2. Research
Goals
Better understand the factors
relating to continued engagement
with digital MH apps
Explore common pain points
during onboarding
1
2
3. Key Takeaways 🗝
● The onboarding tour does not effectively ground users in the working of Unmind or clarify how the
different areas of the platform work
● Data driven insights are a popular differentiator for us, but discoverability of both the index and insights
section is extremely low
● Users must invest significant time in our platform before being able to come to an understanding of
what it offers
● Although almost all users accepted Zeno’s suggestion post-tour, its functionality did not justify its
central positioning on the homepage
● Users were left unsure what to do after completing Zeno’s suggestion - this lack of guidance
encourages ad hoc as opposed to purposeful usage
● Users both wanted and expected personalised suggestions when they completed an index or check-in
4. Next Steps
- A series of workshops proposing
solutions to the problems uncovered
during the research phase
- Create prototypes
- User testing prototypes and iterating
based on findings
5. Research Approach
Desk Research exploring the motivations and barriers to
using digital mental health products
Usability testing focusing on our current onboarding journey
Identifying patterns from product analytics
1
2
3
6. What does the wider literature tell us about the
uptake of digital mental health products?
Desk Research
7. Motivators towards continued
engagement
● Perceived Utility
● Positive Feedback
● Digital literacy
● Peer Support
● Progress Trackers
● Reminders to log in
● User guidance
Reasons for attrition
● Perceived effort/ time needed
● Lack of belief in credentials
● Poor UX
● Lack of customisation/
personalisation
● Absence of CS
We gathered the findings from 7 academic
papers (mainly systematic reviews) - MURAL
here
9. Method
We spoke to… 🗣
9 x non-users (no experience of using Unmind),
recruited via LinkedIn
5 x had used other digital MH products
previously whilst 4 had not
We asked them to… 🔎
Create and account on either web or mobile &
explore the platform
11. Pain Points : Onboarding Tour
● Onboarding tour is laborious - “there is a lot of ‘next’”
● Confusion about Zeno/ chatbot
- Not clear what its function is. Is it a dynamic FAQ? Search tool?
- Some users expected it to be more interactive or for Zeno to be an “animated character”
● Help Section confusion - misunderstandings around what ‘professional help’ means
● Onboarding tour did not effectively clarify what the different areas of the app do. Users were
unable to accurately relay what the different product areas involve, particularly series
● When users finished the onboarding tour, they were not quite sure how they were intended to
use the app. Almost all took Zeno’s suggestion, but were unsure where to go from here
12. Insight: Users must invest significant time in
our platform before they can come to an
understanding of what it offers, and how it
might meet their needs.
I know what a series is now and how it’s different to a tool and how I
might use them, but I wouldn’t have known that before listening to
this [series session], it wouldn’t have been clear, no
“
13. Insight: There is a lack of cohesion
between features. Users are unsure what
they are and how they relate to each
other
I don't think it's clear. I think it's key because on one hand you have
like the sort of in-depth questions, but that's tracking every two
weeks and the check-in is tracking my mood, but you're not a mood
tracking app. I feel like it's like good components that don't join up to
create like a complete experience.
“
14. Insight: By providing minimal
signposting we encourage ad hoc, as
opposed to purposeful, usage
I thought it was gonna tell me like, Oh, I thought it was going
to ask me like different questions or maybe I don't know
about the questions. I thought it was going to be like, Oh,
you're feeling... Like you can't sleep very well. And I thought it
was going to direct me to like specific tools and theory.. But
this way you kind of just find it yourself
“
16. Tools
● Users were generally positive about the tools they listened to and liked the short,
flexible nature of what they engaged with
● Some users did not like the voice and searched for the option to change it
● Transcript
- Some users did not notice the transcript option
- Two users expected the audio to continue as they switched to transcript
17. Series
● Users were unclear as to what a ‘series’ was - the term itself was confusing.
- Do you work through sequentially?
- Time commitment required?
- Are they a series of articles relating to a topic?
● Transcripts
- Text was small
- Could be ‘chunked’ better
● Some users found it difficult to work out the scale for questionnaire responses. One user,
having completed the Index, also believed it was ‘last 7 days’
18. Index
● Users responded extremely well to the tracking element of the app - the potential to track
improvements over time was a positive differentiator when compared with our competitors
● Discoverability
- Users struggled to locate the index when asked to do so, even when they had already
completed it
● Scale confusion
- 2 x users thought it was a likert scale rather than number of days
● Visibility of recommendations was low
- 2 x users did not notice and remarked that they would have liked personalisation
● Guidance was needed after completing the Index - ‘what next’
19. Insights
● Discoverability:
- Over the 9 sessions, only 3 users naturally came across the insights page
- Those that did were unable to find it again at end of session and were confused as
to how it related to the Index and Check-in
20. Check-in
● UX/ UI issues
- Some users perceived that you could select one emotion rather than multiple
- The smiley faces may need more explanation. What is their purpose?
● Recommendations:
- Users were more likely to notice these than the suggestions resulting from the Index,
and liked this personalisation
- One user commented that he would liked to have known why these were recommended
● Privacy concerns: One user did not complete ‘I wouldn’t want my employer to see this’
21. Insight: Data-driven insights (Index/
Insights) are both our most popular
differentiator and our least visible
areas of the platform
In the sense that I thought there would be like a lot more relationship
between my tracking and then the suggested content. And I thought,
because I liked the index and it sounded like the app would be
analytical.. like tracking thing, I thought that it would be the main
focus, but some of it's not even on the home screen to see it.
“
22. Insight: Although Zeno is positioned
within the homepage, users do not
interact with it in a meaningful way
Yeah. But if there was, a graphic or something that made it clear that
it was [a chatbot].. That you could type a message, just a bit more
identifiable...maybe it needs to just be a search or something. It's
just, maybe to me, it is not something I would necessarily associate
with searching for something.
“
23. Insight: Users would like us to ‘get to
the point’ and communicate value
earlier. This holds true for both
content and product features
So I think in various sections of the platform, there are some
sections that pique your interest. Like they have a headline of things
that are very relevant to most people. And, you know, when you click
on them, I'm expecting a little bit more to the point, you know, like an
exercise or a guide to help with that specific situation. But in many
cases it's just very generic information.
“
24. Insight: Users expect personalisation
based on the data they input (Index,
Check-in)
So I guess the point would be like in 14 days, time, if I'm on like 54%
now, ideally should be higher in two weeks. Or even if it's not... you
can track that. I wonder as well, like reading this text, actually. I don't
know if this would necessarily change, like the quote, the, I thought
what it’s saying would change with my score but it seems a bit
generic...so, yeah.
“
26. What do the numbers tell us about the initial onboarding
phase?
● Users who complete an index within their first 14 days have more than double
the retention rate after 30 days, and nearly triple after 10 weeks, compared to
the baseline of users who complete any key interaction.
● Similar results were found in relation to the insights page - 32.9% retention rate
after 30 days for those that had viewed, vs 16.3% for those who had not
● Almost 1 in 5 users who send their first chatbot message on the home screen
will have their message not understood by the bot (18.3%).
● A further 10% will immediately background the app after their first chatbot
message.
* Taken from Amplitude
