In recent years, online mental health companies have gained significant popularity by offering flexible subscription plans that provide therapy and medication services. However, Cerebral's rigid plan structures have resulted in lower adoption and retention rates.

A study highlighted how limited flexibility in plan structures can lead to discontinuation of therapy by patients and struggles for the business to adjust to changing patient needs. Cerebral, which offers a fixed number of therapy sessions per month and variable medication fees based on individual treatment plans, faced similar pain points. The rigidity of their current plan structure made it difficult for patients to add or remove services from their subscriptions, contributing to lower adoption and retention rates.

In this case study, we explore how Cerebral aimed to increase plan adoption and reduce client churn by creating a more personalized and flexible checkout experience.

How might we create a more flexible and customizable plan structure that meets the evolving needs of patients, and increases plan adoption and retention rates for Cerebral's online mental health services?

1. Rigid plan options: Cerebral's previous checkout process offers a limited number of plans with fixed features and prices, making it difficult for users to customize their plan based on their individual treatment needs and budget.
2. High client churn due to confusion: Cerebral's checkout process left clients unsure of what each plan offered and how it suited their needs, causing frustration and disappointment and leading to high client churn rates (25% churn within the first 50 days of subscription).
3. Inadequate Plan Information Comparison: Cerebral's plan selection page makes it difficult for users to scan and compare plans to find the best option for their needs, leading to confusion and frustration.
4. Technical constraints: Updating the checkout page presented technical challenges that required significant effort to overcome, particularly if the changes required integration with Cerebral's billing and payment systems.

We tackled the main pain points of patients during the purchase of Cerebral services by devising solutions that enhance flexibility and clarity during the checkout process.These solutions included:

1. Customizable Plan System: Developing a simple and flexible plan system that allowed users to easily select the services they needed and customize their plan based on their unique treatment goals and budget. This involved providing a range of options for therapy types, medication management, and session frequency.
2. Clear Plan Language: Utilizing clear and concise language to describe plan features and pricing, making it easy for users to understand what they were getting and compare plans. This involved breaking down plan details and using a consistent design throughout the checkout process.
3. Improved Information Hierarchy: Organizing plan features and pricing information in a clear and intuitive manner. This involved improving the visual hierarchy through the page and highlighting important information.

Furthermore, Cerebral encountered challenges in obtaining detailed insights into the prices patients were paying, impeding their ability to effectively experiment with pricing strategies.

Our team identified the following metrics to track the success of this project:

1. Plan adoption rates: Increase adoption rates from 30% to 50%.
2. Client satisfaction scores: Improve satisfaction scores by 10% after the checkout page reconfiguration.
3. Revenue growth: Achieve a 15% increase in revenue growth after the checkout page reconfiguration.

Checkout Screen Audit

During the audit, we focused on any areas of inefficiency or confusion during the checkout experience. We also checked for any technical issues, such as slow loading times or broken links. We identified the following issues:

1. Information overload: Multiple elements competing for attention with no clear hierarchy of importance.
2. Pricing complexity: Confusing pricing information with multiple prices, discounts, and calculations.
3. Unoptimized desktop layout: Checkout screen designed for mobile-first experience and not optimized for desktop.
4. Unclear instructions: Lack of clarity in instructions and mechanics of discount codes and mandatory checkboxes.

‍

Competitive Analysis

We performed a competitive analysis to evaluate the Checkout process and identify areas for improvement. The key findings of this study were:

1. Customizable subscription models: competitors allow for a combination of multiple separate subscriptions for clients.
2. Plan comparison: competitors provide some type of plan comparison at the end of the checkout process to help users make a decision.
3. Subscription management: competitors show the collection of multiple separate subscriptions of the user in the checkout screen or modal, and allow users to add or remove subscriptions within the page and see the live updated price before confirming the purchase.
4. Quantity variation: competitors allow for the variation of the quantity of goods, such as sessions per month, within the subscription.
5. Length variation: competitors allow for variation on the length of the subscription and provide a discount for longer lengths.

‍

User Interviews

We wanted to gain a deep understanding of user behavior during the Checkout process, so we conducted user interviews. Through these we analyzed patients' decision-making processes and areas of main focus. Here are the key findings from this research:

1. Customizable Services: Users prefer to have the flexibility to pick and choose the services they want.
2. Confusing Plan Names: The plan names used were found to be unclear and confusing for users.
3. Lack of Clarity on Subscriptions: Users were unsure about what was included in their subscription and what they were paying for.
4. Pricing Clarity: Users wanted more clarity around how much they would pay after the first month discount.
5. More Payment and Flexibility Options: Users wanted more payment and flexibility options to choose from during Checkout.

Not enough information and does not inspire confidence as to what exactly the massive monthly bill although discounted is going to include."

‍

User Stories

1. As a user who is currently experiencing anxiety and depression, I want to be able to customize my plan based on my unique treatment needs and budget so that I can feel confident that I am receiving the appropriate level of support for my mental health.
2. As a user who is considering signing up for Cerebral's mental health services, I want to be able to easily compare plan features and pricing so that I can make an informed decision about which plan is best suited to my individual needs.
3. As a user who has trouble focusing and may not be able to navigate a complex checkout process, I want to be able to quickly and easily select a plan that meets my needs and complete the payment process with minimal effort.

Wireframes

‍

‍

Mockups

‍

‍

‍

Prototypes

‍

‍

By the end of this project stage, I provided the following deliverables:

• UX audit report detailing issues with the existing product flow
• Competitive analysis report with recommendations for improving the product based on industry trends and competitor analysis
• Wireframes of the new user flow and interface design
• High-fidelity mockups of the new screens and interactions
• Prototypes for user testing and validation of the new design

The updated Checkout design enhanced the overall experience and addressed business goals by:

1. Enabling patients to clearly understand what specific services or goods are included in their subscription and allow them to make changes to their subscription without cancelling it.
2. Providing valuable insights for General Managers (GMs) by enabling them to understand which patients are using which services and how much they are paying.
3. Facilitating GMs to easily test pricing strategies through the product's multiple pricing capabilities in Stripe.
4. Configuring visit cadence based on the products contained within a customer's subscription for businesses.

Overall, the updated Checkout design has successfully resolved several pain points for both patients and GMs, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and business performance.

To improve the overall user experience and increase customer satisfaction, several recommendations have been made for the checkout process. These include:

1. Offering additional payment options such as ApplePay and PayPal to provide more flexibility and convenience for users.
2. Adding the option for patients to use insurance to pay, which can reduce confusion and streamline the payment process.
3. Providing clear and accurate information about medication costs to help users make informed decisions.
4. Conducting continuous usability testing for this critical area of the product, given its importance to company conversion.

Implementing these changes can improve the user experience, increase customer satisfaction, and ultimately drive business growth.