Usability Study Report: Surgical Arts Centre Website

Tamara Olson Tamara Olson Designs

on behalf of Design Missoula

June 25, 2014

I. Decision makingThe primary factors that weigh into doctor selection:

1. Personal recommendations 2. Proximity to residence

3. Does this doctor take my insurance? 4. Internet reviews

Users want more: info about the facility, procedure (incl. prep/recovery details), staff, patient stories

UX RECOMMENDATION:Keep existing information for SEO purposes, but don’t feature it so prominently. Instead, make the initial experience about the facility/people, and also provide preparation and recovery information. Take authentic feeling, non-overly-produced photos and feature them on the site (of both the staff and the facility). Feature the doctors prominently, and have the content be “from the doctors.”

• “This text is so technical — I’m going to assume this hospital has a terrible bedside manner.” • Users look to WebMD or MedicineNet for condition information, not facility website

Users want less: technical details, info about medical conditions

• Plastic surgery participant wanted “real-looking” before/after photos, and contact information for testimonials

• “I am going to interact more with the staff than doctors … this [a site featuring pictures of the facility and the staff] shows they value their staff … and that woman looks happy.”

• Users responded positively to lots of facility photos. “It’s helpful to see this [of the facility in the photo gallery]… especially after that review I saw on Yelp that talked about mice!”

• “I don’t expect it to look like Nordstrom.”

Users feel apathetic about … the site design

All users expressed interest in learning more about the doctors’ credentials and seeing photos.

UX RECOMMENDATION:Feature the doctors’ names on the front page, and make the entire user experience focused on the doctors’ experience and the patient experience, especially since all users reacted positively to the information they read and pictures they viewed of the SAC staff. Ensure all staff photos are high quality and staff looks approachable.

• Experience All users: • Expressed interest in wanting to know about their doctors’

experience and bedside manner • Stated that they didn’t care about seeing a “fancy school,” just

that the doctor studied the type of surgery he is performing !• Photos

• All users indicated that they judge doctors’ physical appearance when making the decision: want someone who looks ‘modern’ and ‘relatable’

• The plastic surgery participant commented she wants to see a photo because it serves as a “personal guarantee if someone is cutting into my body”

Users trust review sites (mostly Yelp) more than facility websites as a tool to assess doctor quality.

UX RECOMMENDATION:Encourage current Surgical Arts Centre patients with positive experiences to write Yelp reviews, and promote the Yelp page on the SAC site. Dr. Holtzen should continue to respond to any negative reviews (the fact he took the time to respond was viewed favorably by all participants).

• Users look less to medical websites for credibility/validation (they don’t trust testimonials), and more to Yelp or other “objective” sites.

• When asked to assess a facility, all but one of our participants selected Yelp from the search results instead of the facility website.

• Although most users said they “take some reviews with a grain of salt,” most would not contact a facility with a low star rating (like SAC)

Users are equally likely to call as to use a contact form or chat.

UX RECOMMENDATION:• Offer many points of entry for contacting SAC • Add a map since location is a priority for most patients • Add hours to the chat feature

• Half of all participants expressed that they might use the chat function, but wanted to know the hours that a staff member is available on chat.

• One user stated she would use the contact form, and would expect a response in ~3 days from a medical professional, not a staff member.

• All but one user said they would call the facility.

Reactions to blog (content and tab) ranged from apathetic to negative.

UX RECOMMENDATION:• Change language from “Blog” to “Latest News from the Doctors” • Promote case studies/testimonials • Focus the main user experience to cover the facility

• No users were interested in blog.

• “It’s kind of weird that medical professionals would be blogging …”

• Users responded positively to blog posts that seemed like case studies or testimonials

II. Attracting customers from outside Montana

Primary factors for choosing to travel for surgery: 1. Service is not offered in hometown

2. Anonymity (plastic surgery only) 3. Place I’ve “always wanted to go”

4. Great reputation of facility

FUsers who are traveling expect the facility to handle all logistics and to be treated “like royalty.”

UX RECOMMENDATION:Offer many entry points for out of state users to the “Why Montana?” section. In “Why Montana?” offer package deals that stress all of the above points.

“[If I’m traveling from out of state], I would expect to be taken care of — they should pick me up from the airport, guarantee that my surgery remains anonymous, give me privacy, give me attention, handle my travel, my hotel, pick me up from the airport, make sure my groceries are delivered, handle my follow-up care, and should bring me ice cream to my hotel.”

III. Reactions to SAC

Mistrust of the title “Surgical Arts Centre”

UX RECOMMENDATION:Revisit branding decisions to ensure title conveys correct message to dental procedure and sleep apnea patients.

Hesitation about “Arts” (especially with sleep apnea and dental patients) • “[It looks like this place] might not be real

doctors … I would assume it’s unconventional — maybe they do acupuncture or something?

• “Arts — do they do plays?” !Hesitation about “Centre” spelling • One user commented, ”I know it could be the

British spelling, but I worry that they just misspelled it, which makes me nervous about their attention to detail.”

A mistrust of the diverse service offerings

UX RECOMMENDATION:If SAC is committed to keeping one website for all of their services, keep the look and feel professional and neutral on the homepage, and make sure all services are addressed, then get more targeted on the subpages. Ensure that the sleep apnea sections in particular are gender-neutral in terms of look and feel and photography.

• “I feel like this website is all about teeth” - The plastic surgery participant

• “I wouldn’t trust any plastic surgeon who doesn’t do boob jobs … and why does he do dental surgery?” - The plastic surgery participant

• “It seems like all these websites are for women, not for me.” - A male sleep apnea participant reacting to several maxillofacial surgery sites

• “How do dental procedures relate to sleep apnea?” - A sleep apnea participant

About the Study: Our ProcessParticipants: We spoke with some users local to Missoula, and others from nearby markets (Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Denver) that are seeking treatment. All participants were given a $15 gift card in exchange for their participation in the study. None of them knew anything about the Surgical Arts Centre prior to the study. !Study Part I: We asked questions to understand users’ decision making process related to choosing a doctor/specialist. !Study Part II: Each user was given a specific use case (e.g. “seeking treatment for sleep apnea”). We used the ‘talk aloud protocol’ to help us understand positive and negative reactions to various elements of existing medical facility sites on the internet, and to help us understand their decision making process. !Study Part III: We showed them the low fidelity SAC prototype (bit.ly/sac-user-study) and asked for their reactions to the content. We walked them through the use case: “You are looking for [XYZ treatment]. From this information, decide whether you would contact the Surgical Arts Centre.”

A participant giving feedback during one of the June 25 usability study sessions