A pharmaceutical manufacturer wanted to improve the usability and usefulness of an existing HCP portal for a desktop and design a new mobile app version of the portal.
Provide recommendations for usability of HCP portal mobile app integration
Challenge
The portal was to help HCPs monitor patient information and medication adherence. The manufacturer presented a multi-phased research plan that included two teams of researchers working independently on the two portal apps. The goals of the desktop app research were to evaluate account registration performance, usability, and new feature integration. The goal for the mobile app research was proof of concept, including how well the data was presented and understood, user interaction, and usefulness of the content.
Approach
Both studies conducted one-on-one, in-lab usability sessions with three different groups of specialized HCPs using prototypes of the portal. Our ability to adapt and be flexible, debriefing in real time, was key to successfully accomplishing the study goals: When we discovered that session time was inadequate to collect the desired data, we debriefed after the sessions to refocus testing for the following day. We already had clear trends, so it was possible to adjust the protocol and moderators guide to cover all of the manufacturer’s objectives.
Outcome
We helped the manufacturer and design agency choose a winning design with which to move forward. We made key design recommendations to improve the understanding how information is presented, how to interact with the content, improve the terminology to make it more useful, and improve the usability and utility of the portals (both on mobile and desktop). After the study, we met with key stakeholders, including those from the manufacturer and designers from their agency to ensure everyone knew the strategy for the next round of research. We also provided the research results to the agency so they could design the next iteration with confidence. Our goal was to support the business and design side; with multiple design teams involved, it was critical to sync with stakeholders, and successfully communicate findings.