5 Tips to Improve Your Healthcare Mobile App User Onboarding Process

The first impression of a healthcare mobile app is the user onboarding screens. These are often the first set of screens that patients and practitioners interact with, get familiarized with the functionality, and also set the expectations from the app.

User onboarding is also the process of transforming first-time users into valued customers. Getting a user to download your app is half the battle. If your user doesn’t use the app, it will just gather dust on the phone.

The first few minutes of a user’s experience often determine which side your app is headed. You don’t want to screw up the user onboarding process. Research states that 8 in 10 users have deleted an app because they didn’t understand how to use it. To avert such conditions, every healthcare mobile app must have a robust onboarding process.

So here are 5 tips for improving your healthcare mobile onboarding process to ensure you capture the attention of your users better than your competitors.

#1 Convey the benefits to the users clearly

Most of the healthcare apps commit this mistake: they try to sell the features of their product instead of how it actually improves the user’s life.

Samuel Hulick of User Onboarding wrote a blog post on Features vs. Benefits, pointing out the clear difference between the two with an incredible graphic:

Samuel explained the above image by saying:

“People don’t buy products; they buy better versions of themselves. When you’re trying to win customers, are you listing the attributes of the flower or describing how awesome it is to throw fireballs?”

So, the bottom line here is: ‘Present the benefits or the value of the app to the users.’

Here’s how the web service platform, IFTTT does it:

The iOS app for IFTTT uses simple coach marks and swipe buttons to explain the value of the app. It explains one simple statement of ‘If this then that’ with 3 recipe examples and the resulting action.

You can try to implement some or all of these in the healthcare mobile app onboarding process. For instance, demonstrate the benefits of using automated appointment scheduling feature – book appointments anytime during the day and night, no waiting, and lesser administrative burden. Take feedback and review from the patients/providers who are already using the healthcare application and leverage it to attract more potential users.

#2 Keep the onboarding process short

An average human can concentrate on a particular activity or subject for just 8 seconds. Only!

Onboarding is all about quickly demonstrating the healthcare app’s core values and what added benefits the app will provide to a user. So, make sure you show the key strengths of your healthcare mobile app by utilizing as few screens as possible during the onboarding process. Essentially, reduce the time to convey value.

In the above example of IFTTT, the app used just 6 screens to explain its whole functionality. If the user immediately understands and finds value in your app, they will become an active and engaged user.

Don’t go on and on with your tutorials and walkthrough about how your healthcare app functions. The users might just feel exhausted by the end of the onboarding process.

Pocket app onboarding experience is pretty lean. In a series of 5 static screens they demonstrate how to use the app.

Apart from this, simple healthcare app design with easy navigation can help users with the onboarding process. Keeping the menu bar to the top rightmost corner or highlighting newly launched features in a healthcare app can help to simplify the onboarding process.

#3 Give them an option to skip

Yes, there is no harm in this.

Not all users need to be spoon-fed. For instance, the millennial generation are more accustomed to onboarding. They can figure out the most complicated functionality of a healthcare app in less than few minutes. However, it doesn’t work the same way for the baby boomers.

Consider another scenario, your new healthcare app user has seen your demo videos, or visited your landing page, or have heard about your functionality through word of mouth.

So, everyone doesn’t necessarily need an onboarding process.

A simple ‘Skip-button’, can be very helpful here.

Here’s how AirBnB does it:

The small skip button ensures both groups get what they want.

Moreover, the flexibility to skip certain things caters to those who prefer a brief onboarding or those with specific priorities. By incorporating this option, healthcare mobile apps prioritize user autonomy and respect users’ time, fostering a positive first impression and encouraging continued engagement with the platform.

#4 Simplify logins and your user’s life

Logins and registrations can be a tedious task and most of the users hate it. They can be a big turnoff for your new healthcare app users.

Connecting users directly via social logins is a great option for certain types of healthcare mobile apps such as fitness, wellness, and meditation. But, it may not work for mHealth apps where crucial patient data is at stake. So, consider using features such as biometric authentications or one-click log-ins to simplify the onboarding process.

Another tip, if your healthcare app can function without creating a user login, then give users an option to sign in later.

Another way of doing this.

Healthcare mobile apps can take the example of Slack and implement their sign-in process too. This app takes the user convenience even one step ahead. They use Email based identity verification for users to even avoid typing their passwords. That makes the sign in process smooth.

#5 Personalize and be human

Your healthcare app is a software, but the mind behind it is human, and so are your users.

Using familiar language or addressing them by their name is a great way to engage users during the onboarding process.

Here’s how healthcare mobile apps can implement ideas from non-medical apps.

Remember in one of our blog we spoke about app deep linking?

Recommendation app Gogobot leveraged that. So, when a new user comes via any social platform they fetch and remember their personal details to personalize their onboarding process, making new users 78% more likely to register in the app.

Here’s another way of doing it.

Be human by talking like one or interacting with your users.

Mailbox uses very interactive language while onboarding their new users. By using terms like ‘Great job!’ they not only motivate the new user but also make the onboarding experience emotionally engaging.

You can also get inspired by the Pocket app:

Notice, the way they greeted their users with a ‘Hi’. They are talking to people like they’re people, or even a friend. This makes a lot of difference.

So, these are some of the real-life examples of simplifying the healthcare mobile app user onboarding process.

Conclusion

User onboarding is a process which can make or break your app. So, start testing out the suggestions above and take steps to optimize your user onboarding process.

Image credits: Sodastudio, Optimizely, Branch Blog, my.umbc

If you’re looking to create a personalized healthcare mobile app for your organization, then connect with Arkenea one of the leading healthcare software development companies in the USA.