Spent a few hours checking out the kind of relaxation apps on the market, the features they offer, and - given the subject matter of the course this week - how they are monetised.
Background
I’ve long been interested self-help/relaxation and the mechanics of making recordings for relaxation or mindfulness. I’ve made them, road tested them, and they work, so … now it’s about delivery and monetisation.
I am familiar with some of the big names in the market place - people like Paul McKenna and Andrew Johnson, but also apps like Calm which seems to have gained the most traction in a crowded field. Found an interesting article on the seven best apps on the market - on Fueled.com and note the following:
Remarkable number if different approaches. Some are simple and some are not. Popularity doesn’t depend on complexity of app.
MindBody links the users to classes and nutrition. I can see that this would be heavy on labour and content. The emphasis is on the physical as a means of improving the mental.
10% Happier - offers small pockets of techniques - videos and guided meditations. As a consumer of these things, I personally dislike video content on these apps. Especially when often the first thing that a practitioner will say is ‘close your eyes’ in order to relax.
SleepCycle - tracks when you move at night whcih triggers it to play something to get you back to sleep. So focussing generally on sleep.
Pzazz - uses a narrator, adjustable music, errs on the side of hypnotic suggestion.
7 Cups - Links you to a therapist!
Calm - leads the field. Plays calming music or speech, concentrates on bahavioural changes.
Headspace - founded bya Buddhist monk. Meditation. Has a ten day foundation course.
Paul McKenna - offers programmes… essentially the same material adapted to whatever you are trying to achieve. It delivers the material in sequence.
Andrew Johnson is my favoured relaxation app. He offers a massive range of apps which focus on specific challenges and goals.
In terms of monetisation - most offer the app for free with in app purchases. Some - like Andrew Johnson actually offer apps for free - basic taster apps. In the hope, I guess, of repeat purchases.
How does that shape what I would plan to do?
I would seek to offer an app… with a basic meditation/mindful/relaxation recording, with the option to buy into a course or suite of recordings, perhaps with occasional boosters offered or reminders by message to ‘keep going, you’re doing fine,’ type messages.
These apps remain popular although the jury seems to be out on whether they actually do reduce stress. Interesting article from UC Berkeley in the US.
And rather unhelpfully, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the hit stage show Hamilton, interviewed for Desert Island Discs a couple of weeks back said that he tried these tapes for stress and they were useless!
But one argument is - they work if you think they work!