Case Study

Using Behavioral Insights to Evolve a Digital Health Solution

S3 Connected Health was engaged to audit the LivingWith™ app – a digital solution developed by Pfizer to support people living with cancer, along with their friends, families, and caregivers. The app, part of Pfizer’s global This is Living With Cancer platform, was already successfully launched and, on the market, however Pfizer was constantly striving to improve on it and enhance the user experience by refining existing capabilities and introducing new ones to drive engagement.

A key design consideration of the app was the broad range of end users, needing to support patients with different types of cancer at varying stages of their cancer journey, as well as their caregivers, and the need to provide content and features that are relevant and accessible to all these groups. However, achieving this without overwhelming users or fragmenting the experience required thoughtful technical and design decisions.

With a renewed focus on enhancing user engagement and ensuring the app effectively addressed the needs of all its users, the S3 Connected Health team was brought in to provide expert insight to guide the next phase of iteration.

The Project

Multi-disciplinary team approach

Detailed audit applying behavioral science

Hybrid workshop

Multi-disciplinary team approach

A multi-disciplinary team from S3 Connected Health made up of behavioral scientists from consulting services, developers, UX, and UI specialists, was put in place.

They began by conducting secondary research analysis to understand the target population, which included a meticulous review and thorough audit of the client’s existing research.

The findings were then used to develop a comprehensive patient experience map highlighting the 29 pivotal unmet needs experienced by people living with cancer, and their caregivers, and provide behavioral science informed guidance for how solutions could be developed to address these challenges.

Detailed audit applying behavioral science

A detailed audit was also completed of the LivingWith™ app to assess how it currently met user needs, what needs were not being met, and identify opportunities to enhance user experience.

Leveraging the insights from the patient experience map, the team then retrospectively defined the behavioral model underpinning the LivingWith™ app.

This involved identifying the key behavioral outcomes the app aimed to influence and mapping out the psychological and contextual mechanisms through which change could occur.

A logic model was developed to clearly articulate how specific features of the solution were intended to drive these outcomes, linking user needs, intervention components, and measurable impacts.

This framework provided a solid foundation for guiding design decisions and evaluating the effectiveness of future iterations.

Hybrid workshop

The team facilitated a hybrid (in-person and remote) workshop with key Pfizer stakeholders, where they presented core findings, prioritized user unmet needs, and sparked strategic discussion around opportunities for evolving the app.

This collaborative session also included ideation activities to explore how these opportunities could be further developed.

Following the workshop, the team collated insights from the experience map, secondary research looking at existing interventions for the target population, the app audit, and Pfizer’s internal strategic goals to recommend the most beneficial and viable new features to pursue for future development. These included:

Separating the patient & caregiver profiles with content tailored to each of the cohorts for a more personalized experience.

Goal setting to support health tracking.

Addition of emotional wellbeing support.

Addition of treatment support.

Bridging strategy and execution

When implementing the recommended updates, it was crucial to ensure that all updates remained grounded in the research insights. S3 Connected Health’s consulting services led the project, bringing together our consulting and development teams, along with Pfizer’s business, digital, and operational teams.

Drawing on the findings gathered during the stakeholder workshops, they co-created wireframes and prototypes that reflected user needs and technical feasibility. These prototypes underwent concept and user testing with patients and caregivers, receiving favorable feedback, especially from those in the early stages of their cancer journey and from caregivers, who felt it filled a void for them that other solutions didn’t. Overall, users favored navigating the proposed redesign over the current state.

This validation paved the way for further development, with S3 Connected Health leading the multidisciplinary effort. A collaborative team comprising both of S3 Connected Health consultants and developers, as well as members of Pfizer’s development team worked on the following:

The S3 Connected Health consulting team led the creation of content for the updated app features.

The S3 Connected Health development team provided full-time support on the design system update (DSU), user interface development, user story refinement, and ongoing monitoring of technical implementation in coordination with the Pfizer’s developers.

Throughout, the S3 Connected Health consulting team maintained oversight of the process to ensure the original vision was preserved, supporting developers in understanding the behavioral rationale behind each design decision.

Outcomes

By adopting an integrated, collaborative approach, S3 Connected Health and Pfizer co-created new and enhanced, user-focused features that meaningfully improved engagement.

This way of working underscored the importance of every team member having a deep understanding of the complexities involved. The process was led by the consulting services team, who had conducted the foundational research, ensuring that the solution remained firmly grounded in user insight throughout. As a result, the features and updates developed were user-centric and aligned with the real-world needs of patients and caregivers.

Case Study

Using Behavioral Insights to Evolve a Digital Health Solution

The Project

Bridging strategy and execution

Outcomes

CONTACT

NEWSLETTER

Case Study

Using Behavioral Insights to Evolve a Digital Health Solution

The Project

Bridging strategy and execution

Outcomes

CONTACT

SOCIAL

NEWSLETTER