FORMEL Skin Onboarding

Right after completing the purchase, new patients land in a ‘waiting area’ (onboarding) that remains active in the period between the submission of the anamnesis and payment and the doctor giving a prescription. Previously, it featured a video of our head doctor giving a general explanation of how FORMEL Skin works (questionnaire, purchase and box delivery) that we discovered people were not watching.

There is generally a lack of knowledge sharing with the user to set the right expectations, and we saw the moment of onboarding as the right opportunity to bring the user up to speed.

Background

Data from 01.10.2021 - 31.12.2021

Our data shows that the vast majority of people cancel their subscriptions on the same day they do their purchase. We assume this is because they feel the money they just paid for wasn’t worth what they saw in the waiting area of the CLA.

  • Patients who come to us are likely to be very motivated and excited to start their treatment, but our current waiting area doesn’t feel encouraging at all.

  • Customer care gave us the feedback that new patients don’t know what they can do in the CLA. One patient wasn’t even aware she had an account with us.

The Challenge

FORMEL Skin users need a way to understand the treatment process and length so that they can set expectations, correctly apply their treatment, and improve their skin.

Hypothesis

We believe that by revealing the full CLA and adding onboarding content (what to expect, ingredients, how to apply products) for our new users, we will catch their attention at their excitement peak and be able to inform them about treatment and expectations.

Research

New User’s Interviews

  • Customer segment

    FORMEL Skin New Customers who:

    • have just purchased a new subscription in the last 24 hours and canceled in 1 day?

    • gender: women and men in equal measure

    • living in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland

    • fluent in German/ conversational English

    Research goals

    • We want to understand what users are expecting to see after they finish the purchase while they wait for the doctor’s feedback

    • How does finishing the purchase and arriving at the Waiting Area feel?

    • Learn likes, disappointments, and pain points that users find within the Waiting Area/CLA

    • Discover users’ motivations to visit the Waiting Area/CLA before getting their package

    Research questions

    1. We want to understand what users are expecting to see after they finish the purchase while they wait for the doctor’s feedback

      1. What is the user expecting to happen ‘behind the scenes with their order?

      2. What are users expecting to see right after completing the purchase?

      3. What are users doing right after completing the purchase

      4. Do users find current information useful

      5. Do users see/read current information

    2. How does finishing the purchase and arriving at the Waiting Area feel?

      1. How does arriving at the waiting area compare to finishing the purchase? Is it rewarding? exciting? disappointing?

    3. Learn likes, disappointments, and pain points that users find within the Waiting Area/CLA

      1. What did they like about the WA?

      2. What did they expect to see that they didn't find?

      3. What was difficult to find?

    4. Discover users’ motivations to visit the Waiting Area/CLA before getting their package

      1. Why do users come back to the Waiting Area after finishing the purchase

      2. How do users come back to the Waiting Area after finishing the purchase (trigger)

    Recruitment criteria

    Doctors send a message to the patient along with their first ‘diagnosis’ inviting them for an interview with us + Calendly link to schedule an interview. Offer a 20 euro discount.

    Our goal is to interview:

    • at least 10 users (with a minimum of 6 people) this is proving to be a challenge, only 3 people in the last 2 weeks

    • gender: women and men in equal measure

    • students and professionals

    • living in Germany, Austria or Switzerland

    • fluent in German/ conversational English

    Timeline

    1. Brief provided to the Product Team: Jan 20

    2. Research start date: Jan 24

    3. Recruitment begins: Jan 20

    4. Interviewing begins: Feb 2

    5. Feedback from the Medical Team:

    6. Interviewing ends: Feb 18

    7. Synthesis begins: Feb 14

    8. Synthesis ends: Feb 25

    9. Report presentation: Feb 28

    • Time per session: 30 minutes

    • Number of participants: 10 participants by the end of February 18

    Part I [5 min] Introduction

    Welcome and introduce participants to the interview. Give a short description of the research scope, the context, and the purpose of the interview. Participants and facilitators open their cameras and introduce themselves. The facilitator takes the lead, introduces the observants who will be taking notes, and starts with a short introduction.

    Ice-breaking questions:

    • Why did you join FORMEL Skin? What skin goals do you have?

    • How did you learn about us?

    • What kind of treatment were you using before?

    Part II [10-15 min] Interview

    Group A. Waiting Area questions:

    We’ll be talking about the website you landed on right after you finished uploading your photos. To the best of your capabilities, please put yourself in that place in time a few days ago…

    Expecting

    1. What do you think is happening ‘behind the scenes' with your order right after you finished uploading your photos?

    2. Did you understand how the FORMEL Skin concept works by the time you were on that page?

      1. NO> did you see anything here that helped you better understand it?

      2. YES> Where did you see that information before? did you see anything here that gave you further information?

    3. What did you expect to see thereafter you finished paying and uploading the photos?

    Likes, disappointments, and pain points

    1. What do you remember seeing on this page? did you learn anything new?

    2. Did you watch the video? Why or why not?

      1. If yes, did you find the video helpful? Why or why not?

      2. Do you normally watch such explainer videos on other platforms?

    3. Was there something you were looking for that you didn't find or was difficult to find?

    Feel

    1. Remember how were you feeling after finishing the order… what were you hoping for?

    2. How do you feel about the information presented on that page?

      1. Was it helpful?

      2. How do you feel about it?

    Motivations to visit

    1. Have you returned to the website after your purchase?

      1. YES>What for?

      2. NO>Why?

    2. What made you come back?

    Group B. Cancellation on day 0:

    1. how did you learn about FORMEL Skin from?

    2. What did you want to achieve with us?

    3. Is there anything specific thing you liked or disliked about us?

    4. What convinced you do the first purchase?

    5. Do you remember what made you cancel your subscription?

    6. If applicable: what is your relationship with subscriptions? do you use them?

    7. Is there anything you’d like to share with us?

    Part III [5 min] Wrap up

    • Anything else that we didn’t ask?

    • If you had a magic wand, what would you like to see?

    • thank you so much etc!

Analysis

  • Myth: Cancel on day zero means product dissatisfaction. Reality: Cancel on day zero means testing product (which doesn’t mean they will come back)

  • Don’t watch video (or don’t remember content)

  • Expect information related to their new routine, formulas, and outcome. They want to inform themselves about what to expect next weeks

  • They would like to see that their doctor is a real person

Opportunities

Get to know your doctor: We can present the doctor who’ll be treating the patient. This can help build the sense of having a personal doctor who’ll take care of the patient.

Skin-care Tips: It would be very helpful to show a couple of things the patient care already do to take care of their skin until the treatment is shipped

Treatment Steps: Patients might still have some doubt of our method at this stage despite going through the landing pages and funnel. We can gain their trust by explaining the treatment steps and how it works.

Expected treatment duration: We can also make use the waiting area to manage patients' expectations by mentioning the expected treatment duration.

Prototypes

User Test

Myth: New FS don’t want to read or learn about acne and ingredients

Reality: FS new users are excited and not afraid or lazy to read about their new purchase (as long it is not a novel, or a video)

Now users get to experience

  • An expected timeline for changes on their skin, based on their questionnaire

  • The assigned doctor with reviews

  • An overview of their routine with tips and information on the products

Impact & Conclusions

  • We learned that cancellations on day 0 are due to other factors, mainly that signing up for autorefill with a coupon and then canceling the first day is the cheapest way to get to test the product. Having said that, the overall user understanding of how the treatment works has increased, and reactivation after the ‘testing period’ has increased. (Vouchers/campaigns for returning have remained the same)

  • We have seen increase on engagement on onboarding, which leads to better application of the treatment and likelihood of success.

Impact