Mindful IVF: new onboarding feature and IA revamp for existing meditation app
The right meditation support at the right moment of a woman’s IVF journey.
Team:
Me; sole product designer
Gordon Mullins; founder and product owner of Mindful IVF
Tools:
Figma, Figjam
Deliverables:
User research, background research, Figma designs for revamped app info architecture
Duration:
Part-time; July-November 2022
Women doing IVF can’t quickly find the right meditation
A friend was struggling during IVF so I suggested meditation
Now she’s a super user of the Mindful IVF app, but wants an easier way to find the right meditation to support her
CLIENT PROBLEM
Mindful IVF is switching from a freemium to paid subscription model
The Dublin-based company (iOS, android) provides meditations helping thousands of women have a happier IVF journey
After exploring the app, I cold-called the founder to propose UX improvements
With his support, I designed a new onboarding feature and updated information architecture to deliver a clear, personalized experience users will fall in love with and be more willing to pay for
Current status: Designs accepted by client and ready for development
A personalized experience users expect
THE SOLUTION
These improvements will help users understand the UVP and fall in love with the product to increase retention and drive new subscriptions during a critical moment for the business.
Revised marketing copy so users understand the what and why of the business
SSO to reduce friction of making new account
Quickly gather data used to personalize content
1. New sign up and onboarding
2. Personalized meditation program
Deliver a meditation program that supports the user’s specific IVF treatment
The app becomes a guide that supports users through their entire IVF journey
3. Improved information architecture
Provide a clear, coherent experience
A structure that allows room for Mindful IVF’s content to grow
The Problem Space
What is IVF? Why does it require support?
BACKGROUND
The challenge:
In-vitro fertilization (IVF) is a highly complex fertility treatment
IVF involves physical, emotional, and financial pain ($25,0000+ per cycle, some require multiple cycles)
The stress of infertility was found to be similar to that of a cancer diagnosis
The opportunity:
10-15% of heterosexual couples in the US do IVF each year, and the number is rising
Mindfulness is proven to reduce infertility stress
Defining the goals with the client
CLIENT MEETING
During my first meeting with Gordon, we discussed the business’s goals:
📈 Increase retention = new users meditate 10 mins/day, 10 days in a row
💳 Change pricing model = freemium to subscription
📲 Increase paid user rate: better new user onboarding, communication of UVP, and conversion rate
We also discussed user goals and hypothesized problems:
🧘♀️ Understand how regular meditation can reduce infertility stress
🤳 Quickly find meditations to support their specific stage of the journey
🚦Access meditations to support them at any point of their journey
Then Gordon tasked me with creating designs that would address both the user and business goals we discussed.
Interviewing 5 women doing IVF to understand the user and their problems
USER INTERVIEWS
I asked users about their experiences with IVF. Then they tested the current Mindful IVF onboarding (seen below)and searched for a meditation to help women starting IVF.
UVP and marketing
Sign up
Home
Many users expected more personalization based on experience with other femtech apps.
Key insight:
“I would expect something like a period tracking or ovulation app that offers content tailored to where I am in my IVF cycle.” - Interview participant
😔 IVF is emotionally taxing: 5/5 feel sadness and isolation and mention the constant unknowns and waiting.
Other insights:
💆♀️ Women doing IVF seek out self care: 5/5 have sought some form of self-care including acupuncture, massage, exercise, or meditation.
🤷♀️ Users want more guidance from Mindful IVF: 5/5 were excited about the unique content but 4/5 want to understand the benefits and where to start.
Creating a persona to communicate who the solution is for
USER PERSONA
Susannah wants to enhance her fertility treatments and needs quick ways to relax and feel more in control.
Now I better understood Mindful IVF’s users needs. Before translating needs into solutions, I wanted to understand the competition.
Exploring 5 direct and indirect competitors to understand the market
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
A look at the (long) onboarding funnels for Flo and Expectful.
The competition uses onboarding data to offer personalized content, but lacks meditations tailored to each phase of the IVF journey.
Key insight
Mindful IVF stands apart for its unique content for the phases of IVF treatment, but competitors deliver a personalized experience for their users after gathering data during onboarding.
Although a UX best practice is to delay or skip onboarding to get right to the content, Mindful IVF users will likely tolerate some amount of onboarding to get the benefits of a personal experience.
The Solution Space
Exploring a solution that meets both user and business goals
GOAL SETTING
Solution idea:
New onboarding and information architecture to provide a personal and clear experience.
Users will:
Get excited about customization, understand the UVP, and be more likely to subscribe to the app.
Mindful IVF will:
Evolve more smoothly to subscription model, increase conversions, and scale content successfully.
Creating the structure with a user flow and sketching
USER FLOW + SKETCHING
To start building a structure, I created a user flow to map the paths a first time user starting IVF might take.
Click on image to view larger size
Based on this structure, I sketched designs and added notes to explain each user problem and solution for an upcoming meeting with Gordon.
Gordon was pleased with the proposed solutions as they would improve the user experience, leading to increased conversions. It was time to build my designs.
Building the designs with wireframes
WIREFRAMING
Testing a high fidelity prototype with 5 users to assess my designs and discover problems
USABILITY TESTING
Task 1: Sign up
Task 3: Play the first meditation
Task 4: Find a sleep meditation
Task 2: Onboarding
Users successfully completed all tasks and found the new designs helpful and intuitive.
Key finding
“I like how it asks questions so you get tailored content but you also have the ability to explore.”
“Sign up and onboarding was easy and streamlined; it led me right toward the first meditation.”
“I like how this is organized, the original design is so linear and everything was just in one long list; I like the 3 tabs at the top here.”
Some usability issues popped up. Given timing constraints, I had to prioritize updates, so I used the following as a guide:
Making three improvements to my design
USABILITY TESTING UPDATES
1. Updated IVF journey selection
Users were confused about what ‘Prep for IVF’ meant so I renamed it ‘New to IVF’
Users reported that having miscarriage support after first trimester would be more intuitive so I moved it
2. Improved home screen
To improve clarity and encourage exploration, I updated the segment controller labels
Some users were unsure how to update a start date or stage of IVF, so I made language in the hero clickable and added a secondary button at the bottom
3. Revised Anytime Meditation IA
I folded the ‘Anytime’ tracks up into cards so users don’t have to scroll to discover content and the information architecture aligns with the rest of the app
Reflection and project status
This project allowed me to improve an app that has a positive impact on many women’s lives. I learned a lot in the process:
1. Don’t assume, talk to users
I assumed that listing ‘Experiencing Miscarriage’ directly after ‘First trimester’ in the ‘IVF journey’ screen would be triggering for women doing IVF
During testing, users told me it would be more logical and would not be triggering to see it listed in that order
Ideally I would have incorporated all the usability testing feedback into my designs, but given my time and resource constraints, I had decided which updates to make
By creating a matrix weighing level of effort, priority for the business, and urgency from users, I determined which revisions to make now and which could wait
2. Prioritize revisions
Up next: As of this writing, Gordon is focused on competing priorities, such as closing a fundraising round, but hopes to enter development soon with his engineers. So this new design is not yet in production.