‘Fastest growing part of the business’: Headspace on its expansion into B2B

When Headspace first launched, it was widely seen as the brand that helped make meditation mainstream. Its animations, soothing voices and short-form practices gave millions of consumers an accessible introduction to mindfulness.

But over the past four years, the business has undergone a transformation that has taken it far beyond the direct-to-consumer app that made its name. Since merging with digital mental health platform Ginger in October 2021, Headspace has been building out a B2B offer that now represents the fastest-growing arm of the company.

Connie Chan Wang, senior vice-president of marketing, describes the shift as both a response to consumer demand and a recognition that mental health needs to be tackled more holistically.

“It actually came from employees who were asking their employers to cover Headspace for them, so it was very grassroots,” she tells Marketing Week.

If you offer a benefit and nobody uses it, what’s the point in paying for it?

Connie Chan Wang, Headspace

The merger with Ginger gave Headspace instant credibility in clinical care, Wang says, and an entry point into HR and benefits conversations that were previously out of reach.

“It’s the fastest growing part of our business right now,” Wang says.

“Employee burnout continues to be a topic that benefits managers are really trying to figure out how to tackle. I can see this continuing to be a very much growing part of our business.”

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Complex ROI

That growth has required a different way of measuring impact. In a consumer context, success is often defined by downloads, subscriptions and retention. In B2B, the stakes are higher, because employers are scrutinising ROI.

“If you offer a benefit and nobody uses it, what’s the point in paying for it? Engagement rate is a big one – how many people have enrolled in the benefit, how many are using it,” she says.

“Then [success is measured by] outcomes. Of those who are using it, are they getting better? We do assessments in our app before and after to show improvement in symptoms. And then we’re working towards cost savings and return on investment.”

As its B2B business has accelerated, Headspace has sought to expand access beyond employers into health plans and public sector partners. Millions of people now have Headspace covered through work or insurance, something Wang sees as central to the company’s mission.

“When you operate only a B2C business, you can only bring in the member base that can pay for your services. Not everybody is able or willing to pay. When we expand to B2B, people now have covered access. That’s our way of democratising mental health care. We had a partnership with the NHS, which we’re trying to revive, and with the British Army. This is how we break down barriers to access.”

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The D2C-B2B flywheel

Employers struggle with a persistent problem: many staff don’t know what benefits they have, let alone use them. However, Headspace can help overcome that hurdle because so many people already know the brand.

Wang calls this dynamic the D2C–B2B “flywheel”. The consumer app builds affinity and trust, which in turn makes enterprise adoption smoother.

Wang says Headspace’s latest brand tracker showed 87% of respondents had an affinity for Headspace and 96% trusted it. The brand then asked clients why they decided to evaluate Headspace, and half had either heard about it, used the app before, or had a friend or family recommendation.

“That awareness and affinity really helps open the door first and foremost. And when we come in with a brand that people already know and use, it helps address one of the biggest challenges for B2B buyers, which is awareness and engagement. Ultimately, it’s the outcomes: people use the product, and they get better,” Wang explains.

We can talk about everything in the same way across audiences

Connie Chan Wang, Headspace

That consumer credibility also shapes how the brand tells its story. However, this does come with challenges. For many, Headspace is synonymous with meditation and mindfulness, with its distinctive illustrations and animations, so as the business has expanded to coaching, therapy, psychiatry and employee assistance programmes, adjusting that has been difficult.

“We’ve been known as a meditation and mindfulness brand for a very long time, and for the past three years we’ve expanded our services beyond that,” Wang explains.
For B2B audiences in particular, balancing the whimsical consumer aesthetic with the seriousness of clinical credibility has taken careful handling.

“What people are used to in enterprise benefits is everything being blue, grey and sterile. We had to hold onto what makes us unique and differentiated, while flexing [the scientific backing] so our enterprise audience takes us seriously. It’s a natural tension,” Wang says.

One of the biggest shifts has come only this year. For the first three years since the merger with Ginger, Headspace’s B2C and B2B offers were different: the consumer app was limited to meditation and mindfulness, while the enterprise package included the full suite of clinical services.

That meant split messaging, with different goals for each branch of the business. Wang describes this balance of marketing approaches as one of her biggest challenges.

“Most of our paid media spend was on the consumer side, and all we could talk about was meditation and mindfulness, because that’s all we had in the app. On the B2B side, we were trying to build clinical credibility,” she says.

“Now that we have parity across both, it’s been a huge unlock. We can talk about everything in the same way across audiences. It’s made a huge difference.”