PRA Case Study

Pharma Research Associates

UX Case Study

Contents

Overview Research Summary Design Strategy Design Production Hurdles Outcome

Overview

The PRA website required an overhaul that would address a slew of functional issues as well as improve the overall experience of setting appointments. The goal was to create a site that included easier communication methods, digestible presentations of research and an intuitive appointment management system. The intention of these features was to improve conversion rates among volunteers and sponsors.

Role

UX Designer

Tools

Figma
Illustrator
Photoshop
Google Docs
Wordpress/Elementor

Duration

Apr - June '22

The Challenge

PRA users faced significant difficulties in navigating the website and communicating with the team to participate or conduct research, resulting in high bounce rates and low conversions. The goal was to overhaul the website and create a appointment system for volunteers resulting in optimized communication for all users. The aim was to reduce bounce rates by 50% and increase conversions by 20%.

The Solution

The emphasis placed on research helped identify areas of improvement and key user pain points. This lead our redesign to focus on an improved research catalog and an appointment CRUD that would provide users with a clear and frictionless communication method. In turn, we could present interested sponsors with an insight on how crucial information is handled.

The Impact

These user-centered features lead to a more intuitive experience that streamlined the communication process and increased conversions by 7%.

Research Summary

Insights into Experience

Research Overview

Our initial research was aimed at understanding what our users pain points are and what opportunities the website could improve on. We felt user interviews would properly identify our audience and their needs before jumping into the meat and bones of more task oriented research.

Findings

Frustrations: Users had a difficulty navigating and communicating through the website. Also appointments were manually written on grid paper.
Market Analysis: Information should be clear and qualify the volunteer. The site should also convey why PRA is the better option.
Site Audit: Broken links, poor display of information and slow performance creating an overall poor experience.

Oppotunities

The foundational research identified key opportunities that could enhance the overall experience. We proposed implementing a design an intuitive navigation, present trials in a manner that accommodates to the professionalism of sponsors and is digestible for volunteers.

Design Strategy

Insights into Experience

The Challenge

How might we design a solution that accommodates distinct user paths and allows users to communicate with PRA seamlessly and with minimal friction?

Strategy

Optimize Navigation: Develop an intuitive navigation system that allows users to easily find and access information.
Improve Communication Methods: Create a streamlined process for users to communicate with PRA, ensuring minimal friction
Empower Users: Implement an appointment management system that gives users control over their schedules and help the PRA team with an organized CMS.

Addessing the CRUD

Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel we designed the CRUD to push the user forward with principals we knew worked. The idea was to keep steps in the process relative, close and predictable to address any accessibility needs a user may have.

Usability Feedback

Reoccurring error with backward navigation.
Language affected error frequency.
Most users found the experience easy, but some questioned the length of research descriptions.

Design Production

Putting it all together

High Level Design

With trust being a cornerstone in the world of clinical research we wanted the design to invoke a sense of familiarity and trust.

The approach involved synchronizing detailed prototypes, thorough usability studies, a robust brand identity and comprehensive design system that reflected the direction of the new experience.

Quick Insights

Following the usability studies we wanted to focus on helping volunteers more by polishing some loose ends in the appointment process.

Hurdles

Adjusting on the fly

The Oversight

With final designs approved we explored what WordPress solutions we would use to bring the concepts to life. We discovered that no existing solution integrated both user profiles and appointment booking.

The Adjustment

We had to explore and consider solutions that would achieve the same outcome for the user and would be easy to handoff at the launch of the project.

After several back and fourths we settled on cutting the login portal and in place having a robust booking system. The solution that best aligned with our new goals was the Bookly plugin.

Why Bookly

The intuitive presentation on both the front and backend is what led us to using bookly even though it required us to adjust the entire appointment flow.

Revisting The User

With these large adjustments to the overall design we asked several volunteers to book an appointment with the new design; Here is what we discovered:

Majority of users found the new design to be easy to use.
Some users would prefer to include their address for ride assistance.
Some users were confused about the QR code at the end.

Outcome

Creating a Tangible Product

Production

With the new design and features revised and approved with moved the project into production. During production we had to ensure that the designs remained cohesive to the prototypes.

Impact

The sentiment with the product was relief and satisfaction. Over the 30 to 60 day periods we observed several metrics to ensure the overall performance is holding to the inital expectations.

Moving Forward

After the website was launched we wanted to look into what improvements could be made. Organic feedback pointed us in the direction for future iterations.

Relections

Lessons Learned

Takeaway 1

Anticipate that the initial solution is not concrete.

Takeaway 2

Ensure any adjustments in the design address user pain points.

Thank You

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