Taking feedback further

How feedback affects user experience in software

Taking feedback further to improve user experience is the cornerstone of successful software design. User experience (UX) is the overall experience of a person navigating through an application, especially in terms of how easy and comfortable it is to use.

Think of user experience the next time you’re browsing through Instagram. Try to focus on how natural it feels to scroll through your feed, upload stories or update your privacy settings from the menu. The way we explore our favorite apps isn’t randomly left up to fate.

Ask yourself these questions when you’re using software:

• Is there a better place for this button? 
• Am I taking too many steps to complete a task?
• What is frustrating/enjoyable about using this app?

Software development involves intensive user testing to make sure that the customer feels comfortable understanding how their product works. To accomplish this, product teams work with testers to gather the insights needed to assure customer satisfaction.

User feedback directly tells the product team how practical the user experience is. This is crucial for designers to know ahead of time, because customers may find your software inefficient and choose to look elsewhere. Companies that are customer-centric are 60% on average, more profitable than those that are not (Martin, 2022).

Optimizing user experience is a necessary step in assuring their software meets customers’ expectations. 

Positive and negative feedback

Understanding and utilizing feedback gives product teams a competitive advantage. Knowing the specific areas in your software that need prioritization helps your team stay ahead and assure a stronger end product.

When your testers report that certain features don’t work as intended, prioritize this feedback first. Minor changes and updates can be addressed afterwards.

That said, there are different types of feedback that come into play that require designers to change their approach.

Positive feedback occurs when customers and user testers show approval of a product’s features. This feedback reaffirms the directions set by the product team. For user experience, it ensures that people will find the software user-friendly. 

It’s easy to think that positive feedback is what your team will always want to hear, and there is definitely some truth to that. Who doesn’t want to get something right the first time?

Negative feedback is useful too though! In fact, it might even be more useful than positive feedback, because it gathers user insights and gets them involved in creating the best solutions. Receiving negative feedback isn’t bad, it’s actually extremely helpful.

When teams set their egos aside and take negative feedback constructively, they’re able to create a stronger end product. Branding expert, Saskia Ketz argues that:

• “Identifying challenges through feedback during early product discovery and research stages can work wonders: it highlights the need to have a strong, close-knit team with confidence and trust in each other and your product. If criticism is taken constructively and positively, you can turn it into a wonderful learning experience,” (Ketz, 2022).

Feedback should determine how your team moves forward, not how talented they are at building software. So, the next time you’re confronted with negative feedback, don’t take it personally. It’s an opportunity to improve and make significant progress towards your goals. 

What that means for medical software

How does feedback affect software designed for healthcare workers and facilities? User experience becomes more important when the goal of using the software is to care for patients. User-hostile software, which is difficult to use and doesn’t provide a pleasant experience, acts as a barrier in healthcare.

Clinicians need to easily navigate through their medical software. Otherwise patients are seen less, treatment plans take longer to complete and the mental health of clinicians is often negatively affected. Spending too much time on administrative tasks in software leads to clinician burnout.

Errors made in software can be lethal as well. In 2013, a teenager overdosed and nearly died from an innocent mistake from his doctor. The screen was set on “milligrams per kilogram” instead of just “milligrams.” This mixup was overlooked by both clinician and pharmacist, causing the boy to be sent to the I.C.U. 

The alert that would have successfully warned them of this error had been buried by the tens of thousands of alerts that occur in a month, which are mostly false alarms, (Watcher, 2015). User testing and direct feedback can prevent these types of oversights from happening in the first place.

Software companies need to do more than make products that work. People are bound to make unintentional mistakes if their technology isn’t user-friendly. In healthcare, errors cost more than just time and effort but potentially the lives of patients.

Knowing more about these experiences gives us the insights we need to provide software solutions that are truly user-friendly. We’re driven to reach out and learn more from our community.

Feedback tells us what clinicians need out of their software beyond the industry standard. They know best about what would make their jobs easier, enjoyable and safer.

How do we use feedback to transform Theralytics?

Theralytics is our software solution for clinicians treating patients in post-acute care. We take feedback seriously as a team and our design process for Theralytics is no exception. We’re working with our partners at Infinity Rehab to gain a better perspective of what real clinicians go through.

Infinity Rehab is a therapist-led company providing therapy management and consulting services for post-acute care facilities. Their team consists of physical, occupational and speech-language therapists dedicated to shaping the rehabilitation industry.

Listening to their feedback has helped us fine-tune our software tools and reinforce the future of Theralytics.

They are helping us take Theralytics further by sharing their insights and experiences with us. Listening to what isn’t working with their current software has allowed us to make significant progress with ours. Redundancies in administrative tasks and lack of proper messaging tools are common problems for clinicians that we’ve been able to address together already.

Their team has confirmed that clinicians are spending too much time inputting patient data during assessments shows us that features like predictive text can easily save them time. User testing with Infinity’s clinicians helps us further customize Theralytics to meet their specific needs.

Our team is excited to continue working together on making a bigger impact in healthcare.

Be sure to check out Infinity Rehab’s blog! Learn more about how they advocate for those in post-acute care. They’re sharing therapists’ experiences, touching patient stories, upcoming events and other great resources to their community.

• Finding Passion and Value in Therapy Work
• Is An In-House Therapy Program Right For You?
• A Heartfelt Testimonial from a Grateful Rehab Patient

References:

“The Surprising Secret to Customer-Centric Success” Chris Martin, 28 March 2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2022/03/28/the-surprising-secret-to-customer-centric-success/?sh=5b4e8f9139df

“How Negative Feedback Can Improve UX” Saskia Ketz, 30 March 2022, https://www.hotjar.com/blog/negative-feedback-improve-ux/

“How Does Time Management Affect Health Care Workers?” Blake Morgan, 26 April 2022, https://prevedereanalytics.com/how-does-time-management-affect-health-care-workers

“Why Health Care Tech is Still so Bad” Robert M. Wachter, 21 March 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/opinion/sunday/why-health-care-tech-is-still-so-bad.html

Theralytics https://prevedereanalytics.com/product

“Finding Passion and Value in Therapy Work” Infinity Rehab, 25 May 2022, https://infinityrehab.com/news/finding-passion-and-value-in-therapy-work/

“Is An In-House Therapy Program Right For You?” Infinity Rehab, 8 April 2022, https://infinityrehab.com/news/in-house-therapy-program-risk-therapy-management-consulting-rehab/

“A Heartfelt Testimonial from a Grateful Rehab Patient” Infinity Rehab, 16 May 2022, https://infinityrehab.com/news/a-heartfelt-testimonial-from-a-grateful-rehab-patient/