Design a health app specifically tailored for teenagers, considering their unique needs, preferences, and well-being.
Google- Bobby Duncan
I would answer the question using the following structure.
- Clarify
- Is the app mobile, desktop, VR etc?
- Mobile and supporting iOS and Android
- Who are we? Startup or established?
- Startup but with sufficient resources to build what’s needed
- Are we targeting this for the USA market or global?
- USA
- Health can be a lot of things from nutrition, exercise, mental-health related (meditation), etc. Any preference on what to focus on?
- Up to the choice of interviewee
- So, we’re dealing with Teenagers in America with access to a smartphone. We can make a reasonable assumption that they typically stay with their parents who act as providers for them. In addition, teenagers have limited purchasing power and rely mostly on parents/guardians.
- There are a lot of resources available on smartphones in terms of food to eat and exercises to do which are tailored for teens. There is a wave of mental health apps but none of these are targeted towards teens. Teenage is one where children’s bodies are changing as well as increased exposure to the real world and they need someone to guide them. I would like to focus on mental health.
- Is the app mobile, desktop, VR etc?
- Goal
- As we are a startup, I would like to focus on adoption over engagement and monetization at this stage.
- Build a mental health mobile app for Teens
- Stakeholders
- Teenagers
- Parent/Guardians
- Healthcare Providers
- I can brainstorm more stakeholders but I think we have enough to start prioritizing. I want to focus on Teenagers as we’re looking towards product adoption. Parents and guardians may be a factor in terms of being an emergency contact or for initial setup but they would not be primary users. While healthcare providers are very critical, they’re not going to be of much use if no one wants to use the app. So, I am focusing on Teens as I am looking at the highest usage stakeholder and also the one most responsible for driving adoption at this stage of the Product.
- Users
- Teenagers can be thought of in a few different categories such as income level, schooling, etc. I believe schooling is the best way to categorize these users as their needs may be slightly different.
- Schooling: Public, Private, Home.
- I want to focus on Public schools because those in Private schools are likely well off and have plenty of resources to guide them as well-staffed schools to offer mental health guidance. Home schools will have a parent or guardian to attend to the needs of the teen almost all the time. I’m not looking at Teens not going to school as that is a smaller set of userbase and can be investigated for a v2.
- User Journey
- Discovery of the product via advertising (school, parent insurance, social media, etc)
- Download the app
- Create an account
- Enter personal information (mental health needs, insurance etc)
- Search for or browse a provider to address health
- Engage with the provider (in person or online)
- Pay the provider
- Leave feedback
- Review user activity/history
- I would like to prioritize a few needs here to proceed to the next steps.
- Search/browse supported providers
- Engage with the providers
- Pay the provider
- I’m choosing the above three by reviewing the needs based on the impact on users and the impact on the company providing the product. The other steps, while important, are fairly standard steps when developing a mobile app. However, how these three needs are met has a lot of scope for the product to stand out and provide a meaningful experience to Teens.
- Needs
- Search and Discovery
- Ability to find providers based on mental health needs (different forms of therapy for teens, meditation, sleep aid, stress management, sexual exploration)
- Search for specific providers
- View the credentials of providers
- Engage with Provider
- Provide a rating for a provider
- View the rating of a provider
- In-person or online sessions
- Online: Video call, Audio Call, VR sessions
- AI-supported sessions where applicable (guided meditation or sleep aid)
- Individual or Group sessions
- Supported languages (English, Spanish etc.)
- Accessibility ex: (support visually impaired users)
- Pay the Provider
- Pay through insurance or without insurance
- Pay through Govt/School benefits (assuming public school teens can have some govt benefit enrollment)
- Pay in a single installment or multiple installments
- Add a parental guidance feature to review and approve payments
- Search and Discovery
- The bolded sentences are the prioritized needs. The needs are prioritized based on impact on the user (public school teens), cost of implementation, and impact to the company (standout from competition and focus on adoption).
Solution:Â
- I would focus on building a mental health app for Teens. Once a Teen discovers the product and goes through the initial setup, they will have the ability to search for a provider based on their specific needs as well as search for a specific provider as well. The user will be provided the credentials of the provider to ensure the user can trust the provider. Once a provider is chosen, the user can engage with the provider in an individual, online (audio/video) session to discuss the needs and receive treatment. In addition, if the user chooses so, for select needs (guided meditation, guided sleep aid, etc.) an AI provider will be available as well. The initial product will remain in English for additional languages as a v2. Finally, the providers can be paid through insurance, govt benefits, or paid in full. The payments can be in a single installment or multiple installments.
Metrics
- Northstar Metrics:
- # of app installs
- # of sessions booked per week
- Counter Metrics:
- # of users not booking a session after install
Critique:
- The addition of AI can be a standout feature from the competition as we are a startup. In addition, the inclusion of Govt benefits as a payment option is important as our focus is on public school teens.
- VR can be a cool v2 but it’s not a widely adopted technology to justify the cost of implementation or impact to any stakeholders at this point.
- The above solution can apply to adults as well.
- The above solution can apply to a broader range of teens as well. The only public school aspect of it is the inclusion of Govt benefits but that can apply to non-public schools as well.