Designing for the Consumer Market

It used to be that a primary care physician was the gatekeeper for all healthcare needs. However, people are now taking control of their own health to not only better it, but to realize the cost savings associated with being well and staying well as the cost of medical care continues to rise. With this in mind, the time is right to focus on designing medical devices for the direct-to-consumer market. Determining what the consumer wants and how to develop it, however, takes a slightly different strategy and process to achieve success than that used for medical devices sold to healthcare professionals.

Nearly every regulatory agency requires some kind of user testing. Whether called human factors, usability, or validation testing—the flavor might be slightly different—the goal is generally the same: Is your product intuitive to use? To begin to answer that question, testing effectively needs to start just as the idea for the product is conceived. Constant insights are required all along the process. Many companies feel that they already know their user, but by actually testing these concepts and devices with the intended audience, valuable knowledge concerning use habits emerges and can give a product the winning edge.

Every project, no matter what category it falls into, should start with research. If a consumer product is at the heart of that project, the beginning questions should be: Is this a product people want or need? Does the product already exist? If so, what are its shortcomings? What do people think of it? Insights testing, quantitative studies, and competitive product research make good starting points in the product development process.

It doesn’t stop there, however. After developing a feasible concept, it is essential to put that idea in front of consumers again for their input to validate the concept, begin monitoring purchase intent, and determine price tolerance. When a prototype is created, even if it is not functional, ergonomic testing is important and can provide valuable feedback. Pilot studies and soft launches are highly encouraged to provide that last bit of consumer buy-in. By having an internal user feedback facility, Nottingham Spirk has put this strategy to use in every successful project it has launched.

Finding the market opportunity is also crucial to create just the right device. In a Harris Poll sponsored by Nottingham Spirk, it was shown that more than half of consumers would purchase medical products that gave them more control over their health, demonstrating just how important identifying market opportunity is.

The survey confirmed that consumers want to manage their own health by monitoring it at home, saving time and money that they would have spent making trips to the doctor. The rise in telemedicine, apps, and wearables speaks to this assertion, as do the two most prevailing trends in healthcare today—rising costs and the migration of medical technology toward end-use consumers.
When one thinks of home healthcare, they may envision minor illnesses—ear infections, fevers, and similar concerns. The market is bigger than that. Current consumers want to monitor the symptoms of chronic illnesses at home, potentially bringing down the cost of their medical care tremendously. The effort here is much greater than repackaging professional tools. It’s also making them intuitive so a user needn’t read the directions prior to use. It’s making them more cost effective without compromising on quality so patients can afford them.

Aging adults are also in the market for consumer medical devices, as are their children. With nearly 90 percent of people over the age of 65 indicating that they want to live out their days in their home, caring for them in that environment is a ripe opportunity. From monitoring health to making the home more accessible, the possibilities are endless. With that said, keeping the abilities and possibly disabilities of those users front of mind is essential during the design process. Are these seniors arthritic? How savvy are they regarding technology? With an opportunity this large, it becomes even more important to gain end-user feedback.

While moving into the direct-to-consumer market may seem like an easy  “get” for companies currently dealing with hospitals and doctors, there is a substantial shift in the target audience. Researching that shift requires a significant investment of time and insight—even more so than the engineering necessary to address the shift. Once the device concept is chosen, engineering it at the lowest cost becomes the next challenge. For example, the end cost of a device is of major concern to older adults who are likely on fixed incomes and whose Medicare coverage may not cover the device. It pays on all fronts to design a device with a consumer product frame of mind.

There have been articles written in top business publications about the value of slowing down to speed up. This idea of taking the time to research the consumer is at the heart of what makes so many of Nottingham Spirk’s projects successful. By painstakingly exploring the marketplace to look for gaps, monitoring purchase intent, and repeatedly testing concepts and prototypes with end users, a company can develop a device that will have a consumer base ready to buy.

For more insights on this topic, download Nottingham Spirk’s white paper “The Executive’s Guide to Entering the Direct-to-Consumer Medical Market” at http://bit.ly/MPOSpirk