Gamified Health Tracker

The Background

Inland Empire Health Plan, a Medi-Cal insurance provider, partnered with the American Heart Association to deliver heart-healthy content to their members based on the AHA's Life's Simple 7. Our guiding question was: "How might we deliver heart-healthy content to Medi-Cal members in a way that engages them across a 12-week program to improve health outcomes for the member population and reduce their cost to insurers?"

Using psychographic segmentation, I designed a gamified experience that customized the motivation style and goals within the mobile app for each member.

The Process

The research process included user interviews, user persona creation, and architecture mapping based on user insights and clinical data.

During the user interview process, I uncovered that in addition to the psychographic profiles, there were user types based on technology use and comfort with health tech tools: High Touch and Low Touch users.

High Touch Users

• Familiar with MyFitnessPal, Apple Health, and other forms of tracking
• Probably own a FitBit or Apple Watch
• Have more free time to commit to observing their health patterns
  

Low Touch Users

• Not familiar with health logging/tracking apps and tools
• Have less free time to commit to observing their health patterns

The Result

I worked with clinicians from the AHA to create a gamified experience for creating lifestyle changes. The way we set and measured goals for users had to be based on not only their psychographic profile, but also their identity as a low touch or high touch user. We also had to consider what about heart health is actually actionable for users. For example, you can't just tell a user to lower their blood pressure. But you can encourage them to lower their sodium intake.