CASE STUDY: Happify
From innovative idea to market leader
The founders of Happify set out to make a game based on the science of happiness. But they weren’t sure if consumers would pay for it.
Using Game Thinking, they discovered a high-need market niche & pivoted their game idea into a Pinterest-like mobile app. Happify is now a market leader in digital mental health, with enterprise products covered by insurance.
CHALLENGE
Turn the Science of Happiness into an App
Happify is the brainchild of two brilliant entrepreneurs: Ofer Leidner & Tomer Ben-kiki. After selling their gaming company, they experimented with science-based happiness exercises & were astonished by how powerful & effective those activities could be.
Ask the hard, important questions upfront
Based on their transformative experience, Ofer & Tomer started working on a digital happiness game. They knew that games could drive engagement, & happiness exercises (done consistently) could improve well-being.
What they didn’t know was:
- What form this digital happiness game should take
- What the UX & interaction model should look like
- Who the early customers would be
- Whether the business model would work
SUCCESS TIP
To find new market opportunities, start by understanding the existing habits and unmet needs of your leading-edge customers
STRATEGY
Test End-to-End Storyboards with the Right Customers
The Happify founders wanted to create a successful business – not just a great product – so we focused on answering the most important business question upfront:
Would people actually pay money for proven, science-based happiness exercises in a convenient, game-like format?
Showing end-to-end storyboards to customers
To answer that question, we interviewed potential early customers, & narrowed our focus to a few key segments. Then we created & tested concept storyboards of our game ideas, to get feedback from our best-fit customers.
SUCCESS TIP
The best way to validate product/market fit is to show the right early prototypes to the right early customers.
INSIGHT
Looks like Pinterest, Plays like a Game
What should it look like?
The Happify founders were from the games industry, so they naturally assumed they’d build a game.
But when we tested our first game prototypes, we learned that our early customers wanted something lighter-weight – something that felt like Pinterest.
After soul-searching, we pivoted our UX model to look like Pinterest but “play” like a game. That model engaged our customers, so we kept going.
What should it look like?
We also learned that customers were willing to pay real money & subscribe – once they tried it out for a few weeks & saw a difference in their lives.
Using those insights, we built out a product that delighted & hooked our early customers, and had a business model that worked.
SUCCESS TIP
Treat your product idea as an initial hypothesis, and be ready to pivot if it turns out to be wrong.
RESULT
A New Niche in Digital Health
Today, Happify is the market leader in digital happiness, with thousands of subscribers who are getting happier each day.
And it all started with a deeply personal transformative experience, & the burning desire to seek out and find hard-core market truth.
