Acquisition Project-APGX20 | Proactive4her
Introduction
Proactive for her (A Digital Health Platform for Women | Proactive For Her) is a new age "full stack - digital health" platform with specialty clinic based out of Bangalore exclusively dealing with women's healthcare more specifically - sexual health, Cervical cancer prevention care, mental health and other intimate concerns. The company is trying to solve for trust in woman's healthcare providing judgement-free holistic healthcare to women beyond childbirth.
Given below is an interview of the founder Achitha Jacob explaining their core beliefs behind the venture.
Products on offer
- Specialized treatment (both In-clinic & tele-consultation)-
- Sexual health
- Menstrual health
- PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome)
- Painful Sex & Vaginismus
- Pelvic health
- Cervical cancer prevention & HPV vaccine
- Fertility related issues
- Postpartum
- Mental health
- Pregnancy
- For all aspects of treatment areas mentioned above Proactive for her (PFH) provide the following services-
- Consultations with expert clinicians
- In-clinic and at-home (with partner labs) tests
- Vaccination
- Basic In-clinic scans & procedures
Market Context
Proactive for her operates in an established space of clinical care focused on women's health taking on incumbents like Cloud9, Motherhood, Manipal hospital, Rainbow hospital and Vriksh fertility hospital. However, there are several notable distinctions to the offering.
Meanwhile in the category of sexual health and wellness diagnostics and care PFH counts the following direct competitors- Allo health & DrSafeHands
PFH is solving for specialized intimate health of women. Based on its "Radical Empathy" approach it aims to provide a judgement-free space for women to discuss and proactively address their most intimate concerns related to sexual health without being concerned for social constrictions.
Product Flow
Product Review
PFH currently runs 7 Clinics in Bangalore along with its web & mobile app platform. Some of the reviews on the google listings pages are given below
Based on the google reviews following assumptions are drawn for the process -
1. The positive reviews and feedback received from clients included the attributes kindness, safe space, patience, judgement free.
2. The negative reviews focused on delay in service to be delivered and lack of information centered around the necessity of the screening panels & the tests.
User Research
For user research the strategy used was collecting insights via survey questionnaire and following up with brief interviews.
Survey questionnaire - https://forms.gle/nARw9ZAedSmszWUR7
The following insights were generated from the survey questionnaire which has been used to design the experiments -
1. Majority of the women are active on social media
2. Majority of the women go to google searches to seek resolution to their sexual / intimate health queries first.
3. Majority of the women look for the following attributes while seeking clinical consultations - judgement free space, kindness, privacy, feel-good factor, comfort.
Primary channels of discover based on user research
Based on the user survey the following channels were identified as primary means of discovery for PFH-
- Google search
- Word of mouth, referrals
- Instagram & Meta ads
ICP creation
| ICP 1 | ICP 2 | ICP 3 | ICP 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Age | 16-25 years | 16-25 years | 25-38 years | 39-55 |
Location | Metro, Tier-1 | Tier-2 | Metro, Tier-1 | Metro, Tier-1 |
Occupation | Student or early career professionals | Student or early career professionals | Mid-career professionals | Late career professional, homemaker |
Income Levels | 2 - 8 Lakhs | 2- 6 Lakhs | 10 - 20 Lakhs and above | higher than 24 Lakhs |
Relationship Status | Single | Single | Single, married | Single / Married |
Where do they spend time? | Social media, Watches content on OTT platforms, Attends organized community events & meet-ups, concerts, flea markets & thrift stores. Active on dating apps. Consumes | Active on social media, consumes
| Uses social media work events & women only | Sparsely active on social media, uses meta
|
Where do they spend money? | Rent / utilities / EMIs - High spends Health /fitness / wellness - moderate spends | Rent / utilities / EMIs - moderate spends Health /fitness / wellness - moderate spends | Rent / utilities / EMIs - high spends
childcare /education - high spends | Rent / loans / utilities - high spends
childcare /education - high spends |
Where do they seek answers on female wellness? | Google, Insta pages / influencers, peer groups, period tracking apps | Google, insta pages / influencers, peer | Google, healthcare professional, internet peer groups, | Google, peers, healthcare professionals |
How aware are they about female wellness? | Low to medium awareness | Low to medium awareness | High awareness | Medium to High awareness |
Pain points related to women's health | Lack of judgment-free space for addressing pre-marital sexual practice queries, medical professionals. Uncomfortable consultations in the presence of unmarried partner. | Less likelihood to have access to Access to stigma-free PCOS testing | Limited access to contraception related queries, holistic fertility care (including egg freezing), non-judgmental / safe space to discuss sexual health practices and concerns. For new moms, struggling to maintain self-care | Requires empathetic and judgement-free space Information, counselling and care for changing |
