TLDR Executive Summary

In a 5-week unaffiliated research sprint, I collaborated with a peer to explore how Smiling Mind could better serve university students through meditation. Using surveys, interviews, and usability testing with 28 participants, we uncovered 5 actionable insights from consistency challenges to onboarding gaps and proposed recommendations to improve student adoption and retention. Read the full report.

Timeline: July 2022 - 6 weeks

Client*: Smiling Mind – *Special thanks to Memorisely for this unaffiliated research challenge.

Smiling Mind is a non-profit company focused on equipping people with the skills they need to thrive with a healthy mind. They are looking to improve the experience of the existing app for university students.

Problem Statement

Approach & Methods

• Participants: 28 university students who actively practiced or explored meditation.

• Methods: User interviews, moderated usability testing, surveys, competitive benchmarking.

Existing Research Reference

Independent researchers previously evaluated the Smiling Mind existing education program and had uncovered many positive effects on young and adolescent students under the age of 18.

We believed we could build upon those findings, and conducted our own research into the 18+ age user segment geared towards meeting the needs and goals of university students looking to try meditation.

Participants and Methods

Our insights are based on 28 screened participants* who were current university students and practiced meditation.

Interesting Find: ⚠️ We noticed during testing, the frustration of the app not having a search bar. Users were unable to search for meditations geared towards them and would even skip tasks when they were unable to find them manually.

Actionable Insights + Recommendations

After combing through all the data in synthesis, and seeing the standards in benchmarking, we went on the hunt for the golden nuggets. We discovered 5 actionable insights on how stakeholders could appeal to the university student user segment.

1

Consistency is hard → Students lacked accountability ✅ Recommendation: Tips, tricks and direction for students to actively set aside time to schedule their week

2

No dedicated curriculum → Felt left out ✅ Recommendation: University-specific meditation tracks

3

Onboarding unclear → Users abandoned ✅ Recommendation: Beginner-friendly guided journey

4

Environmental challenges → Distracted during practice ✅ Recommendation: Campus location tips

5

Struggles with stillness → Stress remained high ✅ Recommendation: Varied-length meditations

Competitive Benchmarking

We reviewed 5 competitor apps and identified opportunities for Smiling Mind to differentiate by offering:

• Student-focused content

• Structured onboarding

• Practical strategies for consistency

Results & Lessons Learned

• Validated original research goals.

• Identified 5 high-priority opportunities for improving university student engagement.

• Learned the value of synthesizing diverse data sources quickly under tight deadlines.

• Project awarded “Most In-Depth Research Plan” during the 5-week sprint. 🏆