Supplement App

Sector: Healthcare/Nutraceutical

The company in the healthcare sector wanted to provide a native iOS app for easier patient purchasing and protocol monitoring by their practitioner.

Problem Statement

Sales team reported from the field that practitioners are interested in an app for their patients to purchase and receive reminders on refills.

Users & Audience
  • 90% of mobile users are on an iPhone
  • Patient audience is growing by 30%
  • Keyword searches for specific products proved that there was a market for consumers looking to buy specific products
  • Patients need a referral code from their prescribing healthcare practitioner to purchase
  • Practitioners see a drop in compliance after in-office visit
Roles & Responsibilities

I assumed the following roles on this project:

  • User Experience (UX) Researcher
  • User Experience (UX) Designer
  • Interaction (IxD) Designer
  • User Interface (UI) Designer
  • Visual Designer

Other team members on this project:

  • App Developer
Scope and Constraints

I began the design process by researching additional functionality that could be added to the app that was not already available on the mobile website. The project scope was as follows:

  • Allow for quick ordering/reordering of nutritional supplements
  • Reminder notification with unique tone of when it is time to the supplements
  • Notification of when the patient would be running low and reminder to reorder
  • A daily health log with one-action click of how they are feeling on the new protocol
  • Notification to prescribing practitioner if the patient is feeling worse on the new protocol

Since this was a new program, we decided to only build it on iOS only and add Google Play if there was enough demand. At the time, over 90% of mobile users were on an iPhone.

The app design and development was completed in a three-month timeline.

Process

The app had five main sections and I prioritized the design work by importance as follows:

  • Order formulas
    • Search by health category or name
    • Save formulas as favorites 
    • Favorite formulas stay at the top for quick access
  • Add reminders
    • Quickly add timed reminders to take your supplements
    • Reminders by bottle default, by practitioner recommendation, or custom
  • Formula Index
    • Detailed research on available products, clinical applications, active ingredients
  • Health Log
    • Quick visual representation daily of how the patient is feeling and a section for notes to share with their practitioner
  • Practitioner recommendations
    • Links to practitioner or clinic details
    • List of any formula protocols the practitioner has shared with the patient

I used InVision and Photoshop to build out the visual assets and to test the interactions prior to app launch.

Outcomes and Lessons

The additional value of reminders and the health log were highly beneficial to our practitioner customers on patient compliance. Patients were seven times more likely to reorder and to stay on the recommended protocol when using the app. 

app