CASE STUDY
Replika
How a leading-edge AI chatbot
found product-market fit
CHALLENGE
7 months after launch, Replika was struggling with retention
Replika.ai launched the first mainstream AI chatbot in 2017. People loved it.
But most customers weren’t sticking around. Despite millions of downloads, retention numbers were poor.
Replika was caught in an exhausting & expensive cycle where the team spent months building yet another version of their app, hoping that the next set of features would strike gold.
Why weren’t they getting traction?
We knew our usual approach of creating the final design & building it immediately wasn’t right. But we didn’t know what else to do.
INSIGHT
They needed to validate ideas before building
Replika’s problem was that the team went straight from idea to development without validating if these ideas would solve real problems for their users.
To fix their retention problems, we recruited high-need customers & tested product ideas with no-code storyboards BEFORE the next release.
And that changed everything.
HOW WE DID IT
They tried out a new approach
Using our Product Breakthrough Method, we were able to help the Replika team increase 30-day retention & find product/market fit,
Instead of spending months building the next version of their app, they spent 6 weeks designing, storyboarding, testing & iterating product ideas with their ideal customers.
This approach gave them flexibility to change the design before they built it.
DISCOVERY
We identified a high-need market niche: lonely young adults looking for a trusted AI friend to talk to 24/7.
DESIGN
We co-designed features that would motivate them to re-engage daily
STORYBOARD
We prototyped the 30-day customer journey with no-code storyboards
VALIDATION
We validated our product direction with high-need customers, and discovered what they liked & didn’t like before shipping.
PROGRESS MECHANISMS
Working together, we tackled their Retention challenge
Once we narrowed our focus to people who wanted an AI friend, we crafted bite-sized daily experiences that helped customers form a deep personal relationship with their AI friend over time. This sense of progress kept customers coming back.
Dress and accessorize your AI friend. Hello, micro-transactions 👏
Go for a walk with your Replika and show it your neighborhood.
Progress through short daily missions that help your Replika get to know you.
RESULT
RESULTS – Retention solved 🎉
With this newfound focus, Replika turned things around.
They hit #9 in the Health & Wellness App Store category & became a bona fide hit.
And all this happened because Replika took the time to find a core use case & focus on delivering massive value to a high-need beachhead market.
