As effective development and scaling of patient-centric measures prove to be a key action for pharmaceutical companies to unlock value-based care, one area that forward-looking businesses are starting to think through is how they can be patient-centric in their online user-experiences. As you consider what your end-to-end patient experience looks like, take into account how your site’s UX can create a patient-centered design experience. 

Patient-Centered: Optimizing Design for Common Patient Symptoms 

A common saying in UX design is, “if it’s not noticeable, it’s a success.” Pharmaceutical companies should recognize that in order to create the best experience for their patients, a key marker of success is that users should be able to flow through the site without hiccups, regardless of any symptoms they might be experiencing. 

So, what does this look like in practice? For example, what might a patient-centered design experience look like for someone with memory loss? For these users, we want to put a key emphasis on recognition instead of just recall. For folks with memory loss, it’s important for the system to do some of the work for the user. Small features like changing the color of visited links, intentional breadcrumb trails, and using clear, straightforward copy can help the user flow through the site with minimal frustration. 

Businesses should also consider any physical symptoms that might be common in their patients. For example, when we think about a symptom like hand tremors, it can be easy for these users to unintentionally select something they did not mean to, especially on a mobile site, as touch-screen scrolling requires some motor control. For a symptom like this, be cognizant of spacing between key interactive elements on your site, especially on a mobile version, so users can put a finger down without accidentally clicking on something. 

Presenting Information Concisely  

When a patient first lands on your branded drug site, there are a few key things they immediately want to know: what is the drug, what does it do, and what should they expect from treatment with this medication? For a true patient-forward and patient-centered design experience, it’s important for the design to answer these questions concisely without the user having to do any searching.  

Patients will also want to be shown, not just told, about the potential results of the medication, thus prioritizing featuring other patient success stories with visuals should be top of mind.  

Finally, patients will without a doubt have additional questions that they will want to speak to a live representative about, so creating clear access to next steps regarding patient support programs is extremely important. Patients should not have to scroll too far down the page or click around to find help – businesses should always keep in mind the 3-click rule for users to get to where they need to be. 

Patient-Centered Design Next Steps 

As companies continue to forge ahead in creating patient-centric journeys, the role that resilient design can play should not be ignored. If your business is looking for ways to realize the benefits of good UX in your patient journey, let’s chat.