pharmarun

the challenge

Increasing Retention and Time to Value

PharmaRun achieved over $40K in sales within six months, yet faced a challenge—these sales were initiated through a Tripetto form and completed on WhatsApp. Our goal: enhance sales and customer acquisition by transitioning from this traditional process to a seamless, efficient method, ensuring customers swiftly realize the full value.

Our high-level goals were to:

2.0 The goals for the Pharmarun rejig

the kickoff

Major Gripes from the Co-founders

At the project's start, the goals and the ideal user experience weren't crystal clear. Taking a deep dive, I sought firsthand insights from the co-founders to understand the major pain points in the current system.

Two things were instantly clear after carefully observing them service customer orders:

3.0 The high-level issues faced by the users & pharmarunners

From the horse’s mouth

In a bid to understand Pharmarun’s customers better, we tested the existing model with 4 participants, two in Lagos, one in Ibadan, and another in Enugu, Nigeria. The goal was simple; Observe how they placed their orders and the workarounds they employed whenever they got stuck.

3.1 Notes from observing customers interact with the current system

Customers want what they want when they want it

I wasn’t shocked by the issues we discovered during the customer interview sessions. It was quite glaring that the customers had to jump through a lot of hoops before they hit their “aha!” moment.The big question was, how do we keep our customers well informed, at all times during the entire ordering and delivery journey? The answer to this question would further help us clarify Pharmarun’s north star.

Defining Success for PharmaRun

Before I could jump into designing, it was important to define what success looks like for PharmaRun. Two quality measures stood out; Contact Rate i.e the rate at which a phone call or message occurs during the order, and Time to Value i.e the time it takes to fulfill an order from start to finish. Now we could clearly define what a perfect order was; an order that was fulfilled quickly and with minimal back and forth.

But this would prove to be a bit tricky to achieve given the number of moving parts it takes to fulfill and order; sourcing for the closest pharmacy to the customer, making sure the pharmacy has all or some of the drugs in the order and at a good price, and finding a suitable dispatch company to handle the delivery. So I decided to dig a bit deeper, to unpack the true meaning of a perfect order.

3.2 Goals, Signals and Metrics of the Pharmarun experience

A notable revelation from this exploration:

Most orders demanded extra coordination through calls or WhatsApp messages for delivery time, order status verification, and accuracy assurance. These communication challenges, coupled with a lack of timely updates, left customers drained and anxious throughout and after the order process.

the design

Just place an order and we’ll take it from there

We made placing your orders easier. Now you can specify the dosage and strength of your meds or upload your prescriptions. We know that it can be a bit stressful understanding the prescription lingo.

4.0 Video showing how to order a medication off pharmarun 2.0

Get notified about your order every step of the way

Now users will get real-time updates on the different stages of your order. PharmaRun knows how anxious people get when they are not informed about their orders. No more needless phone calls or texts just to know where your order is.

4.1 Process of keeping customers notified about their orders

Need a set of meds regularly? Pharmarun’s got you

Users can now subscribe to get their meds delivered. Get pills packed and sorted based on just the way they should be taken. Don’t worry, Pharmarun pays close attention to make sure pills that shouldn't be taken together aren't sorted together.

4.2 Medication subscription journey

Pharmarun prioritizes your health, always

Got an allergy or medical condition? Pharmarun notes this and makes sure that the meds you order are free of your allergy triggers.

4.3 Medication and allergies tracking page

Easily assign stores and dispatchers to an order

One of the biggest issues Pharmarun fixes is the way the PharmaRunners service an order request. With a management system that filters your Pharmacy and Dispatch partners based on your customer’s location, Pharmarunners shave a lot of minutes off the time it takes to service a request and push it out for delivery.

4.4 Order management flow from the Pharmarunner's POV

how we got here

Revolutionizing the way medication is ordered

2 questions heavily influenced my design strategy for Pharmarun 2.0;

5.0 Questions that influenced my design decisions

I’ll explain further the dilemma surrounding these questions and how I was able to break it down and come up with simple elegant answers.

A more inclusive Pharmarun experience

The existing PharmaRun experience required customers to navigate three separate platforms—the PharmaRun website, Tripetto for form completion, and WhatsApp for order coordination. This complexity, especially for users with varying technical proficiency, prompted the need for simplification and unification.

the solution:

A unified medication ordering experience that keeps customers on a single platform throughout. Simplicity was the guiding principle, both in design and user experience, loosely aligning with the familiar e-commerce mental model.

5.1 Medication ordering page

5.2 Pharmarun's Checkout page

5.3 Notification that your order has been succefully placed

5.4 Order payment options

5.5 Modal notifying users that their order is on the way

5.6 The "My Orders" page

Designing for different contextual experiences

Our research delved into various customer experiences on PharmaRun, from those seeking periodical prescription refills to those placing orders for others. Design considerations were crucial to accommodate diverse use cases. Going a step further, we addressed scenarios where a customer's input didn't match our search directory, ensuring it wouldn't hinder order completion. Given PharmaRun's inventory-free model, customers can rest assured: if the item exists, we'll locate it.

5.7 Picking the type of subscription package you want to run

5.8 Choose how often you want your meds delivered to you & in what dosage

5.9 Customise your stash: Choose how ou want you meds packed, sorted & labelled

5.10 Screen showing form for ordering for someone else

moving forward

What does the future hold for PharmaRun?

There is still a lot more to explore with Pharmarun. How do we take more control of the post order and predelivery processes? Do we need to create a web app for Pharmarun partners? These are just some of the questions I'd like to expand on as I continue to work on this project.