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Improving experience for dental providers

Dental providers work closely with health insurance companies in order to serve their patients. This project started with us looking at the volume of calls that Premera was getting from these doctors' offices. From the calls data, we determined what information dental providers were looking for. Our team had an idea of why this information was needed and wanted to test a few concepts for improving the doctors' experience.

Dental provider experience: Text
Image by The Humble Co.
Dental provider experience: Image

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Timeline

4 weeks from request to final recommendations

Activities

  • Listening to customer service calls

  • Calls data analysis with the help of data analyst

  • Concept testing

  • High-fidelity prototype testing

  • Comprehension survey testing

Stakeholders

  • Design

  • Content strategy

  • Product

  • Voice of the customer

  • Provider experience

  • Provider relationships

  • Legal department

Constraints

  • Similar project with vision providers within the same timeframe

  • Legal constraints for offering incentives

  • Shorter time for visits

  • The need to maintain relationships with providers

Dental provider experience: List

"I just hope that the comprehensive exam was not too comprehensive that my insurance will not cover some of it."

A reviewer on Yelp about their dental visit.

Dental provider experience: Quote

Impact

  • This research effort helped us launch the improved experience for dental providers, which increased the provider satisfaction to 4.7 out of 5 and reduced the call volume by 15% (year over year).

  • The project was selected as one of the 3 finalists for Premera's Passionate Advocate Award.

  • Learnings from this project were shared as part of the "Doing research in the field" guest lecture with my manager Robert Racadio for HDCE Master's students at the University of Washington.

Dental provider experience: Text

My role

I was the lead and solo researcher on this team, and my role involved planning and executing the set of studies, interacting with legal department, as well as getting my team of stakeholders familiar with research processes and gaining trust for conducting in-person studies. Given the time constraints I combined in-person studies with remote follow-up activities.

Dental provider experience: Text
Doctor's Desk
Dental provider experience: Image

Tips for conducting B2B research in the field

As with every B2B project, it's crucial to be considerate of the relationships between your organizations. Here are some tips for doing field research in B2B space:

  • Work with your legal department to be in line with your company policy around incentives. Be ready to provide different incentive options.

  • Gain domain knowledge prior to going into the field. You can do this by listening to the customer calls, talking to internal experts and customer service representatives, and reading on the topic. This will help you grasp the terminology and avoid asking non-essential questions.

  • Bring your partners and stakeholders along. This is important for developing trust between you and your stakeholders. In B2B space, your study can influence existing relationships with the company you're meeting with. Your stakeholders can also support you during your visit if any business-related questions come up.

  • Go over the recruitment script and what to expect during a visit with your partners, especially if you're not the one recruiting participants. 

  • Set up your stakeholders' expectations prior to the field visit. Give people's roles, make sure you're in control of your introduction, and ensure that you'll have time for stakeholders' questions in the end.

  • Be ready to adapt. You may find yourself in a very small office room. Your participant may want to meet you at a conference space and not their desk. Their manager may want to participate in the "training" and discussion. Improvise and adapt!

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