I joined Figure 1 to contribute to their mission to democratize medical knowledge and improve the future of healthcare. Figure 1 is the largest global community of healthcare professionals. When I joined, they had just finished doing a whole redesign and rebuild of the app using a new technology.
My role and responsibilities
I was the sole product designer in a team of 1 PM and 5 engineers (2 back end and 3 front end). I was responsible for research and design for the full end to end product development cycle.
Dealing with the aftermath of a massive shift in product strategy
The decision to rebuild the app came with some significant changes in strategy. Figure 1 became a verified-only community, meaning all users (new and existing) have to verify themselves as healthcare professionals to continue using the app.
Unfortunately Figure 1 started seeing very high drop off rates in their new sign up and verification experience, especially in their US user base.
User interviews
I conducted 15 interviews with members who recently dropped off in the verification experience. One thing became apparent very early on - members did not have concerns with providing verification information as long as it was quick and easy. However, they all felt that the current verification experience was very cumbersome and time-consuming and time is the one thing that is very limited for healthcare professionals.
Finding an optimal user flow
I mapped out the full user flow for the sign up and verification experience. This allowed me to take out anything that was not absolutely necessary to get users signed up and verified.
Key Takeaways
There were many inputs and choices that were not important to help us give users the best experience.
The order of information was not sub-optimal which increased the number of screens and inputs users had to go through.
We needed to reduce the cognitive load on the user.
We managed to ultimately shorten the flow and reduce the average sign up time from 2 mins by over 50 percent down to 45 seconds.
Autofill user data whenever possible
Country- We used the user location info to autofill this and user could change if it was not accurate.
Name, profession and specialty- We imported this data from the NPI database as users already had to enter their NPI for verification.
Username- We created suggested usernames based on their emails which users could easily choose from.
The outcome
By creating this optimal flow, we managed to pass our KPIs for this feature.
Increased conversation rates from 21% to 52%
Over 200% increase in number of verified registrants from previous year.
Impact on other teams
Marketing and Acquisition- Increased confidence that if they were able to bring the right audience into the sign up flow, the likelihood of getting a verified user is strong.
Business development- Higher conversion rates meant more verified members in the app which ultimately was the most significant metric that helped them close more lucrative deals.
