Underserved Customers: Poor customer service from existing providers in the space offers a market opportunity
According to What If VC there are over 1,000+ in the mental health startup space. After reading this, the first thought that came to mind was – no space for new entrants.
After trying to help a close friend refill his prescription while he was experiencing severe anxiety – I realized there are tons of opportunity – customers are extremely underserved by existing Companies.
- Company 1: Didn’t answer messages for 4+ days. We tried again and they charge $199 for 60 mins. What makes them so much better that they are allowed to charge that? It’s not that clear.
- Company 2,3,4 : do not serve Massachusetts yet; however, they make you go through 30 questions to get your data before letting you know that they can’t serve you. I’m never even trying your service again even when you do serve this state.
- Company 5: appointments available in 2 months time. They UX/UI doesn’t let the user know – they don’t have psychiatrists available
- Company 6: Doesn’t take new users who are younger than 25 yrs. old. Why not? (However, easy to get around it) Also, they don’t tell you what number you are in the line while you wait (that’s not cool when you have anxiety). It’s not clear if the meds are included in the session fee or charged additional.
- Company 7: Google ads say “Psychiatrist – Therapy from your Couch” and after filling out an exhaustive survey its unclear what “therapy” means until you read the fine print….(turns out it is social work, psychology, etc) – If you are trying to gauge interest in offering a new service- this is counterproductive and annoying to customers.
- Company 8: charges $269/appointment. huh?
….the list goes on!
Bottom line: Everyone is data hungry, but not offering much value to the customer in the process which is alienating and extremely annoying.
Photo Credits: Refinery29
