Startup  ·  2013

WebMD

The leading source for health and medical information. WebMD wants to increase its user acquisition and retention as competition in digital health is increasingly saturated.

The Challenge

WebMD has come to an understanding that users have difficulty parsing through its massive collection of content. Through user research and user-centered techniques, I created a hyper-personalized experience.

My Role

As a senior member of a UX team of three. I was responsible for leading user research, sketching user flows, developing interactive wireframes, and delivering the overall experience strategy of the new desktop site. I collaborated with my teammates to produce all major deliverables and presenting them to the client.

 The Goal

Identifying what would lead to a more personalized WebMD experience.

Tools Used

Typeform, Sketch3, Axure, Illustrator, Photoshop, Keynotes, Paper

Project Duration

3 weeks

Device

Desktop, Mobile

Discovery

We started with company research to learn about the company’s history, culture, customers, brand, and value proposition.

We also compared a list of predominant healthcare players, including non-digital healthcare players like family, friends, doctors, etc to better understand where WebMD is positioned in contrast with other trusted sources.

Insights

We received 28 responses from our survey and conducted 4 interview sessions.

TREATMENT & RECOVERY
Interestingly we found a large proportion of people gravitated towards searching information for treatment and recovery. People are exploring, managing, and recovering from existing illnesses. This is particularly prevalent for long-term and serious illnesses.

CURATE & SHARE
Our feedback from surveys and interviews suggests although the reliability of sources and privacy was an issue, people are willing to share their medical info if it helped others.

Re-defining the Goal

WebMD requires a revised approach to its existing content in order to attract and retain users. We have identified that by personalizing information and creating opportunities to collectively share knowledge, individuals and research communities could benefit.

USER GOAL
To curate, share, and gain valuable information relating to their purpose.

BUSINESS GOAL
To improve customer experience by focusing on the treatment & recovery space.

Persona Creation

Understanding major frustrations through empathy mapping, we created four personas. Followed by creating scenarios for each persona to ensure our design supported the user's behavior.

Keeping high-level scenarios allowed us to work fluidly and explore concepts that we could easily communicate with. They also formed the backbone of our designs.

Good principles form good UX

With the personas and research findings, I chose the most appropriate platform to explore and started to define the MVP features. By aligning broadly with design principles first, I then leveraged those as criteria for selecting a UX model. The principles acted as a filter, allowing us to cull down to testable concepts.

Refined with usability

Once we identified the UX models to test, usability quickly helped identify friction points, and the feedback loop refined nuances.

Additionally, introducing sub-tasks in our testings provided further insights into interactions and secondary features of our designs.

The Outcome

MAKE IMPORTANT THINGS FAST & OBVIOUS
The main screen designed for quick access to the primary features that were hidden behind sub-menus. This can be seen on the main page.

PERSONALISATION & ORGANISATION
The new design also allows users to curate, collect, manage and share their medical contents. Additionally, within the profile page, users can track, manage and share their health status on a personal dashboard.

Next Steps

The overall feedback was positive as we have identified new areas in the treatment and recovery space which led to a more personalized WebMD experience.

This formed an integral part of the design as it sets precedence for users to manage and share their own medical records with patients experiencing similar illnesses in phase 2.

Phase 2

Build an online medical community that facilitates sharing of medical research and health information relating to illness. This includes doctor, specialist, and hospital reviews as a part of the community, creating an impetus for contribution, discussion, and sharing of treatment & recovery information.

Reflections...

Less, but better. Start testing and iterate early.

Identifying obvious & consistent problems early sets a foundation for your feature requirements.

You are not your user!