Second Opinion is a Telehealth app, that allows users to connect easily with a doctor and ask for their second opinion or to make a consultation naturally, having a video call.
My Role
- UX research
- Competitors analyses
- User flows improvements
- Low fidelity Prototypes
- Mid-fidelity Prototypes
- High-fidelity clickable Prototypes
- A/B Testing
The Team
- Stakeholders
- Front & Backend Developers
- Product Management
Deliverables
- Competitive analysis
- User surveys and one-on-one interviews
- Personas
- User journeys and task flows
- Site map
- Low-fidelity wireframes
- High-fidelity mock-ups and prototypes
- Design system and UI kit
- Usability tests and findings
Enable anyone, anywhere, to connect in a few minutes to a certified specialist (doctor) through a video call.
The UX Design process begins by understanding the objectives of a business and how best to serve a target audience. By comprehending the psychology of a User, as well as applying UX best practices, it’s possible to provide them with a positive and memorable experience. These are some steps that explain better the UX Design process.
Competitor Analyses
1. competitor: Doctor On Demand
Competitor Profiling: Overview, Marketing, SWOT Analyses
Key Objectives
They provide telehealth care with certified doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists 24/7/365. They are based in the US.
Market Advantage
They don’t require insurance data to open an account, as some other competitors do.
Overall Strategy
The user of the App can get in touch with a “doctor on demand”, quickly, just in a couple of minutes. Their services are based on up-front costs in case the user doesn’t have health care insurance. They are providing two-way video calls.
Marketing profile
DOD established its presence online with all the necessary tools, having not just the product but also a website for marketing purposes, sales, also presents on all the social networks.
Their product is IOS and Android compatible.
On their website, we can read different healthcare-related news including the most up-to-date ones, that say that they have an SEO team working on maintaining their presence. They have connected themselves with local pharmacies.
Many newspapers are mentioning DOD with smaller or bigger articles including Forbes, Wall Street Journal and Times.
They got even more attention when the co-founder of DOD, Dr Phil McGraw, started a TV show called Doctors.
SWAT
Strength
DOD allows the user to see a doctor whenever they choose to, which brings confidence and reliability. It is very nice that health care insurance is not required, so a wider public is welcome to use the App, which I have found very nice.
Opportunity
If the user could ask to speak to a doctor he or she is already satisfied with.
Weakness
I am not sure how it functions after the run-out time if you continue the conversation with the same doctor or not?! Define better the time limitation aspect and what else it is related to. It doesn’t allow mobile phones outside the US?!
Threat
Other similar Apps on the market like Amwell and Apps are not focused on the US target group as health care is more needed in third countries.
UX Competitive Analyses
Usability
Intuitive to use.
Layout
Clear, colour palette and typography provide ease of viewing.
Navigation Structure
Menu items are clean and organized.
Compatibility
It is compatible across Android, ios phones and iPad, PC, mac on all browsers
Differentiation
The onboarding process of the app has a problem, you must enter a mobile phone number without the dialling numbers of the country but it allows you to be outside of the US. I would say the UX could be improved.
Calls to Action
Worked all right.
2. competitor: Amwell
Competitor Profiling: Overview, Marketing, SWOT Analyses
Key Objectives
Certified and experienced medical doctors providing High-quality and affordable virtual healthcare, on-demand.
Market Advantage
They are accredited by the American Telemedicine Association. Their app won many awards.
Overall Strategy
Their strategy is to provide fast and easy-to-access on-demand medical consultations without requiring health insurance, non-stop.
Marketing profile
Amwell has a presence on the web with its website, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram accounts. They won awards in 2014, and 2016 from App Annie and Healthline respectively. They have a good Blog. Their presence is advertised on the Global Health Conference and Exhibitions HIMSS for March 2020 signalling its strong networking with industry leaders in the health information and technology industries. They host webinars, white papers, case studies, brochures, and videos on their website resource section. They have SEO, Google ADS, Facebook Ads, and other paid ADS.
SWAT
Strength
Technology and Marketing
Opportunity
Deal with the response time.
Weakness
Very slow Customer Service and response time of the provider.
Threat
For other similar Apps that provide better services, I would have to dig deeper to find all the competitor’s Apps. I was searching for the ones that do not require insurance and that don’t limit the users to certain countries.
UX Competitive Analyses
Usability
Very intuitive to use. Utilises location services to match licensed providers in the state and pharmacies nearby. It can be optimised to use Face ID. Screen readers and text magnifiers are options under the increased accessibility option, which is also nice.
Layout
Clear, pleasant white space. The colour palette and typography provide ease of viewing.
Navigation Structure
Menu items were organized locally.
