MeHab - prototyping alcohol reduction services for under 30s

Introduction: MeHab is a smartphone service designed to help young adults reduce the frequency of their drinking. Users are asked to nominate and track three dry days a week. Initial testing has shown that this approach helps 65%+ of users to achieve a three days dry streak where they previously didn't. The service was designed using both clinical data and the expert advice of the behavioural science unit of Warwick University. This session aims to help people understand how combining good science with good design is imperative if we are to create services that genuinely work. Specific Learnings: The need for a behavioural segmentation. A behavioural segmentation of your target audience is a vital first step to creating efficacious services. Using real data collected in the research phase of the project we will demonstrate why dealing with lads on a night out is very different to dealing with a young mum who unwinds with a glass of wine. What you can learn from the market. How an exploration of direct and lateral markets can help you solve the problem in hand. In this project we looked primarily at the products created by the quantified-self movement to understand what was most likely to work. The importance of prototyping. Too often we prioritise strategy over doing. This leads to expensive and lengthy processes that would be better replaced with early testing. We will explain how minimal viable products quickly help to work out what does and doesn’t work. Outcome of the Session: Audience will leave with an overview of the process and tools needed to develop new services. They may even decide to take three dry days a week!