stand out.

Objective

1. To understand how users are currently interacting with mindfulness apps
2. Find the Market gap- unique features or solutions that can differentiate the product
3. Identify users current pain points, frustration and barriers.

Method

• Literature Review
• Competitive Analysis
• User Interview

Outcome

Price

• Allow free access to the full app for the first 14 days to 1 month without giving credit card details.
• Offer cheaper premium subscriptions with option for monthly plan and student plans

Customization and Personalization​

• Allow content customization to fit to the needs of the individual users.
• Create own playlist, Queue favorite meditation, courses.

Social feature​

• Access to the community to foster association and accountability
• Group meditation, live events, and challenges.

Research Process

Literature Review

To understand how users are currently interacting with mindfulness apps since different users interact uniquely and with different elements of mindfulness practices.

Findings

• 53% of US senior citizens mediate at least one a week .
• No.of children meditating has surged by 800% since 2012 and children practicing yoga has increased to 8.4% since 2017
• Women, especially working ones, are more active on mindfulness apps than men.
• 70–80% users in India meditate either for sleep or stress management or peace and personal growth growth
• Journaling has a significant positive impact on mental well being

Competitive Analysis

Direct competitors: Calm, Headspace and Insight timer.
Indirect competitors: Gratitude: journal for self care and Rebel Yoga.

I compare and analyze the mindfulness apps in the following aspects

1. Product : What features are available using feature matrix?
2. Functionality: What are the Unique features and Competitive functions?
3. User experience : How is the high level experience of the mindfulness apps?

Limiting the scope of the competitive analysis to only mobile app

Feature Matrix

SWOT Analysis

User Experience: High- level review of the mindfulness apps experience

Rating

1- Possible to prevent Task Completion

2- Have minor fiction that can potentially delay the task completion

3- Smooth User flow with notable learning point

Competitive Analysis Findings

Competitive analysis findings showed that while there are many products catering to the market. There are enough unique opportunities to be exploited to set your product apart in the market

• Library of both guided and unguided meditation catering to all levels of users.
• Movement/yoga catering to different age groups and needs.
• Philosophical and religious meditation library along with secular meditation.
• Transparency in content that is behind paywall and easy visibility of the free content

User Interview

To better understand current users pain points and future users, I had to talk to real people who are regular users of mindfulness apps​

I recruited participants using my social media network and conducted 5 in depth semi structured interviews. The interview included 7 questions. I asked participants about their mindfulness app habits, what features they like , what they don’t like and what features they would like to have.

Findings

• Users don’t want to give their credit card details without having fully experienced the app and find the subscription to be very expensive
• Users struggle to finding content catering to their needs on the apps
• Users want to foster community and accountability with fellow meditators.

Opportunities

Based on explorative research, I have identified 3 key opportunities.

Price​

• Allow free access to the full app for the first 14 days to 1 month without giving credit card details.
• Offer cheaper premium subscriptions with option for monthly plan and student plans

Customization and Personalization​​

• Allow content customization to fit to the needs of the individual users.
• Create own playlist, Queue favorite meditation, courses.

Social feature​​

• Access to the community to foster association and accountability
• Group meditation, live events, and challenges.

Impact

Found the gap in the existing market of mindfulness app that can be exploited to create a product that can cater to user needs that are currently not been fulfilled thus improving their interaction with the app.

Reflections

Industry takeaway

Further research is needed to understand why women are more active on mindfulness apps than men.

User interviews should be conducted on larger scale to better understand their pain points.​

Personal takeaways

This was my first time conducting an in depth user interview for a research project and I have realized there is still a lot of learning to do. Another important lesson I have learned is to handle large amount of qualitative data.

That’s a wrap

Thank you for taking time out to read this. You can contact me on LinkedIn.