In the midst of the pandemic and lockdowns across the country and world, all in-person interactions suddenly shifted online (or went dormant). In-person consultations with providers needed to pivot to a virtual experience.
I led the project that would integrate the virtual consultations feature throughout the platform.
Auditing the current experience
The current site architecture and flows accommodated the end-goal of meeting a provider in person. I needed to audit the platform to find the affected features in order to successfully integrate virtual consultations throughout the experience. This included searching for a provider, the provider page and account profiles for managing consultations.
Above: Experiences that would involve Virtual Consultations integration
The Challenge: Provide the user the option and opportunity to book, manage and conduct a virtual consultation with a provider.
My Role: Connect the dots in our ecosystem to create a seamless virtual consultation booking experience for the user
Collaborating with another product designer who created the Provider Profile experience and the engineers who powered the production designs, our goal for the project was to provide the user the various touch points throughout the platform to safely continue with their aesthetic journey in the comfort of their own home.
Our high level goals were to:
- Provide users the ability to have a consultation with a provider safely
- Give the users the tools they need to have a productive and empowered consultation
- Create an on-platform experience for a deeper engagement between the candidate and provider
An initiative to understand better
Identifying the touch points and inserting the "virtual consultations" element to each feature seemed fairly straightforward. To push the envelope, I partnered and collaborated with our user researcher to conduct user interviews and to learn more about what their experiences are when it comes to booking a consultation for a cosmetic procedure.
Insights
We recruited and interviewed eight participants who had cosmetic procedures experience. Without much qualitative data about our user, our goal was to understand what was running through their mind while educating themselves about X cosmetic procedure and then taking the next step to talk have a consultation with a specialized professional.
Information overload
Users felt overwhelmed by the amount of information on the internet about what treatments were best for their concern. Ironically, they actually felt just as or less knowledgeable than before their discovery phase of seeking out information.
Vulnerability
Users felt extremely vulnerable opening up to someone—a stranger at that—about their insecurities. To admit that they want to change and improve an aesthetic quality about themselves made them feel small.
What we discovered
Users were overwhelmed with too much information that ironically should have helped them make a decision. The journey is an uphill battle, and users feel vulnerable and ill-equipped to have a productive discussion with a provider.
"Users feel vulnerable and ill-equipped to have a productive discussion with a provider."
Reframing the problem
Create a supportive and empowering virtual consultations experience that instills confidence for the user.
The Hypothesis: If we emulate and optimize the real-life experience of the reading magazines and posters while in the waiting room, then we can create a space in which the user can prepare and empower themselves with useful information for the consultation.
The journey and the opportunity
We asked ourselves, How do we transpose this real life consultation appointment to the digital experience and improve it for the user?
I identified two points during the journey that were underutilized real estate that could be optimized and maximized to design towards our goal: the waiting, the moments in between when nothing is happening. What is this same opportunity during the online experience for a virtual consultation? The waiting room before entering the conference call.
Testing out the hypothesis
We asked ourselves, How do we transpose this real life consultation appointment to the digital experience and improve it for the user?
I identified two points during the journey that were underutilized plots of real estate that could be optimized and maximized to design towards our goal: the waiting, the moments in between when nothing is happening. What is this same opportunity during the online experience for a virtual consultation? The waiting room before entering the conference call.
Final solution
With the help from cross-functional team members, I was able to design an experience and product feature that elevated Virtual Consultations from a straight-shoot project to one of value and meaning for the user. It leveraged existing data and features of the platform that brought it all together as one story.
Virtual Consultation previews the same suggested questions within chat to assist the candidate
Screen sharing
Contributions to design library at AEDIT
