User Compliance
Support Requests
Future Work
PhysIQ makes the only FDA-cleared personalized analytics device for use with patients in medical studies and health programs that provides predictive funtionality. The device learns the patient’s baseline measures and detects subtle changes that can indicate an improved prognosis – or identify the risk of imminent episodes – but only if users actually use it. Unfortunately, user compliance was the missing component. Device users, often elderly and infirmmed, struggled to accurately set up and use the devices. Often wandering out of range or forgetting to charge and connect until the device users lost not only connectivity but also, worse, critical health data. While PhysIQ provides excellent support to their client base, the volume of troubleshooting calls and inquiries was becoming overwhelming as the program grew. They turned to Engage to redesign the user interface (UI) of the device’s associated app. Engage took a deep look at the app design and developed a brand-new approach to the UI that subsequently improved user engagement and compliance and successfully reduced support call volume.
We realized immediately our work on the app would need to be grounded in an expertly executed discovery phase. Excellent design relies on a thorough understanding of the intended user, and we spent a lot of time in research, planning, and flow mapping. In short, we took a holistic approach with intent to improve the overall user experience, not just the visual overlay. Only by successfully connecting with the user can any app reach its full potential.
With a rock-solid discovery process completed, Engage’s starting goal was to ease device setup. Setup alone generated an unnecessary number of support calls, because anytime the patients didn’t have a caregiver at hand, they had to call PhysIQ support to figure out what to do in the app. To this end, Engage changed the flow of the in-app tutorial and setup screens. This series of new screens probably had the biggest impact on reducing support calls.
For example, we also wanted to ensure that users could tell at a quick glance if their device was connected to the Internet. We discovered that the specific audience – elderly and ailing – would respond to clever use of color and behavioral cues. Thus, we used bold color and animations to showcase connectivity, while also adding alerts if connectivity was lost. We applied the same principles throughout the app to ensure every screen could facilitate user compliance.
None of our design choices were based on chance, however. Like health care practitioners diagnosing and treating their patients, we value evidence-based approaches. We created several design variations and then held focus groups with the target demographic, running tests to determine which designs and user flows would work best with the intended users. Through painstaking testing and planning and by generating evidence of success with trial groups, we were able to pinpoint and fine-tune the ideal design and app flow with surgical precision. Overall, while PhysIQ was impressed by the visual changes, the real results were in the newly designed app’s healthy performance in reducing support calls and increasing user compliance. In fact, the design changes were so successful, PhysIQ took our carefully researched and tested guidelines and began applying them elsewhere, as they developed new sections in the app (returning to Engage for additional help) and pursued important partnerships with device suppliers and testing groups.
Engage applied design prowess and scrupulous data-gathering expertise to reinvigorate the PhysIQ app, revitalizing user engagement while reducing the burdensome volume of support requests. For more information about how our design skills could benefit your app and its users, please contact us.
PhysIQ is laser focused on providing solutions that meet strict FDA requirements — all while pioneering the power of the IoT and expanding our transformational proprietary analytics. For more information, please visit physiq.com.