Willingness to spend money on health | 1000 - 5000 INR per month | 1000 - 3000 INR per month | 5000 - 10000 INR per month | 8000 - 15000 INR per month |
Areas of engagement with PFH | Pre-marital sexual wellness, Cervical cancer prevention, PCOS screening & diagnosis, | Pre-marital sexual wellness care, | Fertility procedures, sexual wellness procedures, | Fertility care, prenatal & postpartum care, |
Feature engagement with the platform | In-clinic consultation, home sample collection, | In-clinic consultation, home sample collection, | In-clinic consultation, home sample collection, | In-clinic consultation, home sample collection, |
ICP prioritization strategy
| Value to | Ease of | Frequency of | Appetite to | TAM | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ICP-1 | High | High | Low | Low | High | High |
ICP-2 | High | Medium | Low | Low | Medium | High |
ICP - 3 | High | Medium | High | High | High | High |
ICP - 4 | High | Low | High | Medium to High | Medium | Low |
Based on the decision matrix the ICPs have been categorized in the following manner -
ICP | Priority | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
ICP-1 & ICP-3 | Primary | PFH although claims to be a digital first platform and have However, there is a lot of demand for physical clinics and f2f |
ICP-2 | Secondary | Being in tier-2 city, there's limited access to offline clinics. |
ICP-4 | Tertiary | This cohort is more inclined towards offline consultation and |
TAM/ SAM & SOM
According to the report by McMarkets -McMarkets - A Junior VC The TAM for female health (Femhealth) in India stands at INR 9310 Cr monthly TAM (Which is sizeable to say the least!). The lions share or INR 6070 Cr is estimated to be related to hygiene products and health, Female reproductive health is pegged at INR 3240 Cr.
Let's take a more granular approach to the market sizing for PFH
Parameters | Quantity | Assumption | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
A- Population of India | 144 Cr | | Digital 2024: India — DataReportal – Global Digital Insights |
B- % of female population | 48.4 % | | Digital 2024: India — DataReportal – Global Digital Insights |
C- Gender ratio (Urban) | 0.985 | Indian Sex Ratio 2024, NFHS-5 Survey Estimated Sex Ratio (studyiq.com) | |
D- Gender ratio (Rural) | 1.037 | | Indian Sex Ratio 2024, NFHS-5 Survey Estimated Sex Ratio (studyiq.com) |
E- % of Urban population in India | 36 % | linear extrapolation from | |
F- % of Rural population in India | 64 % | linear extrapolation from | |
G- % Female urban population G = (A*B*E) | 25 Cr | Assuming 48 % split of total |
|
Assumption: Limiting the market urban population with access to uninterrupted internet and within serviceable pin code of diagnostics centers.
- Assuming target age group of 16-55 years of 60% of urban women population = 15 Cr
- Assuming 50% of women in this age group will require health services & preventive care = 7.5 Cr
- Based on typical health test & doctor's consultation cost in urban cities ARPU = INR 5000
- Total Addressable Market TAM = TG population * ARPU = 7.5 Cr * 5000 = INR 37,502 Cr / year
- Considering PFH's offline presence in BLR and online presence in major 10 cities, only 30% of TG can be serviced, Hence SAM = 0.3 * 7.5 Cr * 5000 = INR 11250 Cr / year
- Considering a capture rate of only 5% of the market share, the Service Obtainable Market, SOM of PFH = (5 % * 11,250 Cr) = INR 562.5 Cr
Considering the market sizing of PFH, there is significant opportunity to grow and acquire more users.
The core value proposition of the product is increasing access to judgement-free quality diagnostic and preventive healthcare to the Indian female population ion the realm of sexual and intimate wealth.
The acquisition channels should be selected in accordance.
Acquisition Channels to focus on
Stage of the Product
Proactive for her has raised USD 7.08 Mn$ till date across 3 rounds. Its last fund raise was a Series A round and is an early scale company with offline presences across 8 locations in Banaglore.
Channel Prioritization Framework
Based on the above prioritization matrix the channels chosen for acquisition experiment were-
- Organic / SEO, keyword optimization - Keyword search shows the channel is still underutilized with and has scope for growth
- Referral program- because as per market survey majority of users have been referred by their peers or have arrived from shared content on Meta platforms.
- Web series / Webisode sponsorships- based on rise of OTT and paid content production and consumption patterns in India.
Organic Channel / SEO
PFH is much lagging in site visit compared to its competitor
Source - Similar web
The top keyword searches given below. As we can see the website traffic driven by keyword is quite low.
Referral Program - "Proactive Circle"
At the early scaling stage referral channels are tested avenues to increase WOM and acquisition. The effective referral programs are built on the following foundational principles -
- Referral should be mutually beneficial to the referrer and referee.
- Referral rewards must be provided in the platform currencies to increase repeatability.
