---
title: "Helvetia"
description: "Helvetia (Helvetia, 2017/18): Five questions produce a personal step-by-step timeline for moving to Switzerland"
url: "https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/helvetia-2017-18/"
lang: "en"
---

# Helvetia

**Five questions produce a personal step-by-step timeline for moving to Switzerland**

- **Corporate partner:** [Helvetia](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/network/partners/helvetia/)
- **Cohort:** [2017/18](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/cohort/2017-18/)
- **Theme:** [Finance & insurance](https://www.sugar-network.org/en/projects/themes/finance-insurance/)
- **Type:** Digital service
- **Key fact:** 300 website visitors from a EUR 70 ad test

## Challenge

About 140,000 people move to Switzerland each year. Helvetia asked how to make that move hassle-free when the relevant information is scattered, generic and often only in German.

## What the team learned

Nearly 50 interviews with expats, students, entrepreneurs and family migrants showed that administrative pain peaks first, while cultural and social difficulties come later and are remembered for years.

## What they built

Swissify is a web app for laptop and phone. Newcomers answer five questions and get a personalised timeline of tasks and documents for visas, permits, housing, insurance, banks and telecoms. It is free for users and funded by lead referrals to partners.

How it evolved:

1. Swissify Yourself questionnaire: users liked the timeline but wanted personal contact and a reason to register.
2. Buddy system with volunteers: many testers would not invest time without getting something back.
3. Fresher's Week crash course: newcomers were keen, but few cared about Swiss history.

## Results

- A EUR 70 Google Ads test brought 300 visitors; one keyword reached a 27.08 % click-through rate.
- Expo visitors and Hotjar tracking gave positive feedback and asked for more timeline content.

## Impact

Projected: a company founding in September 2018 and break-even after three years. The team reported first enquiries from potential partners.

> They have a fresh mind and they bring new ideas. Since we want to focus more on innovation it is a really good platform for us to start.
>
> – Innovation Manager, Helvetia

## Full project text

### Challenge

How might we make life hassle free for people that move to Switzerland? With these few words our 10-month challenge was kicked off with our Swiss-based-insurance corporate partner Helvetia. As part of the globally observed trend of the ‘globalisation’, every year, 140’000 people move to Switzerland for a variety of reasons and during this relocation face an abundance of hurdles and challenges. The relevant information for the individual person is difficult to attain in the vastness of information available on the internet and is often times too broadly defined in order to generate any value for these newcomers.

### Solution

This is where Swissify comes into play, a web-based application which can be accessed through both a laptop as well as through smartphones and tablets via www.swissify.org. After answering only five questions, the users receive a personalised timeline indicating each step of their journey to Switzerland in great detail and the respective information is always tailored to their specific situation and needs. By working their way through their personally generated timeline, the newcomers are able to inform themselves on both how a specific process works, as well as learning which documents and information they will need to have ready for the respective step in question. Along the way, they receive information on their Visa, permits, apartments, customs, insurances, banks, telecommunication and also get exclusive access to a variety of events through the Swissify community. Swissify operates with a lead-generation business model, meaning that the customers can use Swissify free of charge, thus enabling them to save both money and time. However, Swissify does not sell the customer data to third-party companies but merely suggests to their users, based on the given information, which service provider best suits their needs.  
This project was realised by a team of four people from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), namely Martina Egli, Florian Misteli, Guy Reiffers and Tiziano Sabbioni. The team worked in a close collaboration with Anja Zimmermann from the Corporate Incubation team at Helvetia.

## Video

- SWISSIFY!_small: https://vimeo.com/279022699

## Sources

Summarised by the SUGAR editorial team from the team’s project page, final documentation and SUGAR Expo booklet.

Open the 2017/18 booklet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LD0xTZdBBCcOIfxK6yoSEr_n-G8R4_kl/view?usp=sharing