With two decades of experience in the health tech industry, I’ve seen a lot of trends come and go. But there is one element that has remained consistent. Creating a good experience for your users is critical.
The health tech space is very competitive. If people don’t like using your product, they’ll dump it and move on to something else.
Moving forward, building a good user experience will be even more important. According to studies, 75 percent of people long for a more personalized healthcare experience. But how can you create a wonderful user experience? It isn’t as hard as you think. Here are the tips I think will help your health tech product stand out.
Focus On The Patient
Get crystal clear about how your healthcare product will help patients. Develop a clear understanding of the problem they are facing and how your product will help them solve it. Often, it pays to do interviews or surveys. Go as in-depth as you can to learn what they are looking for.
Don’t forget to consider how people will interact with your product. For example, you might be developing software for a doctor to examine before meeting a patient. They’ll be in their office, with plenty of time to go through everything at their own pace. But, if it’s designed to be used in the ER, it’s a different story. Doctors will need to find the relevant information fast.
I know this seems basic. But it can be easy to get so caught up in daydreaming about what the tech can deliver that you lose sight of your ultimate goals.
Keep Improving Your Product
Building the first version of a health tech product is a huge achievement. Most ideas don’t get that far.
But that doesn’t mean that the hard work is over. Your journey is only beginning. Now you need to get real people to test it out. Get them to provide honest feedback. The goal is to find the weak spots in the user experience and fix them.
Better yet, you can watch people interacting with your products. This will give you a first-hand insight into the user experience. Any problems will soon become glaringly obvious, especially once you start noticing multiple people having the same issues.
No health tech product will ever be perfect. But, if you keep making gradual improvements, you can get pretty close.
Make Sure It’s Easy To Navigate
For many healthcare practitioners, time is of the essence. The features they want should be easy to find. Patients also value convenience. They expect the function they want to be available at the press of a button. If you make things too convoluted, they will ditch your product for something simpler.
I recommend keeping a few principles in mind when designing your interface. First, the home screen should be uncluttered. Users should be able to tell within seconds where they need to go. Using color coding or distinct icons is a good way of distinguishing each option. Remember, not all your users will be tech-literate. The more intuitive the system is, the better.
Don’t forget about the basics. Your health tech product should be pleasant to look at. Carefully consider the color, font, and text size. Everything should be clear and legible. Let users customize the interface. This could mean allowing them to change the color scheme or the icons used. Personalization will give them a sense of control.
Consider how you are presenting the information, especially if your product is patient-focused. The medical industry is full of big words and long acronyms. Present this to the average person and their eyes will start to glaze over. Get rid of the jargon. People understand what information you are presenting and how it will affect their health.
Even the most cleverly designed interfaces will sometimes leave people confused. There’s nothing you can do about that. That’s why support should always be available. Chatbots and phone support are ideal, particularly if your customer base isn’t too tech-savvy and wants someone to talk them through the process.
Conclusion
Creating a health tech product that users want to use isn’t easy. It requires a lot of careful thought. You’ll need to go through a lot of trial and error, to find what works and what doesn’t.
I know that the task ahead can seem daunting. But it will be worth it in the end. By the time your product is released, you can be confident that you have created something that will meet the needs of your users.
