The product by QuitSure is a mobile app-enabled program that builds upon behavioral science and psychological tools to design a personalized program to help quit smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption.

Litmus Test

Retention

The product is a once-in-a-lifetime product and thus has its challenges associated with monetization and retention. The users are required to follow the program for 6-12 days to help them quit smoking. As such, the product usage period is very short.

Based on the user interviews conducted over close to 4 weeks, the following retention curve has been established:

Although the natural frequency of use is daily, a retention curve has been drawn for weekly usage keeping in mind the long-term usage pattern which is the focus for monetization.

It is visible in the curve that there is a consistent drop-off of users from week 1 onwards until week 5. Each of the drop-offs can be explained as follows:

• Week 1 drop-off happens since
• • users have completed the program
  • users couldn't complete the program
  • users haven't subscribed to the program yet (free users against the above 2 categories of paid users)
• Week 2 drop-offs happen mostly for users who completed the program within 6-12 days duration.
• Week 3 and 4 have similar numbers of users since users who stayed back have been following post-program guidelines
• Finally, a major drop happens at week 5 when the monthly subscription has finished.

Deeper Engagement

The natural frequency of the core product?

Casual User: Twice a week

Core User: Once daily

Power User: 3-4 times daily

Based on the interviews and responses from 32 users,

• Casual users - 14
• Core users - 12
• Power users - 6

18 of 32 or 56% of users were either core or power users, making it a ready contender for monetization.

Willingness to pay

The responses are based on the feedback of 32 users:

How much would you pay for the product?

The majority of the people talked about this answer in terms of the amount of money they are spending on cigarettes currently. The common answer was 2 months' worth of expenses which translates to Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 15,000 range.

Would you pay for this just once/Would you pay for it on a recurring basis?

Users would prefer this model. However, half of the users agreed to pay 50% of monthly smoking expenses for the long term if it keeps them away from cigarettes for good. This translates to Rs. 1,250 to Rs. 3,750 per month.

What would make you pay more?

The following answers were received:

• Community on the app instead of FB
• Dedicated sessions with a coach
• New exercises to stay away from cigarettes

Substitute Pricing

User Problem Statement

Habits are difficult to break. There is a reason for that - it has become part of your life and is deeply ingrained in you. At times it is clear that a habit is not beneficial or even harmful yet there is a losing fight to change that habit. Smoking/tobacco consumption is one such habit. It is deeply ingrained in the lifestyle of an individual that doing a small task of going for a walk outside to a regular meeting acts as a trigger for consumption. These triggers are constant reminders that subconsciously enable actions of tobacco consumption and people don't have to think about it.

While scores of people try to quit smoking, only a select few can quit and subsequently not relapse as well. As per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA, about two-thirds of youth tobacco users wanted to quit however less than a tenth of them have been successful. This highlights the prevailing problem of the inability to quit tobacco despite intent and effort.

While it is easy to talk about willpower, changes in lifestyle, or going for alternates like gums, the real problem lies in the difficulty in imbibing a behavioral change in self. Further, there are significant issues of tobacco withdrawal symptoms which further puts doubts in the minds of the tobacco consumers. This exacerbates the already seemingly impossible task of cessation.

Various rehabilitation centers support tobacco cessation. However, there is one significant difference in that approach. The centers are not part of daily lifestyle. As such, the success rate as per various studies revolves around the 30-50% mark with a significant proportion of people relapsing within a year. It can be assumed that the environment has a defining impact on an individual and while it may feel like success in a controlled environment, the real world works differently with land mines at every step.

The Solution

Nobody cares what your product does. They do if you can help.

The key here is to have a product that not only suppresses the urge to consume tobacco but ensures the very thought of its consumption is repulsive. This accompanied by addressing the withdrawal symptoms would provide a fighting chance towards tobacco cessation.

