EchoUser helped healthcare portal Castlight improve user engagement and retention by addressing issues with their Rewards Program and first-time user experience. By involving stakeholders and utilizing feedback, EchoUser created an effective approach for FTUX resulting in positive user responses to the Rewards Program, and ongoing efforts include validating concepts through testing.
Challenge
Castlight is a healthcare portal that helps employees make better healthcare decisions, such as finding a healthcare provider. EchoUser was brought in to improve on various sections on the site to drive user engagement and retention.
Rewards Program
At the time, the Rewards Program lacked recurring feedback to keep users motivated enough to return and earn points. Additionally, there were usability issues that impeded the performance of the program, such as clarifying the concept of how the points are converted to HSA dollars.
First-Time User Experience (FTUX)
At first, site design that catered to first-time users was limited. Employees were led into a colossal system without clear instructions or context. As a result, the site experienced a high dropout rate from users who did not understand its value.
Approach
Since the design of the first-time UX (FTUX) could impact many parts of the site, we involved relevant stakeholders early in the process to utilize their feedback. We started with a design jam with the Castlight team, a brainstorming session for different specialists to share their perspectives, conceptualize possible solutions, and establish one promising direction for the designer to move forward with.
After exploring and assessing the advantages and disadvantages of each FTUX model, we honed on an unobtrusive, flexible approach, which was intended to give users contextual instructions without getting in their way as they navigated the site. We then worked with developers to create an interactive prototype in the real-app environment.
Impact
The final usability test for the Rewards Program suggested that both “ease of understanding the concept” and “ease of taking actions” received positive response from users (5.67 and 6 respectively on a scale of 1-7; 1 being the hardest and 7 being the easiest). We then corrected further minor issues and worked with the developer to create production-ready specs and assets.
Ongoing efforts will be to validate more concepts via A/B testing to enhance the users’ motivation of revisiting the Rewards Program. With regard towards first-time UX, we’ll also continue to validate the design through rounds of usability tests.
