Katherine Fernandez

Market Research

1. Customer Size

• It is projected that annually, over 200 million people (across all age groups) worldwide are battling a particular form of mental disorder. The figures keep on rising steadily.
• Technology makes it easier to tap into the market and develop suitable apps to bridge the gap created by the need for patients to travel to reach health professionals.
• As of 2020, world population stood at 7.7  billion., of which 1 in 5 persons is predicted to experience a form of mental disorder in his/her lifetime. The huge patient size, nearly 20% of the world population, justifies the need for more mental health service provisions either through physical interventions or online platforms that can be met by designing efficient mental health apps.

    2.  Market Saturation

• An approximation of 10,000 Apps have been designed specifically for mental health and wellness.
• Some apps are also limited to Apple Store or Google Play Store, which limits accessibility to those potential users not linked to those platforms. Therefore, the popularity of each app is a relative concept based on its users or tapped market.

    3. Demand

• The demand for health  mental services increases annually with increase in population.
• For example, nearly 50 million Americans in any given year experience a form of mental illness. This represents an estimate of 20% of the US population and the number is projected to increase annually.
• Recent statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that the ratio of mental health professionals to patients is as low as 2 per 100,000 population. This gives a surplus number of people seeking mental health services to the availability of health professionals.
• Considerably, there are different tastes, fashion and preference by customers. As such, there will always be value for new entrants into a market as long as the packaging is right.

    4. Pricing

• Charges for access to most features in mental health apps range from $50 to $200 per month.
• The pricing is however pegged on many factors such as availability of therapists, psychiatrists, the model /plan and the target users.
• There is no uniform/harmonized price for each mental condition as the valuation is done on a case to case basis – from simpler to more complex conditions.
• However, the bottom line is that most customers would always go for the cheapest available option as long as it solves their problems.

    5. Economic Indicators 

• The median salary wage per family per year in USA was $94,000 as of 2020.
• The availability of disposable income per month makes it easier for people to seek services such as when dealing with mental health.