Health Marketplace
The Project Brief
As the sole UX/UI Designer at iPlato Healthcare, I was tasked with looking at how 11 different partner services can be integrated into the myGP mobile app.
My Role
UX/UI Designer
The Team
Product Lead
iOS & Android devs
Backend Developer
Duration
1 year
Launched
Different versions released
throughout 2020-21
The Problem
iPlato, the company behind the myGP app, had a number of partners that wanted their health services and products promoted in the app, however, most partners fell into different health categories, with some looking to have a simple affiliate link to a co-branded landing page, while others required deeper integration into the app.
It was up to me as the designer to come up with a solution on how the different partners can be integrated into the app in a scalable way, that had a high conversion rate and minimal disruption to the app users.
Requirements
The Users
Being signposted to a health service that is actually relevant to their health needs
It’s difficult to know where to start when searching for certain paid-for health services that have a number of companies competing in the same space
Wanting to be presented with both free and paid-for alternatives and having the choice to choose between them
Discovery of services or products they might not know they needed or existed
Being presented with the price upfront, no surprises
Not being disturbed by or promoted services that are not relevant to them
The Business
Finding ways to monetize the myGP mobile app
Integrate 11 partners into the myGP app
High % of co-branded landing page to conversion rate
A scalable design that will allow the number of partner services to keep growing in the mobile app
Those partners that have a basic integration can later have a deeper integration in the app
Research
The first thing I did was lay out all the partners on a board and labeled them with the category they fall into, the type of service they are offering, and the level of integration that was agreed.
This then helped with finding ways to group them together if they offered similar services and also easily spot which ones can be linked to some of the app’s existing features.
My early assumptions were that the highest level of conversions would be presenting a partner service to a user in the context of a feature being used. However, not every partner service could fit into an existing feature.
I did some analysis of other mobile apps in the health-tech industry that allowed users to book NHS GP appointments, while also promoting private services. I was interested in their approach when it came to combining paid for and free health services.
I understood, that this balance between free NHS offerings and paid-for private services is something I had to approach delicately because if the app pushes the private services too hard, it would not only frustrate app users but also the GP surgeries and NHS CCGs that commissioned the myGP app to be used in the first place.
Ideation
For the partner services that wanted a simple affiliate link from the app to their unique landing page on their website, I created wireframes of a scrollable health services list. When looking at other popular consumer mobile apps, this is the most popular template for offering products. From the first exercise of adding the partners in categories, I was able to group some of the partners together.
When looking at the app’s existing home screen, it was quite cluttered and required some looking into whether all the features justified taking up the home screen real estate, especially things like ‘Useful Links’. myGP isn’t an app you would keep coming back to for new content to explore, the returning user often already has a goal in mind when they open the app. Therefore, I looked at the usage data for each feature and whether it could be reduced in size or removed to make way for the marketplace.
The bottom of the home screen before partner services.
First iteration of marketplace, using the existing components of NHS services
Prototype
I put together a prototype to visualize the interactions a user would go through when tapping on the different partner categories.
Every health category, combined the free NHS service with the paid-for partner service.
User Testing
I went on to increase the fidelity on my designs and before getting a stakeholder meeting set up where I can present my ideas for how the partners can be introduced to the app, I wanted to do a round of user testing of the prototype where I could get some insights and use that to back up certain design decisions.
Feedback from testing
“I want the cost to be upfront so there are no surprises”
More than one user noted that the price of a service or product should be earlier rather than finding out once you are in the partners’ website
“You need to make the free and paid more visually different”
The visual distinction between paid and free needed to be more prominent, so the user can quickly understand the options they have for a certain category.
“Can I not purchase the product or service in myGP?”
Some users commented on wanting to keep the transactional side within myGP rather than going to a third-party website, as they built trust with myGP and then had to be more cautious now using a different website.
“It takes too long to reach the marketplace”
There were comments that the marketplace was buried under the different features that made up the home screen and should be pushed up.
Final UI v1
After a positive meeting with key stakeholders, I made further iterations based on comments and another round of testing before starting the final designs to be handed over to developers.
Comparison of what was the home screen to the version that was released later. Certain features were removed or tucked away in order to allow the marketplace to get more engagement.
From a design perspective, the gradients and colours were used to be more prominent and engaging compared to the other features on the homescreen, and also help to categorise the different service offerings.
As you open the category that is of interest to you, you are presented with the partner services or products, as well as the free option at the top.
Each service has its own short description with the price and then a longer description for users that are interested.
The long descriptions have their own CTAs which take the user to the partner’s unique landing page.
As the number of partners was quite low, I couldn’t justify marketplace having its own screen or section in the myGP app just yet, however, the space for more services to be added in the future if this version performed well is there.
Each category, service and descriptions was editable in the backend, so changes could be made without needing more app releases. We planned at a later stage for a dashboard to be created for the product team to control this and then at a later time, a product that partners could sign in to and manage all of this themselves.
Performance & Feedback
The development time of the first version of marketplace took one month, another big project which the team was working on delayed it slightly. It was in production for 3 months which allowed some data to come in so we can check performance for each partner and look at how we can increase it.
17%
Average between viewing partner to description to opening unique landing page
4%
Average conversion rate between visiting the partner’s Unique Landing Page and purchase of service/product
Final UI v2
With the above metrics, we started looking at how we can increase the number of conversions on the marketplace. I looked through feedback from users before designing the second version.
Assumptions we had for what will increase conversions
Use photography rather than icons
Splitting partners between services and products
Bringing the partners into the home screen rather than behind categories
Pushing marketplace even more to the top of the homescreen, removing some elements and grouping other features below it.
The most used features are prescription ordering and appointments in the myGP app therefore we left those at the top. With ideas of later grouping the two features under one action.
Performance of V2
29%
Average between viewing partner service description > opening unique landing page
7%
The conversion from ULP to purchase - this is also heavily influenced by partner landing pages where some needed more optimization and brought the average down
Potential future version
As always, I had in mind how we would handle the case where we have a large number of partners on board. The ability to search for services to be introduced which could also be used as a feedback prompt to figure out if there is a service or product that we are missing but users are looking for.
I also presented the idea for the home screen of the myGP app to have a search bar at the top where the user could search for conditions or symptoms which would then offer up articles about that specific condition using the NHS A-Z API alongside partners that specialize in that area.
As well as suggesting the option to use the patient’s appointment reason to show relevant services, before seeing the appointment calendar
Quick mock ups of search function on home screen
Retrospective
If it wasn’t for contract deadlines and large projects that I was working on in parallel, I would have liked to have spent some more time speaking to existing users and getting their feedback on what their thoughts were on paid-for health services and products and how they would make use of them in the app.
The average perception users have of the myGP app is that its owned or made by the NHS and linked exclusively with their NHS GP Surgery, therefore they would not expect to be asked to pay for services and will be surprised to see private services.