UX Research for Health System Websites: What It Is & Why You Need It 

By Erin Schroeder

User experience (UX) research is a building block for understanding your website. According to Interactive Design Foundation (IDF): 

“User research is the methodic study of target users — including their needs and pain points — so designers have the sharpest possible insights to make the best designs.” 

UX research relies on various methods to identify these opportunities and challenges that can help improve a design in iteration.  

Goals of UX research 

Every organization can set its own goals for UX research, but according to Nielsen Norman Group, usability testing goals usually include: 

• Identifying problems in the design, content, or structure 

• Finding opportunities to improve  

• Learning about your target audience’s behavior, expectations, and preferences 

For healthcare organizations, UX research often helps answer questions such as: Do patients understand the difference between emergency and urgent care? Can visitors quickly find directions to a hospital campus? Are job seekers finding what they’re looking for? 

Unlike the target audience for many industries, healthcare website users are often making decisions while stressed, sick, or caring for a loved one. UX research can uncover moments where design, navigation, or content create unnecessary friction during already difficult situations. 

While user testing could reveal the need for major changes, in general, the goal of UX testing is to find opportunities, not overhauls. Any testing is a good addition to a project, so welcome the feedback and small improvements that may emerge. 

Benefits of UX research 

If you’re on the fence about UX research, here are some benefits that might help. Briefly, UX research helps: 

• Validate design decisions and direction 

• Identify opportunities for clarity — in design, content, navigation, and more 

• Explore user behavior, expectations, and preferences 

• Improve accessibility to ensure the site is inclusive to users of all needs 

• Reduce cost and friction with big design changes that could come later 

• Inspire solutions or approaches based on real data from real people 

Types of UX research 

UX research breaks into two categories: 

1. Qualitative usability testing focuses on collecting insights, feedback, and anecdotes about how people use the website. Qualitative testing usually requires fewer test participants than quantitative, such as prototype testing or moderated user testing. 

2. Quantitative usability testing focuses on metrics to describe the user experience, including website analytics and tree testing. Quantitative testing is best when you want large-scale numbers where trends and data patterns can be found. 

At Geonetric, we do both. And both have their time and place.  

Qualitative usability testing is best to understand user experience — identifying problems and potential solutions.  

Quantitative usability testing is ideal for benchmarking metrics and finding patterns without anecdotal evidence. 

Who to test: Choosing participants 

How many people should you test?  

It’s a great question, and the only (unfortunate) answer is: It depends. It depends on your test type (qualitative needs less, quantitative needs more) and who you hope to recruit.  

Recruit your own testers 

Some healthcare organizations might have a patient and/or family advisory council — a group of people who help organizations keep the “patient voice” in focus when enhancing everything from patient care and safety to visitor access to policy improvements.  

If you’re interested in UX research, this is a great place to start. Advisory councils are: 

• Existing healthcare consumers 

• Members of your market and communities 

• Real people with needs, rather than professional testers 

However, depending on your council’s size, you may find that: 

• The group is not as diverse as a random recruited pool 

• Their opinions are biased based on their role on the council 

• Their experience with your website or brand is too advanced for helpful first-timer feedback 

Using your own participants, like a patient or family council, often costs less than recruiting from a platform pool. But we’d still encourage compensation (such as a cafeteria or local business coupon or gift card) for their time. 

If you don’t have a patient or family advisory council but are interested in starting one, the American Hospital Association has some helpful resources. 

Recruit from a tester pool 

If a council isn’t an option, you can also recruit from a tester pool. Testers in these pools are paid by testing platforms for each test they perform. They’re often: 

• Familiar web users, who perform tests across industries every day 

• Skilled at feedback, especially screen recording prototype tests, where their thoughts and actions are recorded aloud 

• A diverse pool of people—cultures, ages, communities 

However, depending on your UX research goals, a recruited pool might not work because: 

• They don’t represent your community or target audience 

• They’re paid to test and not in a real healthcare need, so they can devote more time to each task, which may not be realistic for real website visitors with a healthcare need 

• They’re more skilled at understanding websites and prototypes, so they may have more thoughtful and less “real life” experiences  

Because tester pools are paid, you won’t need to add additional compensation.  

Other test recruitment options 

If a council isn’t an option but you want to test locally, here are some creative options for usability testing in your community: 

• Create flyers with a QR code to the test and place them in your waiting rooms, cafeteria, etc.  

• Alert any newsletter subscribers about your need and provide a link to the test 

• Ask visitors to your cafeteria if they have a few minutes to participate 

• Ask staff or employees to participate by sharing a link on your organization’s intranet 

While you can ask visitors to your waiting room to participate, do so with caution. Patients, family, or loved ones in waiting rooms may be anxious and unfocused. Ensure they have the space they need first and be aware that if they agree to a test, their results may be skewed by emotion. 

These methods are less common, but still helpful. However, in any case for a user test, remember to: 

• Explain the test method and what devices or technology are required. 

• Share the estimated time to take the test, so people are prepared. 

• Offer compensation by way of recording an email address for a gift card, if desired. 

Next steps 

Once you’ve got an understanding of UX research and what a test may entail, you can move into organizing goal statements, tasks, and success or fail measures. You can also start with a UX audit to identify test opportunities.  

Remember: All UX testing is helpful, whether it’s a short survey, a measured test, or analytics. Your website exists to help others, so this is a good time to ask those folks how your web experience can better serve them. 

It helps to work with a vendor, like Geonetric, to establish proper tools, tasks, and processes for a successful test. If you want to learn more, contact us to get started.