Creating an online shopping experience for a home healthcare product

User research to better understand user needs when shopping for a therapy mask online and what types of information and tools would give them confidence in their choices.

PROBLEM

The home healthcare business at Philips Healthcare was building an online tool so patients could select a new sleep therapy mask. Their assumption was that patients didn't feel confident trying something new because it might not fit, and that a 3D facial mapping technology would be enough of a confidence boost. We recommended user research to test this assumption and dive further into the user needs and what type of information or tool could effectively give that confidence.

OUTCOME

The final product is an online tool called Choose Your Mask. Instead of relying solely on the 3D technology to help consumers make a choice, the website now encompasses a survey with questions that personalizes the experience, in addition to other information that helps build the consumer confidence in the online tool and their choice.

METHODS

• In-home interviews

• Card-sorting

• High-fidelity prototypes (using Adobe Muse)

• Wireframing

MY ROLE

• One of two Service Designers on the project responsible for planning and conducting user research, building prototypes, and presenting recommendations to the business

• Handed project off to interaction designers and consultants to design and follow-through production

Home visits, card-sorting, & interactive prototypes

We planned and conducted 9 home interviews, where we spent 90 minutes with the end-user (sleep therapy patients) talking about sleep therapy, their mask, their mask providers as well as analogous shopping experiences.

We used timeline worksheets to understand their past experience with trying different mask products and and a card-sorting activity to uncover what is a must-have, nice-to-have or unimportant when shopping for a new mask. We also brought interactive prototypes composed of different features to have a discussion around the pros and cons of each and see how they best aligned with the user's needs.

Patient needs have a hierarchy.

From the user research, we were able to identify that even though the concept of having a mask advice tool as it was designed by the business did meet some of the user's needs, it was failing to address two other levels of their needs. So, our immediate recommendations was to ensure that the tool met all three levels.

Design principles to guide the design process

From the research, we also identified three steps and the users' expectations at each of these when engaging with an online tool such as Mask Choice. We translated these findings into actionable design principles that would create trust and confidence in the user at each step.

Acknowledging bigger hurdles and recommending service design

We also identified that there were hurdles beyond just finding the right mask, and how these hurdles might not be overcome with only an online tool. As a result, we also recommended good service design that went beyond just the web-page experience.

Wireframes of recommendations

We delivered the presentation, personas, and wireframes of a recommended design based on our research. We handed it off to the product manager, interaction designers, and consultants to design the product and build.