Compatibility
It is compatible with Android, iOS phones and iPad, PC, and Mac on all browsers
Differentiation
The onboarding process of the app is used to effectively tie up user experience with user retention strategies like pop-ups for notifications. The use of Face ID for entry into the app adds to the convenience of the app, as does the accessibility feature for those requiring specialised UI. A pop-up requesting location services during onboarding helps provide curated information to the user without requiring the user to complete the address.
Calls to Action
Prompts for notification sign-up right at onboarding were effectively placed. The calls to action during signup and onboarding were all placed front and centre, making it very convenient for the users. There wasn’t any confusion as to where one would go after filling up the form to sign up.
User Stories
“As a user, I want to be able to choose the best doctor for myself by its ranking, reviews, and field of expertise”
“As a user, I would like to create an account with a password of 8 or more characters so that I can ensure that my account will be difficult for others to hack”
“As an existing user, I want the option to reset my password so that I can still access my account if I forget it.”
“As a user, I want to be able to add reviews about the doctors that I had a conversation with and to rate them, so other users could have benefits to easier find the right expert”
“As a user, I would like to have the ability to contact the doctors I have been satisfied with again and as many times I would choose to, even if it is in a greater price package”
“As a user, it is important to me to have notifications where I can see the successfully scheduled video calls with experts or other notifications”
Getting Closer to User-centred Design
Superficially, it might seem that everyone is interested in the same thing: saving money and time … but upon closer inspection, the user research made clear that there were divergent motivations.
Creating personas helped bring some clarity to those divergences, which would become important reference points as functions developed.
As research and design proceeded, I focused primarily on two personas because they represented heavy emphasis on two key functions: scrutinizing usage reports and data to make subscription decisions, and relying on the app’s browse, search, and filter functions for viewing choices.
User Personas example
Exploring Common Tasks to Heighten User Empathy
By creating and exploring the journey maps of two personas and their typical tasks, I uncovered key emotional/procedural moments that Second Opinion needed to address. The anxiety someone might feel, for example, if they’re afraid, they’re paying for something they are not sure of. Or the uncertainty of something new, done online via the app. To ensure the app’s stickiness, it would need to overcome these problems … and not introduce new points of friction.
Task Analyses & User Flows, Defining Important Tasks
Two success criteria are presented here, booking an appointment for a video call with a doctor and messaging the doctor.
Mobile First Design
Creating Structure, Card Sorting & Site Map
This site map, informed by surveys and interviews, organizationally depicts the three key task streams that the high-fidelity prototype would focus on 1. Onboarding and registration, 2. Management (subscribing and unsubscribing to services), and 3. Programming and search-related functions. The framework the site map provides, along with the user insight collected thus far, would guide design decisions moving forward.
Understanding What Users Find Intuitive, and Why
Low-fidelity prototype testing allowed me to better understand how users expected to complete the tasks I was focusing on. By studying their touch and swipe gestures — and more importantly, having a dialogue with them about what they expected and when — I knew which adjustments needed to be made to lay the foundation for a more fully realized high-fidelity prototype. Small details such as actionable and consistent iconography, and consistent paths to get back, would become important elements of the design system.
Mobile Mid-Fidelity Prototype examples
Edit Profile flow
Add a Doctor to My Doctors flow
Book an appointment flow
Usability Test
Methodology
I will be using the Moderated Remote Usability Test method, because of the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic, and also for the other benefits such as possibility to include wide range of international participants.
Participants
The aim is to recruit at least 6 participants for this study. They will be recruited from my personal network, and they all been contacted through different messaging applications.
Schedule
The usability test will take place from 8th to 14th June 2020. The sessions will be scheduled based on the participants availability.
Sessions
It is estimated that sessions will last about 15-20 minutes, in that time the participants will have the time to navigate through the app and to answer to some predefined questions abut their user experience.
Equipment
Testing will be carried out on my own laptop. The participants will use theirs own computers, tablets and mobile phones. Zoom conference software will be used to conduct and record the sessions.
Metrics
Errors will be measured using Jakob Nielsen’s scale:
0 = I don’t agree that this is a usability problem at all
1 = Cosmetic problem only: need not be fixed unless extra time is available on Project
2 = Minor usability problem: fixing this should be given low priority
3 = Major usability problem: important to fix and should be given high priority
4 = Usability catastrophe: imperative to fix before the product can be released
Application of Gestalt Principles
Here are some examples of how we have applied some best practices:
High-fidelity design examples (the images are not in order)
Final words
When the Newburyport, MA area began the testing of the App’s prototype, it didn’t account for frustrating individual sign-up protocols or those without digital access. As a result, many couldn’t find appointments, despite constantly trying.
By understanding who the users are, and why they were having problems, I was able to reimagine an appointment site experience that helped them find information quickly, and make appointments.
The relative importance of the information they sought and pain points in the appointment-finding process came through in the research and testing. This informed an optimised landing page and appointment finder that cut through the clutter that I hope still exists today.
