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Happiness

Mental Health App Boosts Retention Rates by 42% After Product Launch

Industry:

Health

Services:

UI/UX design

Web design

Design system

Product design

Result:

Growth

Usability

Conversion

Stage:

Startups

About the project

Award-Winning Project:

UA Design Awards

And 17+ more awards

Building a Mental Wellness App That Brought in Millions of Dollars

When psychologist and motivational speaker Alla Klimenko approached us, she came with a clear belief: happiness isn’t a destination, it’s a practice. Built daily. Shaped by mindset and habit.

Together, we created Happiness, a gamified, 6-week digital journey designed to help people reshape their routines, rethink their perspective, and find balance between work and life.

This case is a must-read for founders building in mental health, coaching platforms, and anyone turning emotional wellbeing into user-first, product-led growth.

42%

Increase in customer retention—driven by gamified design.

Turning Behavior Into Habit

To deliver real change, the experience had to keep people engaged for six full weeks—the time it takes to form a new habit. That meant building more than a course, but a commitment.

Our team leaned into behavioral psychology and built a gamified system around it. Six key gamification elements, each crafted to drive momentum, reward consistency, and make progress feel tangible.

Selling the Value, Not the Product

Getting people to commit to a 6-week journey meant showing them the value before they even signed up.

For that our team designed a promo site that didn’t push a product—it built belief. Focused on momentum, emotion, and the lifestyle Upgrade stands for, it sparked curiosity and made the idea of change feel possible from the very first click.

Happiness Starts With the First Tap

Building a habit shouldn’t feel like hard work—and that message had to hit from second one. We designed onboarding to feel effortless, clear and motivating. Right away, people are invited to choose personalized, happiness-driven tasks. No barriers. Just instant progress that feels good—and keeps them coming back.

Designing for Daily Return

To turn happiness into habit, we built a system that rewards consistency. Six core gamification elements—color-coded progress calendars, leaderboards, badges, ratings, progress stats and more kept users engaged across the full 6-week journey.

As the product evolved, we layered in more interactivity, more feedback, more reasons to come back. The result was a 42% increase in retention—and a product people made part of their everyday routine.

Mobile-First, Progress-Focused

Since people engage on the go, we led with a mobile-first approach putting the progress calendar front and center. As the core gamification element, it gave people a clear view of their journey and kept motivation high, one tap at a time.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about this topic

How to increase engagement in a wellness app?

One of the most effective ways to boost engagement is through gamification. When we designed Happiness, a 6-week wellness program, we introduced six core gamification elements that turned the app into a daily habit. The result: users stayed engaged, and the product became a part of their everyday routine.

What makes people love using wellness apps?

People stick with products that make them feel good and show progress. In Happiness, we introduced rewards, daily task tracking, and a leaderboard—all of which gave users a sense of achievement and kept them motivated. That emotional connection turned into real business results, helping the founder generate millions in revenue.

How can a mental health app create real impact?

A well-designed mental health app can help people build better habits, improve their emotional wellbeing, and shift their mindset. With Happiness, we crafted a guided, gamified journey rooted in behavioral psychology—helping users feel better, think clearer, and grow from the inside out.

How to improve user retention in wellness apps?

Retention starts with motivation. For Happiness, we added a leaderboard that sparked healthy competition and boosted user involvement. This single element helped increase retention by 42%, proving that well-executed gamification keeps users coming back.

What makes onboarding effective for digital coaching platforms?

First impressions set the tone. Lazarev.agency built a lightweight, mobile-optimized onboarding process for Happiness that introduced the concept, reduced friction, and connected users to benefits within minutes. This lowered cognitive load and helped users commit to the 6-week journey from the start.

How does gamification impact engagement in wellbeing apps?

Gamification makes emotional growth tangible. Lazarev.agency embedded a structured, 6-week path with streaks, badges, and self-reflection prompts into the Happiness project. This design kept users invested over time, turning a soft concept like "balance" into measurable, motivating progress.

How can design contribute to monetization in wellness apps?

Good design converts emotional value into business outcomes. For Happiness, Lazarev.agency crafted a conversion-optimized landing page and structured the app to deliver small daily wins, boosting both user satisfaction and lifetime value. We brought tangible results: millions in revenue and a scalable wellness business.

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“Through a detailed understanding of the client’s platform, Lazarev. was able to create a clean and intuitive UI/UX design that ticked all the boxes. The team was receptive to all requirements and requests and adapted well to timeline changes. They produced accurate mockups at every iterative stage.”

Nick Chapman

Founder at Pika AI

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