Preventx - Nationwide field study to improve sexual health testing

The Challenge

Preventx is a leading sexual health home testing service provider. A drop in testing kit return rates prompted a focus on needing a deeper understanding of the behaviour of service users,
especially across youth (18-25) cohorts.

Alongside this, there was also a need to understand the cultural spaces and behaviours of underserved Black African and Caribbean communities, more specifically.

What we did

Working in close collaboration with both the Marketing team, we set out on a Muti-community field trip, targeting Local Authority areas with lower social mobility with users presenting with a greater range of digital access needs. Through a combination of in person group workshops and 1-2-1 depth interviews, conducted in the heart of local communities, we unearthed a wide and diverse range of qualitative insights.

Headlines methodologies:

  • Formative user research focusing on in person, contextual engagement to gather qualitative insight and unmet user need
  • Targeted areas of higher social deprivation to fully understand inclusion and digital access needs
  • Paired research facilitation with client to allow business immersion and shared endorsement of findings and recommendations

What we did

Playback of our study, with a strategic and tactical roadmap of change, landed well with the
senior management team and mobilised the design team to implement changes to the customer journey.

This involved me bringing on an associate team to prototype and user test a range of changes to the testing service for Sexual Health London, working closely with the UX, Service Design and development teams in house. Further changes to the main service portal (SH.UK) were also made, both as a result of our field study findings.

Furthermore, this user-centred design approach to discovery and iterative design improvements helped to re-win the bid for SHL.UK for another term.

Outcomes

Playback of our study, with a strategic and tactical roadmap of change, landed well with the
senior management team and mobilised the design team to implement changes to the customer journey.

This involved me bringing on an associate team to prototype and user test a range of changes to the testing service for Sexual Health London, working closely with the UX, Service Design and development teams in house. Further changes to the main service portal (SH.UK) were also made, both as a result of our field study findings.

Furthermore, this user-centred design approach to discovery and iterative design improvements
helped to re-win the bid for SHL.UK for another term.

Working with Alex during my time at Preventx was a real partnership. He brought research expertise and curiosity, while working closely with us to connect the findings to decisions we could act on. That collaborative approach helped us build a compelling case for change and bring colleagues with us. Through focus groups and in-depth interviews with around 60 service users, drawn from a diverse audience representative of our user base, we explored how people’s experience of home sexual health testing influenced whether they returned their samples. The research gave us valuable insight into users’ behaviours, needs and barriers, and led to practical changes to both our communications and testing kits. What stood out for me was the value of working through the research together and being in the room to hear the honest opinions and insights of the service users we support. It gave us a shared understanding of the evidence and greater confidence in championing the recommendations internally with the Senior leadership team and service delivery partners.
Chris Wade
Head of Marketing