The solution thus devised requires 3 key components:

• Psychological Habit Change (Including addressing the withdrawal symptoms)
• Personalization to Individual's Triggers
• Ease to follow in daily life

The Product

The product by QuitSure is a mobile app-enabled program that builds upon behavioral science and psychological tools to design a personalized program to help quit smoking and other forms of tobacco consumption.

The program is designed to devote 10 hours over 6 to 10 days with daily text/video-based sessions. The program is claimed to inculcate psychological habit change while focusing on an individual's triggers. It does not require an abrupt cessation of tobacco but quite the opposite. The users are required to smoke during the program and use various techniques while smoking to get the desired behavior change.

Core Problem solved by the product

• Psychological Habit Change (Including addressing the withdrawal symptoms)
• Personalization to Individual's Triggers
• Ease to follow in daily life

Comparison

The use case for users is to quit smoking. That's it. That's the key. But not a simple key.

While the users want to quit smoking, the science behind is not so simple. It requires focus on:

• psychological habit change
• deep level of personalization
• should be easy to follow in daily life
• not be dependent on individuals' willpower
• should not manifest withdrawal symptoms

Pricing Design

Who to charge?

Champion

• 3+ logins a day
• Tracked cigarettes multiple times a day
• Tracked daily cigarettes for 2+ weeks
• Finished all the free content (for first-time users)
• Finished the program and post-program content within 28 days (paid users)
• Renewed subscription at least thrice
• Regularly interacts with the coach

Loyalists

• 1 login a day
• Tracked cigarettes once a day for over a week.
• Finished all the free content (for first-time users)
• Finished the program and post-program content
• Renewed subscription once
• Periodic interaction with the coach

Potential Loyalists

• 3 logins a week
• Finished the free content
• Finished the program and post-program content
• Continues to revisit the content

When to charge?

The product is a "pull" product against a "push" product. As such, the users are already looking for such a product. They are looking to quit smoking and QuitSure helps users to achieve their goal. Further, this is a once-in-a-lifetime use product due to which there is no long tail of engagement in most cases.

The perceived value for the users revolves mainly around becoming efficient in terms of their health.

The perceived value for the users is greater than the perceived price since the beginning itself. The cost in terms of health is already a major factor for most users looking for such a product. That being said, the perceived value increases even more compared to the perceived price once the user has gone through the free content available on the app.

What to charge for?/How much to charge?

The users are and should be charged for access to scientifically researched content which has helped 95% of users in successfully quitting smoking.

The users will experience the core value prop by going through the free and paid content while following the guidelines to quit smoking.

Additionally, the post-program content is being offered for free for a lifetime. This can be restricted to 3 months and can be charged a separate amount subsequently.

The current pricing is kept as follows:

• Rs. 1,918 per month (Rs. 959 for the first 20 minutes after onboarding) for an English text-based program
• Rs. 4,798 per month (Rs. 2,399 for the first 20 minutes) for English video-based program
• Rs. 4,796 per month (Rs. 1,199 for the first 20 minutes) for a German video-based program
• Rs. 4,796 per month (Rs. 1,199 for the first 20 minutes) for Hindi video-based program

While keeping the pricing same, additional features can be monetized:

• Post-program content is provided for free for 3 months and is charged for Rs. 99/month thereafter
• Dedicated consultation sessions with the coach are provided at a charge of Rs. 500/ 15 minutes.

System 1 & 2 Design

Since this is a once-in-a-lifetime product with a high level of personalization, it is essential to have a System 2 design. While this will provide the required details for customization, it will also act as a barrier for users who lack motivation/intent. Not only are these users hard to monetize, but if they take up the program and do not follow through, they will be affecting word-of-mouth and might dent public image with multiple online posts (kind of the same test GXers go through :D )

The system design for returning customers, aka who completed the program and then didn't renew their subscription but now want to renew, should be the same as well. This is because the user felt the need to revisit the program so there would definitely be some changes. However, known details that do not change over time need not be added as friction.

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