5 Steps to Enhance the User Experience
When you design a text-based digital health product, such as a website or an app, it’s a good idea to employ user experience (UX) design. In other words, do what you can to enhance the experience of your users.
Why should I use UX design?
UX design responds to users’ communication needs and preferences, which allows them to understand and use your product. In other words, UX design helps make your product effective.
Follow 5 steps
Ready to improve the experience of your users? Follow these 5 steps:
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Identify your goals.
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Identify your users.
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Learn about your users.
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Design the product.
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Test and refine the product.
We’ll look at each of these steps in turn.
Step 1: Identify your goals
Decide what health goals you want the digital health product to achieve. Do you want to prevent heart disease? Help people spot the warning signs of stroke? Encourage more physical activity?
Step 2: Identify your users
Decide who will use the product. Do you want to reach people with type 2 diabetes who are older than 65? Parents of children with autism? Be as specific as possible.
Step 3: Learn about your users
Learn all you can about users’ communication needs and preferences. For instance:
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What do they already know about the health topic? What do they still need to learn? What are their specific goals and problems in relation to this topic?
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How well do they read and understand health writing? Do they have any disabilities or other challenges that make this harder?
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What language(s) do they read and write very well?
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What are their cultural beliefs and practices related to the health topic?
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What types of digital products work best for them? For instance, do they prefer websites or apps? What features do they find most engaging?
To learn about your users, gather existing and new data.
Step 4: Design the product
Using what you learned, design a product that is useful, usable, engaging, and equitable.
Create a useful product
The product should help users meet a goal or solve a problem that matters to them.
Let’s say users want an app that helps them find, understand, and use their blood pressure numbers. In response, you create an app that:
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Tells users how to check their blood pressure.
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Allows users to plug in their blood pressure numbers.
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Tells users if their blood pressure is normal, elevated, high–stage 1, high–stage 2, or critical.
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Tells users what to do next: no action needed, watchful waiting, see your provider, or get help right away.
Create a usable product
Likewise, the product should be easy to use. For instance, the blood pressure app should have an intuitive way for users to plug in their blood pressure numbers. And it should work equally well on smartphones and tablets.
Create an engaging product
The product should also engage users. For instance, the blood pressure app could include interactive content and personal stories. If the app has photos, they should look like real people—not models.
Create an equitable product
Finally, the product should meet the needs and preferences of a diverse group of users. For instance, the blood pressure app should use alt (alternative) text to describe images. (Users who have trouble seeing can read alt text with a screen reader.) If the app has photos, they should show people from a range of ethnic backgrounds.
Step 5: Test and refine the product
Finally, test the product with users to make sure it’s effective. Refine it as needed. Repeat this process of testing and refinement until you confirm that the product works well with users.
Try UX design
Now that you know a bit about UX design, go out and try it. This approach will help users understand and use your digital health product.
We extend our sincere gratitude to Gilberto Velazquez, for his invaluable peer review and expert feedback, which significantly contributed to the enhancement of this article.
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