PROJECT OVERVIEW

A big box retailer wanted to get into consumer health.

They needed a reliable acquisition strategy.

ROLES

Lead researcher and strategist
design, planning, recruiting, research, synthesis

Workshop designer and facilitator

RESEARCH METHODS

Remote 1:1 interviews
with a journey map, card sorts and concepts

Remote expert interviews

TIMELINE

Phase 1 — 5 weeks ・ Phase 2 — 2 weeks

CUSTOMER HYPOTHESIS

Physicians will want to recommend that patients get medical devices from this big box retailer

The theories behind their hypothesis:

  • Doctors / nurses will save time.

    The retailer will take care of patient education.

  • Doctors will have higher trust in the devices patients use.

    The retailer will help patients select the best brand and right device for them.

  • Doctors will have more patients sharing data.

    The retailer will help patients connect their devices to the EMR.

  • Doctors will have access to more / better data.

    Through education and increased comfort, patients will have higher compliance.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Would physicians be willing and motivated to recommend the big box store?

RESEARCH APPROACH

Remote interviews with
primary care physicians,
endocrinologists,
cardiologists,
nurse practitioners,
& nurses

Secondary research (and my own past experience interviewing physicians) suggested this would be a very tough sell, but the customer was hopeful that there was an angle.

To parse the opportunity that might exist between the gaps in the secondary data, we conducted video interviews with key provider types.

  • Intro — Session overview + provider background

  • Appointment journey — Overview / confirmation

  • Device discussion — Their current experience

  • Benefits card sort — Potential areas of value

  • Benefits ranking — Most important areas of value

  • Real-talk check-in — “If a company could provide the benefits you prefer, would you recommend them?”

  • Concept rating — Very low-fi concepts showing mechanisms for the patient to know about the offering

  • Unaided brand question — “Who could do this?”

  • Brand sort — Including our customer … who could do this?

  • Real-talk wrap-up — “With the benefits and brand you prefer, would this realistically make it into your workflow?”

SESSION FLOW

REALITY

Physicians almost uniformly did not want to suggest a place for patients to get devices.

There were two opposing reasons for this.

They found it unnecessary.

They didn’t think patients needed support and didn’t think it mattered where patients got devices.

— or —

They didn’t want to outsource it.

They used device selection to build rapport, wanted to control what patients learned, or were able to provide device samples (for CGMs).

The one provider who was interested was highly tech-forward and hands-off — a combination that doesn’t scale.

REAL TALK