Invivoscribe UX ReBRAND

The Problem:

Invivoscribe hired me to design and develop a user experience and expand their reach beyond their existing audience of pathologists. They wanted to speak directly to patients and physicians and build partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to increase awareness about their patented genetic tests and increase sales.

After meeting with the founder and CEO Jeff Miller, and touring the Invivoscribe headquarters in San Diego, I began to research and conceive how Invivoscribe could continue to appeal to their existing customer base (mainly pathologists and small regional labs) while also attracting patients and their doctors.

 

My Process:

Beyond pathologists, I had to think about patients and families of patients. Patients were now researching on their own, upon receiving a diagnosis, and Invivoscribe had much to offer in the way of information for patients and general practitioners. The genetic marker tests Invivoscribe offered were simply not known by many physicians. Dr. Miller explained the hurdles in the medical world, namely a ten year adoption rate for new discoveries. Physician’s schedules were simply too busy to keep up with the massive advancements in the biotech and genetic world. The tests offered by Invivoscribe could mean the difference of life or death for a patient.

Initial Research – Invivoscribe’s tests save lives
Patients had begun seeking treatment options online, and asking their doctors to give them a particular genetic test. But doctors needed more to go on than “I read this on the internet.”

User Personas
I created four user personas:  one for pathologists at labs, another for an independent or small group physicians,  and one for a patient diagnosed with a blood disease,  and one for a pharmaceutical company looking for partners in companion diagnostics.

Information Architecture for the Website
I began to create wireframes for the new website and lab ordering system with the user personas in mind.

A top header navigation addressed the needs of existing customers—pathologists, regional labs and global distributors with a link to their online ordering system for test kits.

I designed a main navigation that was segmented into four sections:

• The Products & Services menu provided alternative ways to find Invivoscribe’s products that addressed the needs of the various user types, namely physicians and pharmaceutical companies.
• The Science menu provided information for physicians and patients to gain a better understanding of how Invivoscribe’s tests can improve prognosis by tailoring treatments based on a patient’s genetic makeup.
• The Development menu provided information for labs and pharmaceutical companies to learn more about Invivoscribe’s patents and development opportunities.
• The Company menu provided a much more in depth look at Invivoscribe, which included new pages for their commitment to excellence and their contribution to the community.

A Quick Navigation in the left gutter provided immediate access for patients and physicians—a resource center with medical conditions (I wrote specific content for doctors) and diseases (I wrote specific content for patients) that Invivoscribe’s tests supported. I conducted all the research and wrote all the sections of the new website, including information sheets that patients could print and bring to the doctor—the missing link doctors needed when a patient requested one of Invivoscribe’s tests.

Content Management and Hierarchy. The entire website was set up on a Java-based enterprise content management system. I setup the sections and subsections of the website, organized the assets and set up user roles for future content management by Invivoscribe’s team.

UX Writing
The original website only had four pages with sparsely written content. It was essentially an old-style business card website. The new website had over 40 pages of content including 24 disease pages written for two personas, physicians/providers and patients.

The result:

Within six months of launch Invivoscribe partnered with Novartis. Within one year of launch, Invivoscribe saw a twenty percent increase in test orders.

I continued working with Invivoscribe as their marketing needs grew. I went on to consult, design and manage the development of a new software for genetic testing and patient and test results management. The website was live from 2011 through 2015. The website won two awards  including a 2011 Davey Award and a 2011 WMA Web Award.

 

“I actually felt somewhat constrained in being allowed to only select three great attributes to describe Marla’s company and her expertise. She and her partner, Axel, have done a phenomenal amount of quality work for our companies. Her ability to independently run with the ball, coupled with her company’s internet based resources for managing versions of drafts and copy is really amazing. She is never too busy to respond in a timely way to requests for modification and updates of work she is performing for us. We are very pleased with the return on our investment from this highly competent and talented group.”

Jeff Miller, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific & Chief Executive Officer at Invivoscribe