Mapping Customer Journeys on Headspace
Identifying pain points in college students’ journeys of learning to practice meditation
My Role
User Interviews
Personas
Journey Mapping
Timeline
September - October 2020
Project
Personal Project
Background
How effective are meditation apps in supporting long-term habit formation?
Meditation apps grew dramatically in Covid-19, with people looking to cope with rising levels of anxiety and stress. Given my interest in meditation, I wanted to learn how effective meditation apps were in helping people meet their goals and how they differed from expectations.
Approach
What are the behavior patterns people exhibit while learning meditation?
I interviewed several college students about their experience with Headspace, and synthesized these insights into archetypes and a customer journey.
Outcome
I presented my insights to the Senior Design Research team at Headspace with 3 specific recommendations on how to improve customer retention.
A customer journey map and design concepts for product improvements.
I conducted several user interviews and grouped qualitative data into insight statements
User Interviews
The goal was to document behavior patterns and attitudes people experienced with the Headspace app
Recruited 8 Headspace app users through social media posting
Have used Headspace within the past 6 months
College student, aged 18 - 25
Recruitment
Why did you download Headspace? What led to that moment?
Walk me through a typical day when you have interacted with the app.
How has your interactions using the app evolved over time?
Have you experienced stretches of time when you did not use the app?
Sample Questions
Users download Headspace because… they hope to reduce anxiety; increase focus and productivity; live more in the present; improve sleep
Users keep coming back to Headspace because… they can access all meditation content in one place; they appreciate the discovery and practicality of meditation techniques; they can measure their progress
Users struggle with…. environmental distractions while practice; larger purpose or goal of the practice; monotonous content
Preliminary Insights
Headspace offers a catalogue of guided meditations, some of which are categorized by a users’ specific goal of using the app
To make insights more digestible, I created archetypes to empathize with different user journeys
Archetypes
I reframed my initial personas into three behavior-focused archetypes.
Each archetype represent a set of user behaviors. These helped me capture the multitude of experiences people have on the Headspace app.
Journey Map
To understand how customers discover and build a relationship with their meditation practice through the Headspace app, I also created a User Journey Map.
I discovered that different phases of the customer journey identify closely with a specific archetype. For example, The Procrastinator typically struggles to establish a consistent habit, while the Explorer feels that the app’s content is limiting.
Mapping phases of user journeys’ provided ideas for potential interventions
Product Recommendations
Weekly Habit Journal
Description
Empower users to set intentions that can serve as personalized reminders throughout the week
Phase: Discovery & Learning
Archetype: The Procrastinator & Goal Setter
Usage-based Check-ins
Description
Recommend content to address unique challenges that user is experiencing
Phase: Learning & Mastering
Archetype: The Goal Setter
Community Enablement
Description
Bring community to the Headspace app by helping users discover other practitioners
Phase: Exploring
Archetype: The Explorer
