RETAINING VALUED CLIENTS

FORA
UX Research
UX/UI Design
Role
Conducting research, analysis and designs for Fora Allied Health Services. Working and collaborating as part of a wider UX team.
Responsibilities
  • UX research
  • Conducting moderated interviews
  • Data synthesis
  • User journey mapping and user flows
  • Ideation and rapid wireframing
  • UI design lead
Isometric preview of mobile screens

Problem

Fora Therapy is an NDIS provider and mobile allied health service - with a community of Allied Health Assistants. Who were finding it difficult to maintain clients and ongoing positive engagement, in the event of a rejection who were being referred by allied health professionals, NDIS coordinators or parents.


Solution

Creating a more accurate, automated and digitised process for customers, consultants and processing staff handling claims or reimbursements. Providing more confidence, time, less error handling and complexity in handling customer cases. This is now currently in development.

Initial research
The first sprint of the project was based on discovering how the industry handles referrals for rejection.

We looked at other industry healthcare providers on common themes -
Best practices for dealing with referrals most importantly after an initial rejection.
Industry standards
How other providers specifically handled rejection processes
    User interviews
    Interview questions were based on:
    • How clients felt about receiving a rejection by healthcare providers
    • How it made them feel
    • What could have been done differently
    • Any positive experiences as an outcome
    This helped inform the type of experience that clients wanted and managed expectations in the event of being rejected.
    Key insights
    TransparencyClients appreciate clarity on why they’re being rejected or turned away
    CommunicationProviding clients with understanding of providers and the ability to assess their own next steps.

    Common reasons for rejectionOne of the main reasons for client rejection was location and distance.

    Post-rejection supportThis was critical in maintaining contact with customers on waitlists. Keeping engagement open and providing them with other possible solutions.

    Customer journey mapping
    Understanding the clients who are turned away and their experience after receiving a rejection. We identified some opportunities after discussing pain points at each stage. This helped inform our ‘how might we’ question.
    How might we:
    1. Provide a supportive experience to clients post rejection, to maintain engagement and a positive relationship with Fora?
    ‍
    2. Refine the onboarding process, as to not overwhelm clients?

    3. Provide transparency from the beginning to avoid delay of treatment?
    Ideation and prioritisation
    By leveraging our HMW statements, we came up with some concepts and used the value VS effort method to finalise our design approach.
    Day 1 Solution
    • Optimising the language in the rejection email sent to clients, as the current email is too short and vague in language around client expectations post-rejection.

    • Providing reassurance or next possible steps and informing them of process.

    • Updating the Fora email templates to meet these new guidelines for a client rejection by expressing more support and maintaining closer relationships post-rejection.

    • Sending a follow up email informing clients of other allied health professionals in their area
    Day 2 Solution
    We analysed and drew out the user flow from referral -> finding treatment -> possibly joining a waiting list.

    Then designed a simple pre-form and interactive map to facilitate the onboarding process for clients and provide more clarity on locations and options.
    Managing and leading designers
    ‍
    We needed to implement solutions quickly. The stakeholders at Fora didn’t require a high fidelity finished piece. Just an artefact they could consider in the near future.

    Some foundational suggestions were made to the team of other designers such as creating an initial colour palette and repeating components.

    The team agreed and came together to output the screens quickly. After reviewing their work, we were happy with the end result and included these in the final presentation to the client.
    outcome
    The stakeholders at Fora were happy with the end results and decided to implement the Day 1 solution.

    The Day 2 solution would come after some other suggested next steps, which were the following -
    • User testing
    • Interviews on waitlist sentiment
    • Refining wireframes
    • Prototypes
    Project challenges & REFLECTIONS
    • We sent out a survey to some Fora clients, however due to the nature of being rejected, clients didn’t respond.

      We had to improvise and decided to interview clients that had experiences with other healthcare providers. This helped us move forward while still gaining valuable and contextual insights into current practices and standards, while still focusing on client experiences.

    • Logistics and timing
      Some logistical challenges around ensuring finalising ideas with team member unavailability 

    • Decision making
      Overall we managed to meet the brief guidelines and requirements and successfully implement solutions.