Reimagining the patient portal & designing the first SmileDirectClub app.

Selected case study

Patient portal redesign

Role
Lead designer

Design timeline
About a month

Team
Director of Product, Director of Engineering, Product Manager, CX Manager

Outcome
Portal was launched in 2021

Background

The patient portal was central to multiple customer journeys, both digital and in-person.

Users upload photos and complete tasks for their impression kit in the portal while also working on the kit at home.
Booking a scan directs users to the portal for appointment details and questionnaire completion.
All customers use the portal to check-in their first aligner, stay on track, receive support, and update their information.

SmileDirectClub’s customers

SmileDirectClub's customers were looking for an easy and budget-friendly way to straighten their teeth. They wanted to feel more confident about their smiles. SmileDirectClub offered them a convenient option with their at-home impression kit and aligner service, which meant they didn't have to make as many trips to the orthodontist. This made teeth straightening more accessible and flexible for them.

The current portal was outdated and had limited functionality - customers couldn’t even change their billing address or payment info online - they had to call customer service!

From our research hearing from real customers, I learned they were also having a hard time customizing their notifications experience. If they received text notifications, for example, they did not want to also receive them by email. I wanted to give them an experience that was both easier to use and more on brand with the new SDC design system updates.

Original account managment

Final designs

Customers can now easily update their payment methods and shipping addresses, and see their payment plan details more easily, including their payment details and remaining balance.

Another major aspect of the customer journey was seriously flawed…

One of the most important user flows in the aligner journey was the photo upload step that must be completed along with the at-home impression kit in order to start a treatment plan.

Unfortunately the existing photo flow was not user friendly, and required a lot of scrolling, repetitive steps, and the instructions were hard to follow. One of the biggest issues was that users were uploading photos that didn’t meet the criteria for treatment. This meant customers would get an email asking them to retake their photos, but the instructions didn’t even show examples of what a good photo looked like! This caused frustration for both customers and customer service agents.

The existing experience was visually outdated and required lots of scrolling, repetitive steps, and hard to follow instructions.

Final designs

I updated the outdated designs and rethought the flow and how we could condense the experience down to a few easy to use screens on both desktop and mobile with clear photo examples.

The new photo flow on mobile redesigned as a stepped guide rather than an endless scroll.
Instructions are simple and easy to follow with example photos to guide users.

The desktop experience opens up the photo flow into a stepped modal flow

Selected case study

The SmileDirectClub app

Role
Product Designer

Design timeline
About 6 weeks

Team
Design director, Senior app designer, User researcher, one PM, iOS dev team

Outcome
The app launched in October 2020

It was clear when we talked to real customers that many felt they were lacking support during their clear aligner journey. We wanted to change that.

The problem

Customers going through treatment receive their aligners and instructions, but we didn’t engage with them often after this, beyond simple reminders. We wanted to create a companion app to support our customers throughout their entire journey, including treatment support and engaging content.

Customer background

Once customers purchased aligners and receive them, they will “check-in” online when they start wearing their first aligners, essentially letting us know they have started treatment. This start date would trigger the creation of their online plan so they could see a real-time countdown, receive email/SMS reminders, and ensure they were meeting their orthodontist checks at certain checkpoints.

Rapid prototyping & testing with users

To kick off the app initiative, our team collaborated with Technology & Customer Care teams for a three-day app sprint, where we collaborated on rapid designs. I then created a Figma prototype to test with real users interested in clear aligners to gauge interest in the app and features they might expect.

My teammate and I collaborated on a test plan and interviewed 7 potential/existing customers, with my teammate taking the users through the prototype while I took notes and synthesized users’ comments for insights. Shout out to my coworker, Katrina, because she and I made a great team! ✨

Leading a content workshop

I worked with our lead app designer to run a content workshop with leaders from our Customer Care and Customer Experience teams to break down common issues and their respective solutions to make putting in that first aligner as seamless and comforting as possible, aiming to increase customer satisfaction while easing heavy call volume for our customer care team.

Based on findings from our content workshop, we were able to design solutions around troubleshooting common issues when first wearing aligners by designing a flow that will take users to appropriate support content after they pause to assess the fit of their first aligner.

Final designs

Customers were now able to manage their entire aligner journey in the app.

When customers receive their aligners for the first time, they can log into the app and go through an aligner check-in flow. This both registers their aligners to their account, and provides education about aligner fit and common issues. We also implemented a live, 24/7 chat so customers could get help quickly.

I also designed the app store previews, onboarding screens, and the journey progress screen.