Back in June In Hand became one of the last Labs products to launch. The team had followed a painstaking process of skilling up their young people to get hands on with the app design process. It had taken time and gone against the grain of ‘fail fast’ and ‘launch and learn’ principles.
However, it was worth the wait.
In just 4 months InHand has accelerated its adoption and really come to the fore as one of the best new mental health apps on the market. They’ve been featured on TV, presented at the International Digital Care Congress and last month hit 5000 downloads.
Not bad.
In fact, pretty damn awesome!
Watch this video to find out what we mean.
How Have They Achieved It?
FACT, the organisation behind In Hand have achieved this accelerated adoption through a number of avenues:
- Having a quality product – In Hand is simple, elegant and delivers value on first time use
- Fly postering across Merseyside
- Featuring In Hand at Freshers fairs
- Presenting at the International Digital Care Congress with In Hand young people (and having an abstract accepted)
- Talking about In Hand and fiving out posters and flyers at every event FACT gets invited to
- Talking about the design process at tech networking events
- Social media campaigning (@InHandApp)
And getting on the news obviously helped…
Why Has It Been So Successful, So Quickly?
One of the reasons that In Hand has been successful is their focus on processes as well as people.
Louise Latter, In Hand’s project manager describes why: “Film, art and tech is our thing so we are well positioned for innovating and marketing, probably better so than if we were a mental health service. Because we’re independent we are seen as a cool, non-stigmatising space for young people to engage in.”
In Hand has also benefitted hugely from FACT’s partnership with Red Ninja who, as digital partners, have invested pro-bono time in the app’s development. In Lousie’s words they “are always doing over and above.”
What’s Up Next For In Hand?
With the help of Mindtech, the Labs product evaluators, FACT are evaluating In Hand’s progress and early impact. They’ve already had stories from nurses on mental health wards of young people using the app to support themselves.
In January they will review the evaluation’s evidence, examine their own analytics and decide whether to develop the app further (by finding more money) or maintain it as it is. FACT also want to do similar projects and develop more health tools in partnership with Mersey Care NHS Trust..
We’ll report on the evaluation’s findings and In Hand’s decision in the spring!
