How a natural language form can help patients find a therapist
About
Williamsburg Therapy Group is a doctoral-level psychologists and psychiatrists practice in Brooklyn, NY that is expanding in to other cities. Currently, they have 3 Brooklyn offices and are opening an office in Austin, TX.
My role
UX research, usability testing & design, UAT
Challenge
The new Austin, TX office is opening in August 2021 and they need a tool on their website to help the user search for therapists based on location.
Timeline
2 months
Understanding the user
After reviewing Google Analytics I learned
1. Most users are new patients
2. Most users are female ages 25-34
3. “Meet the Team” page is where new users are going to research therapists which is separate from booking flow.
“Book an Appointment” is most frequented page, but this is including all visitors to the site. Based on the user flow, a new patient would navigate to the “Meet the team” page first to find a therapist that aligns with their needs. Patients need a way to easily research and book therapists in the same flow.
Research
Since 2013, millennials have seen a 47% increase in major-depression. They enjoy therapy and see it as self care, not a chore.
WSJ, 2019
Meet the patient
Jessica, age 30
New patient in Austin, TX
Occupation: Marketing Manager, 100K >
Tech Savvy and prefers to book appointments online
Previous experience with therapy
Needs & expectations
To find a therapist with expertise and methods aligned with her needs
To find out if she can afford therapy
To know if therapist is accepting new patients
To know where office is located
To find an appointment that works with her schedule
New patient journey
To understand the new patient journey I created a quick user flow
As a new user, Jessica wants to find a therapist, so based on the Google Analytics she would navigate to the “Meet the Team” page to search for available therapists. Selecting her location would be the next priority. Merging the Locations and Meet the team page, she can use filters to find a therapist in one place.
How might we help Jessica find a therapist in a Williamsburg Therapy Group location near her, so she can start feeling better?
Ideation
Then I started sketching out ideas to merge location and therapist bio pages
Williamsburg Therapy Group uniquely offers several different therapist specialties- psychologists, psychiatrists, post doctorate psychologists, and neurologists. This was another element to consider when designing a search feature.
After sketching out ideas, I decided to wireframe option B & C for the stakeholders. My thinking was option B might be easier to execute in a short amount of time and option C would be what I would recommend if time allowed. Option C has more potential for long term growth, instead of a quick fix.
Stakeholder feedback
After presenting ideas, it became clear I needed to adjust design
After presenting to the stakeholders, it became clear we also need to accommodate for other types of therapy within their practice including Neurologist and Post Doctorate Psychologist which I had not considered. Collectively, we formulated new copy:
“I am located in Brooklyn seeking a Psychologist”
The new copy will also allow them to add more locations as well as other therapy specialties for growth and expansion in the future.
Usability testing
Then I tested the usability of the new therapist bio page
I recruited 4 people (2 males, 2 females) to run a quick usability test on the Meet the Team page. We wanted to find out if this language clearly communicated the value of care they would be receiving.