In recent years, there has been a significant rise in the popularity of digital therapeutics and wellness applications in the USA. 

These apps offer various services, from mental health support to personalized fitness plans. 

Digital therapeutics (DTx) uses technology to provide innovative solutions for managing and treating various medical conditions. 

The market for such applications has grown multifold. According to a report by Grand View Research, the digital therapeutics market in the USA was valued at USD 2.4 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.9% from 2021 to 2028.

As the demand for these apps continues to grow, companies must prioritize the user experience (UX) and customer experience (CX) to stand out in a crowded market. 

This blog post will explore the importance of re-imagining CX for digital therapeutics in the USA and provide actionable tips for creating a seamless and engaging user experience.

The Role of CX in Digital Therapeutics Apps

Understanding the User Journey

Understanding their user journey involves mapping the entire process from app awareness to achieving health goals.

The first step is understanding how users discover, search, and evaluate the correct application. 

Omada Health, a leading DTx application, promotes its services across social media platforms, blogs, and referrals. In addition, it partners with employers as health plan providers. It has partnered with over 600 employers, including CostCo, Lowe, and Cigna, to reach the maximum audience. 

Once you have the right users onboarded, ensuring that user engagement rates remain high on your platform is vital. Gamification is a commonly used technique to enhance user engagement.

Pear Therapeutics, which provides therapeutics against opioid-use disorder, substance-use disorder, and chronic pain, amongst others, has products such as reSET, reSET-O, Somryst, and Pear-006, which feature interactive lessons, quizzes, rewards, and feedback that help its users learn and apply new skills and behaviors. 

And, finally, leveraging the right strategies to ensure retention of the users. Memberships, loyalty points, and reward programs have worked well with freemium business models. These can reduce the CAC significantly while parallelly improving CLV. 

You can read Mantra’s take on strategies to improve loyalty in subscription-based services here. 

By understanding the user journey, digital therapeutics apps can deliver a more personalized and user-centric experience, leading to higher user satisfaction and improved outcomes.

Personalization

A one-size-fits-all approach often fails to impress the users as there are several nuances to consider while mapping out user journeys. 

Personalizing the experiences based on the user’s preferences, medical history, consumption behavior, and patterns helps hook the users effectively.

DTx companies should keep in mind the following principles while designing their UX: 

• Tailoring the app experience to individual user needs
• Offering personalized recommendations and content
• Allowing users to customize their settings and preferences

Kaia Health uses artificial Intelligence and computer vision to provide physical therapy and pain management. It uses a personalized and adaptive approach to tailor its programs to each customer’s needs and progress. The company’s products, such as Kaia Back Pain and Kaia COPD, use the smartphone camera to track and analyze the customer’s movements and posture and provide real-time feedback and guidance. The company also adjusts the difficulty and duration of the exercises based on the customer’s feedback and performance.

Designing an Intuitive and User-Friendly Interface

Digitalization plays a crucial role in designing an intuitive and user-friendly interface that focuses on simplifying navigation. Here are some examples of how companies can optimize their user interface:

Contextual guidance: Digital transformation enables contextual guidance within the app. For example, interactive tooltips, pop-ups, or overlays that provide advice and instructions to users as they navigate the app help them understand its features and functionalities more efficiently.

Progressive disclosure: As a strategy, it enables progressive disclosure techniques, where information is revealed gradually as the user navigates through the app. This helps to give the user a manageable amount of information at once and allows for a more focused and streamlined navigation experience.

By leveraging these techniques, digital therapeutics apps can enhance the overall user experience and make it easier for users to navigate the app and accomplish their goals.

Leveraging AI for Enhanced CX

Companies can leverage AI to enhance digital therapeutics apps’ customer experience (CX), primarily through generative AI. Here are some examples:

Instant Customer Support: AI-powered chatbots can provide instant customer support within the app. These chatbots can answer frequently asked questions, guide users through the app’s features, and assist in real time. It helps improve the overall user experience by providing quick and efficient support without human intervention. For example, Mantra Lab’s co-creation, Wysa, is an intelligent conversational CX platform that helps assess the emotional well-being of its users and tracks how to improve the same. 

Improved App Performance and Functionality: ML algorithms can continuously analyze and optimize app performance. For example, machine learning algorithms can identify and fix bugs, improve loading times, and enhance the user interface.

Generative AI for Personalized Content Creation: Generative AI can create personalized content for users based on their needs and preferences. For example, Livongo Health, which combines connected devices, data science, and coaching to help people manage chronic conditions, uses a data-driven approach to personalize and optimize its services. The company uses generative artificial Intelligence to deliver tailored recommendations and nudges to its customers based on their preferences and goals. 

Ensuring Accessibility and Inclusivity

As we begin reimagining the customer experience (CX) for digital therapeutics applications, we must recognize that our target audience encompasses diverse users with varying needs and capabilities.

Designing for Different Devices and Platforms

To truly enhance the CX, designers and developers must embrace this diversity. Let us understand some ways in which companies can focus on accessibility:

Optimizing the app for various screen sizes and resolutions: In a world where the screen size of a smartwatch differs significantly from that of a tablet, it is imperative to ensure that the app’s layout remains intuitive and functional across all dimensions. This means responsive design that adjusts gracefully to varying screen sizes and resolutions.

Testing the app on different devices to identify and fix issues: Rigorous testing across various devices is the linchpin of success. Identifying and rectifying problems arising from device-specific nuances ensures a smoother and more inclusive user experience.

Considering Different User Needs

Inclusive design is about accommodating different devices and understanding and addressing diverse user needs. 

Making the app accessible for users with disabilities: Accessibility should be ingrained in the app’s DNA. This entails adhering to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure that individuals with disabilities can navigate and utilize the app effectively. Features like screen readers, voiceover compatibility, and text-to-speech capabilities become essential.

Providing options for font size and color contrast: Recognizing the importance of readability, offering adjustable font sizes and high-contrast color schemes can significantly assist users with visual impairments. For example, Epic Systems, a healthcare software company in Wisconsin, powers many patient portals and apps used by healthcare providers across the United States. One of their offerings, MyChart, provides access to medical records and prioritizes accessibility. It includes features like screen readers and compatibility with voice assistance.

By designing for different devices and platforms while considering diverse user needs, we create a more equitable experience and extend the reach and impact of these groundbreaking healthcare solutions.

Conclusion

CX plays a crucial role in attracting and retaining users in the competitive landscape of DTx apps. By understanding the user journey, designing an intuitive interface, leveraging technology, and ensuring accessibility, companies can create a seamless and engaging user experience.