QxMD Read

QxMD Read is a web and mobile (iOS, Android) app that helps busy physicians stay on top of the latest medical literature, and makes it easier for them to find papers relevant to their practice.

With the app, users can choose their field of specialty and start following medical journals, keywords, and curated collections that align with their interests. By doing so, physicians can stay up to date with the most recent and relevant research without having to sift through extensive volumes of medical journals.

Feb 2023 - Current

My role:
Sole designer - discovery, research, design, artifacts, testing

Team:
Michael Crumsho, VP of Product
Chan Kruse, VP of Engineering
Joe Dickson, Copywriter
Vivian Chen, Product Designer

Opportunity

Our team observed low opt-in rates for push notifications in the mobile app. Additionally, we noticed that push notification open rates were significantly lower than the send rates. To improve engagement, we decided to investigate this issue further and find ways to enhance user interaction with push notifications.

Current Flow

I started this project by taking a look at the current flow in our app. In the existing flow, we ask users to enable push notifications right after they sign up for our app, during onboarding.

Competitive Analysis and Research

I dedicated time to conduct online research and perform a competitive analysis to explore how other popular apps encourage users to enable push notifications. From this research, I uncovered several best practices for requesting users to enable push notifications:

  • Timing: Ask for permission after users familiarize themselves with the app. For example, the New York Times app prompts users while they're scrolling through the news feed, showcasing app value.
  • Contextual Prompting: Apps like LinkedIn and Twitch request permission after users follow specific content, ensuring relevance.
  • Flexibility and Transparency: Offer notification settings for different pages, letting users customize frequency. For instance, Reddit and Youtube enable users to set preferences for notification frequency.

User interviews

The next step involved gathering direct feedback from our QxMD Read users. To gain insights and identify potential areas for improvement in both push and email notifications, I conducted 5 user interviews with health care professionals (HCPs) ranging from a first year med student, to an emergency physician with 49 years of experience.

I discovered key findings for improving push and email notifications:

  • Optimize language in subject lines for emails and push notifications to be helpful and compelling:
    • Highlight top trending papers and why users should be interested in reading specific papers to boost engagement.
    • Address the generic nature of current email subject headers
      e.g. Instead of:
      Read by QxMD | Most recent articles from tracked journals such as "Lancet"
      We could write,
      Trending from Lancet: [paper title here]
  • Consider a push notification frequency ranging from once a day to once a week based on user preferences.
  • Offer the ability for users to customize their preferred notification frequencies for a personalized experience, increasing the likelihood of enabling notifications.
"I'm not interested in the number of new papers available, I'm just interested in the topics."

User Testing

I conducted an unmoderated user test with 10 physicians using a clickable mobile prototype from usertesting.com. The test aimed to:

  1. Evaluate reactions to push notification enablement at different app points (registration, browsing, and following a journal).
  2. Assess the current language for push notification permission.
  3. Identify other user concerns regarding push notifications.

Key Insights:

  • Preferred Prompting Spots: Users preferred enabling push notifications after following a journal or while scrolling through the feed.
    • “I saw the journal that I wanted, so I'm OK and more comfortable with the notifications in particular to the journal.”
    • As expected, users were hesitant to enable push notifications during onboarding, preferring to explore the app's content first.
  • Language Clarity: Users found the current language too vague and wanted more information on notification frequency and type.
    • “If I’m getting notifications multiple times a day, there’s no way I would sign up”
  • Timing and Frequency: Users were annoyed with constant reminders and suggested options for better user experience.
    • “I think it’s great to ask once, or one time after. But repeatedly asking is going to increasingly discourage me to press them at that point.”

To improve opt-in rates and user satisfaction, we'll consider these insights while refining our push notification strategy.

Updated Flow and Screens

Research findings in mind, I came up with several recommendations to enhance the existing flow and wireframes:

Onboarding Prompt: We'll use in-feed prompt, not during onboarding, to align with best practices. Users can familiarize themselves with the app's value before deciding on push notifications.

Hide Reminder Option: We'll add a hide option in-feed to address user annoyance with constant reminders, empowering them to manage their preferences.

Improved Wording for Notification Toggle Prompt: Revamped language for more clarity and specificity. Users will know the type of content they'll receive and their notification management options

Adjustable Notification Frequency: Exploring two options - set notifications per week, gradually increasing this for engaged users, or let users choose their preferred frequency for more control. This idea is tabled for later, due to lack of backend developer resources.

Next Steps

I am currently in the process of collaborating with the dev team to implement design updates and address potential edge cases. I'll closely monitor push notification opt-in rates post-implementation to gauge the impact and improve user engagement and satisfaction.

By actively working with the dev team and continuously measuring the opt-in rates, we can effectively gauge the success of the design changes and make any necessary adjustments to further enhance user engagement and satisfaction.

Developer ready designs of the pop-up prompt modal across different displays: iOS, Android, and Android dark mode

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