Increased paying subscribers for a digital medical ID service
Role
UX Researcher
Time
3 months
Team
2 UX Researchers, Vitals COO, Vitals CMO
Deliverables
Design recommendations, Interview insights, Personas, Heuristic evaluation, Task analysis, Path analysis
Vitals is a digital medical ID struggling with a low conversion rate
Caregivers and self-advocates can input crucial information about their condition or disability in the Vitals app. First responders and 911 dispatchers can use it to offer appropriate help and communication.
Despite its usefulness, 92% of users don't subscribe after signing up, highlighting a retention challenge.
We decided to evaluate the sign up flow in the Vitals App
Our goal was to get an answer for these questions:
Are users able to complete the steps during the sign up process?
Were people satisfied with the process?
What is preventing them from making the decision of subscribing?
Planning, revising, and executing the study
We planned the interview focusing on persuasion, emotion, and trust, refining it through multiple pilot runs.
The Vitals executives assisted in connecting with real users via a study invitation and screener survey distributed through their mailing list.
We chose participants with varied backgrounds, considering age, race and ethnicity, technical proficiency, experience with first responders, and roles (self-advocates, caregivers, or both). We assumed these factors influence a person's perception and accessibility to services like Vitals.
During the interviews, we followed a semi-structured approach, focusing on participants' personal experiences.
We interviewed potential subscribers and discovered their pain points.
Users did not understand what they’re signing up for and it made them hesitant to share personal information
During the account creation process, 70% of the users expressed concern about the lack of information about the app purpose, mission statement, and functionality.
All users consistently had questions about:
How the plans worked
How their data is protected
Jargon made it difficult to pick a plan
When reviewing the available plans, there was at least one term or phrase users did not understand, including:
Peace of mind
Geofencing
Wanderer
Beacon
80ft radius
Poor visual design choices completed a poor experience
No user could discover the sample profile
70% of the users missed the free trial
The rest expressed distrust because of "fine print”
We recommended few high priority solutions
Provide Information Upfront
Presently, there is a Welcome Screen that offers details about Vitals after users pay for a subscription.
Moving this screen before asking for users' personal information may make it easier for users to decide whether Vitals is right for them.
Use Plain Language
Justify requested information
We also came up with new design ideas
Making the free trial easier to find can shake off the fine print bias/alert.
Some plans were available in limited states, disabling them for ineligible users will make it easier for them to pick a plan.
Add testimonials from subscribers with positive experience.
List customer service contact information and FAQ.
A quiz in the beginning that will recommend a plan to a user after a series of questions. This provides contextual guidance and personalization, especially when users do not know which plan is best fit for them
Reflection and Outcome
If given a chance to improve on our approach, I'd analyze app usage data to inspect where and how many people drop off during the sign up process. This can add significant weight to design recommendations and offer a metric to help strategize their implementation.
As of June 1st, 2023, Vitals Awareness Services ceased operations due to funding issues.
Despite not seeing our design recommendations implemented, the experience provided valuable insights into real-world user interaction and collaboration with C-suite members.
