healthtech start up
How I tackled wellness’s biggest barrier –cognitive load– with the Weekly Wrap-Up feature
Dot lacked clear product direction, and without research, it was unclear if the app met users’ needs.
Our task: to uncover user pain points –which turned out to be cognitive load in wellness tracking– and craft solutions that aligned with both user and business needs
ROLE
team
2 UX/UI Designers
company
Dot.
stakeholder
CEO
time frame
6 weeks
Impact
4.7/5 user satisfaction rating
Simplified progress tracking
Users stay on track without getting overwhelmed by data analysis
Boosted consistency
Users inspired to stay on track with their wellness goals leading to long-term success
“The analysis was handed to me and it helped me understand my progress quickly”
“It feels like the app is acknowledging my efforts –it’s reassuring, giving me positive reinforcement”
“It’s reminding of me of my goals every week, helping me stay on the ball with my goals”
Back to the details
My process
ramp-up
The product wasn’t backed by research (yet)
I recommended pivoting to focus on discovering foundational user needs first, with the understanding that we could later evaluate if gamification aligned with both user and business goals. After walking the stakeholder through our approach, they were on board with the pivot.
How I helped the stakeholder see the value of user research
Empathized with the stakeholder’s desire to roll out features quickly, assuring them that we could complete user research and still meet project timelines
Explained how user research would help identify the core issues users face, giving us a clearer direction for crafting more effective solutions
Acknowledged their desire for user retention, but suggested that gamification might not be the only solution—research could uncover other effective retention strategies
Tied the solution back to business needs, highlighting that designing based on user needs would lead to higher engagement, which would ultimately improve the bottom line
discover
User interviews revealed that cognitive load is a major barrier to wellness
develop
Making sure the team is on the same page
User flows
We started by creating user flows for the Weekly Wrap-Up feature to align on the concept of the design and guide the development team.
Hand sketch workshop
Next, I facilitated a workshop where we sketched wireframes to communicate our ideas to each other and then combined the best elements of each for the higher-fidelity design.
validate
Lo-fi Usability Testing
We were cognisant of our time constraints, only having 2 ½ weeks left to design, but we needed to make sure the concept of the feature addresses user needs.
The concepts we tested:
If the feature decreases cognitive load of tracking wellness data
If progress is illustrated in an easily understood way
If the feature helps users maintain consistency
If the feature is fun for the user (gamification elements)
Finding: the solution was validated
The average user satisfaction score was 4.7/5 when asked if users would use the feature
User quotes supported the hypothesis that this feature would decrease cognitive load in wellness tracking
But it didn’t decrease cognitive load as much as we hoped
Before
4/6 users didn’t understand that the quiz is well...a quiz
After
Clearer question prompts and actionable options to guide users
Before
Users lacked context to track progress and felt overwhelmed by data
After
Contextualised data and improved visual hierarchy to reduce overwhelm
The concepts we tested:
If the iterations further decreased cognitive load of tracking wellness data
If progress is still illustrated in an easily understood way
If users successfully completed the quiz, which majority weren’t able to in the previous test
If users find the feature delightful
Metrics
Task Completion Rate of Quiz
With a fail defined as 40% or more users not recognizing the quiz (not realizing there’s options to be selected or trying to swipe through more than once)
Preference for Features
User Satisfaction Scores
Finding: Users saw a decrease in cognitive load
5/5 users completed the quiz with no fails
Users gave the feature a 4.8/5 ease-of-use score, showing that progress was easy to track, decreasing cognitive load
We needed one more iteration on the Goal Progress screen
Before
Progress was unclear, and the flow felt disjointed
After
Clear progress, cohesive flow, and intuitive visuals