- Platform currency should be usable and attractive.
- Referral policy to incentivize timely adoption with suitable value.
- Brag-worthiness of the product is directly proportional to the efficacy of the referral program.
- For intimate health & wellness product referral program should be anonymous to promote adoption.
Currently PFH has no referral program. Given that the product use case has a high element of trust requirement and significant paucity of accessibility coupled with robust peer disclosure pattern, WOM & referral programs should have a strong outcome for Proactive for Her.
Parameters | Solution |
|---|---|
Brag-worthy feature of product |
|
Rewards for referral? |
|
When to ask for | On the ratings page, after completion of tests /scans and |
Where to ask for referral? | On the ratings screen (for 4 stars and above) |
How to refer? | Via one-tap WhatsApp button. The referee receives a direct message |
How to increase | While discounts on doctor's consultation and tests can be a good |
Web series brand placement
This particular experiment is a juxtaposition of paid ads, content loop and product integration /placement.
Content loop
Hook - Entertainment content highlighting possible use case of the product.
Content creator - Media houses with inputs from in-house content team.
Distributor - YouTube algorithm, OTT platform algorithm, viewers
Product Integration - OTT / Media company content
Distribution - OTT algorithm, YouTube algorithm, Google SEO, Viewer s
An excerpt of this article -(1) How Product Placements created India’s Web Series Movement? | LinkedIn is given below which described how an early-stage company called as CommonFloor went on to capitalize on this space as early as 2014. The brand did not opt for a simple product placement but chose to be a big part of the story as conceptualized by the maker in a show about a couple moving-in together and leasing a place to stay - a core use case if there was ever any for the company.
Since then, product placement, sponsorships have become widespread in the OTT and YouTube content space. Brands are paying not just for product placements (buy media space) but brand stories are being married with content.
Not to mention the cumulative views of some shows like TVF's The Kota Factory is almost 85 million! This provides impossible reach and virality and hence brand visibility. Also, the viewer demographic data is a good indication as to whether the content is reaching its intended audience.
TVF Permanent Roommates Season- 1 Report | by Numbers of India | Medium
Few of the popular paid partnerships with popular webisodes & Web series are shown below showcasing brand marketing by the likes of FlipKart, Tata Motors & Ikea.
But it also does beg the question- Is it worth spending that much money and time?
If we are to go by the article shared earlier, the average cost of product placement in a popular web series can be as high as INR 15 Lakhs.
Now assuming suitable virality and market trends the following assumptions will be taken to arrive at the key metric for the channel-
the average views are pegged at - 1 million views
Considering demographic distribution only 70% viewers fit the age profile of the ICP - 7,00,000 viewers
Assuming equal gender ratio @ 50% - 3,50,000 viewers
Further assumption of reaching 30% of the women viewers located in the Metro / Tier-1 cities - 1,05,000 viewers
Assuming only 1 % of the intended audience is converted - 1050 viewers
Assuming AD spend of INR 15,000, the CAC comes out to be - (1500000 / 1050) = ~ INR 1430 approx
Now, a typical screening test cost in PFH is INR 3500. and doctor's consultation is INR 1000. Assuming a frequency of usage of only once per year and a lifetime retention of 2 years for each consumer, the LTV is calculated as
LTV = AOV * Frequency * retention = (3500 +1000) * 1 * 2 = 3.85 which is an acceptable number with conservative estimation and justifies the channel.
Some copy / ad ideas vis-a-vis the web series content is given as reference below.
Episode context - Birth control amongst couples / newly-weds
A narrative around how birth control is essential to planned conception and avoiding risk. The episode can explore the stigma around the judgement, and societal shame associated with unmarried couples seeking contraception methods & societal pressure on newly-weds to procreate and birth children. PFH can be shown as the go-to digital platform for young couples looking for judgement-free care.
Episode context - Discussions between sisters on the concept of STI / STD
The episode can deal with the taboo topic of maintaining multiple sexual partners, centered around physical intimacy in casual flings. A scare of STI / STD from a casual fling on a trip can attract frantic reactions for the sisters, the episode can be used to highlight the lack of access to judgement free diagnostic and care support for cases involving pre-marital sex. PFH can be shown as the go-to digital platform providing discrete STI screening tests with home-sample collection and online consultation to save the day.
Episode context - Peer / Classmate suffering from PCOS
The episode can deal with the trials and tribulations around PCOS in young women. PFH can be shown as the go-to digital platform providing PCOS screening tests with home-sample collection and online consultation to save the day.
Episode context - Trials of maintaining good menstrual health
The episode can center on the menstrual health needs of women. PFH can be shown as the go-to digital platform providing detailed resource as to how to manage painful or irregular periods along with telehealth consultation and self-administered screening tests.
To all the women out there. Thank you!!
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