Driving daily engagement for a symptom tracking app.
Vapotherm's COPD symptom tracking app was a ten step questionnaire where patients were to submit their symptoms each day. Using an algorithm, their response score could anticipate flare ups, prompting nurse intervention and mitigating hospitalizations.
Users could view the health data they were tracking historically, but each data point was siloed. The portal was a simple, bare bones tracking app with no meaningful, transparent view of a patient's health journey.
Vapotherm was tracking useful data and had an opportunity to keep patients engaged and consistent. Higher engagement meant greater health outcomes for patients, so the goal was the make the app easy to use and sticky.
Team
Product Designer: Libby Abizaid
UX Researcher: Christine Fish
Product Manager: Thompson Vou
Timeline
6 months
Patients had no view of their check-in history in Vapotherm's previous design.
By surfacing recent check-ins and using motivating language and "streaks," the new designs drove the importance of checking in daily.
Vapotherm's questionnaire was clinically validated, so there wasn't much that could be done for the wording.
However, we added a progress bar to orient patients in the questionnaire and updated the visual design to clarify confusing graphics.
All of the data Vapotherm was storing was siloed and nearly impossible to view in a meaningful way.
With a check in tracking calendar and trends for key health metrics, patients could take their health data into their own hands and view their progress.
"Run-in" is the initial 2 week period where patients' scores are being calibrated. Daily check ins are essential for an accurate baseline to be determined.
Using resources from Vapotherm, online research, and an informational interview with a clinical scientist specializing in COPD, I familiarized myself with the condition and the challenges patients face.
Vapotherm had no metrics or insights on how their patients engaged with their technology, but they did have notes and key findings collected by the team of triage nurses that interacted with patients daily. I reviewed the findings and notes that spanned 10+ years, which were invaluable to the project.
Most patients were elderly, and many were dealing with their condition with one family member or at times alone. Unsurprisingly, the patients greatly emphasized the importance of feeling like a real person, their nurse, was on the other side of their interaction with the product.
In our redesign nurses needed to be easy to reach, and we felt creating copy and interactions that created a sense of familiarity and reassurance would be important to users.
COPD has to be managed daily, and it can be a huge burden on patients to determine whether their daily symptoms are worse than usual— I have a cough, but is it a normal cough or a concerning cough? Vapotherm's "score" gave them peace of mind, and let an outside source determine if they needed to seek medical assistance.
However, Vapotherm's current design lacked visibility of their score in a meaningful way— it disappeared after being submitted, and they couldn't view how it compared to their historic submissions.
While we began generating ideas upon ideas for how we could improve the app and implement exciting, creative features, we had to remember that for our patient base keeping things extremely simple was necessary.
Most patients were very intimidated by tech, many for example not knowing how to scroll, or having major hesitations around privacy. Tacking on features or overcomplicating things could drive away patients, which we couldn't risk.
Christine, our UX researcher, held two prototype usability testing sessions with 8 users each.
A new homepage that clearly identifies the top task, logging symptoms, while incorporating encouraging messaging, a sense of where the user is in their journey, and motivation to keep their tracking consistent
A redesigned questionnaire that standardizes the interactions of the previous version
A health trends view that allows patients to view and interpret their previous submissions in a meaningful way
A run-in specific screen that explains the importance of logging daily and shows users how they're tracking
Early on in journey mapping, the testimonials of current customers revealed a valuable insight. Patients spoke about the reassurance they felt receiving a feedback score that validated the severity or normalcy of their symptoms. Several patients mentioned how this might affect their day— for example, doing laundry would be reserved for days when symptoms were less severe.
This generated an idea around prescriptive feedback. Patient scores could be more valuable, and the app could be more sticky, if along with their score patients were given guidance on how their daily state might alter their day.
