2022
Redesigning Wave Life’s MVP for Investor Engagement
Role: UX/UI Design, Product Strategy, User Research
Objective: Redesign Wave Life’s MVP to demonstrate how increased user engagement drives personalized mental health support, thus showcasing the app’s value for investors during Seed Round funding.
Outcome: The redesign served as a focal asset in Wave’s Seed Round, leading to a successful raise from Sante Ventures in Fall 2022 (announced in Feb 2023), doubling the CEO’s initial funding goal.
Context
Wave Life is a mental health platform offering an app-based experience and live video coaching rooted in a transdiagnostic mental health model. The platform provides personalized content recommendations, habit-building tools, and affordable one-on-one coaching for emotional regulation.
Following the app’s beta launch in early 2022, user data showed low engagement, with users unsure of how to incorporate the app into their daily routines. This lack of clarity impacted retention and underscored the need for clearer habit-building and data-driven features to attract investors.
Problem Statement
To secure Seed Round funding, Wave needed an app prototype that could clearly communicate the value of its model, demonstrating how user data collection, engagement, and treatment progress could lead to personalized recommendations and adaptive coaching.
Redesigned App Experience
1) Coach-recommended content
2) Check-ins
3) Data pattern summaries
4) Content Discoverability
Design Approach
To create a compelling investor narrative, I focused on four key areas, each aimed at increasing user engagement and showcasing Wave’s data-driven approach to personalized mental health support.
1. Coach-Recommended Content:
Purpose: Highlight the coach’s role in user engagement by enabling them to send targeted skill-building content aligned with user goals.
Functionality: Users receive notes with relevant content from their coach, which they can add to a favorites list for easy future access.
Impact: Showcases Wave’s potential for delivering custom, coach-curated content to keep users engaged and invested in their progress.
2. Daily Check-Ins:
Purpose: Integrate habit-building by encouraging daily user interactions through mood, thought, action, and event logging.
Functionality: Daily logs prompt users to reflect, helping the app generate personalized content recommendations and allowing for data collection.
Impact: Demonstrates Wave’s ability to collect meaningful data, reinforcing the app’s potential for adaptation and user-focused growth.
3. Data Pattern Summaries:
Purpose: Give users actionable insights on their emotional and behavioral trends.
Functionality: Users can review summaries that reveal mood-related patterns, with suggestions for relevant content to address emerging needs.
Impact: Highlights the app’s ability to synthesize user data into impactful, personalized feedback, fostering habit-forming engagement and improved mental health outcomes.
4. Enhanced Content Discoverability:
Purpose: Improve access to a broad content library, encouraging users to explore and find content relevant to their needs.
Functionality: Users can browse by symptom category, trending topics, or keywords, ensuring relevant information is easy to find.
Impact: Reinforces Wave’s commitment to personalized care, showing investors how content can be tailored and made accessible to users based on their unique needs.