A Prescription for Digital Treatment
This project evolved from multiple past attempts to crack open a better solution for how to get a prescription for a “digital therapeutic.” Our company was the first mover and market leader in this new modality, however the path from treatment decision through to active patient engagement was still painfully complex. We had identified numerous barriers along the way and were slowly working to optimize for each. I had led several collaborative sessions with stakeholders across the company to map the overall process and experience.
A Fresh Product Launch
Our challenge was injected with a fresh sense of urgency after we received FDA approval for our 3rd product, this one in a new disease area. The barriers to entry here were similarly daunting, so the company decided to pilot a direct-to-consumer telehealth model. With a short timeline and limited resources to demonstrate signal in the market, we pulled together a cross-functional working team to prototype this new approach.
It quickly became clear that without significant investment in a new experience and infrastructure, we risked having a conversion funnel that was even more prohibitive. I walked the team through the flow from a customer’s perspective to demonstrate the many challenges, but the pressure to deliver something overrode the concerns that were raised.
a very long journey to treatment…
But First, May We Test?
Absent the opportunity to fundamentally reassess the assumptions or investment in the pilot launch, I was able to convince the team to at least prototype the end-to-end experience as imagined and run it through a round of usability. I aligned the group around a set of key concerns to explore and also sought to integrate this feedback with other inputs we we gathering via the marketing team.
Risks Identified
We validated a number of our initial concerns through some significant findings in the usability testing. I facilitated a session where the team triaged the various issues and brainstormed potential resolution paths. We put in place several strategies to temper some of the biggest problems, however the decision was made to launch more or less as originally conceived. I ensured we had adequate instrumentation of the overall funnel and outlined several checkpoints for us to revisit our approach based on our definition of success. After a few months of low volume and conversion rates, we decided to pause the pilot.
A New Path Forward
Not ready to give up on the overall model, I worked with our head of design and another colleague to articulate what a more seamless and consumer-centric model might look like. Building off of several ideas we had explored in the past, we sought to visualize a new approach that would lead with the product experience in app and generate demand organically. It connected experiences across the entire journey and was intended to spark a conversation about where we could go next. We worked with an illustrator to bring the scenes to life.
Wrapping Up
We began to generate support for this new direction internally and ran several collaborative sessions to continue building on the ideas. Though it was well received by most of our stakeholders, ultimately the effort stalled when the company decided to refocus most of its resources back into the other commercial franchise.