Method – Usability testing, in-home studies, online communities
The Need – The Pillo Health team partnered with Stanley Black & Decker to create Pria, which is a HIPAA-compliant home medication dispenser designed to help people with chronic conditions and their caregivers. Pria dispenses medication and weaves together artificial intelligence, voice interactivity and chat with smart home technology in a visually appealing and innovative package. Consumers use Pria to take their medication, to ask diet and health-related questions all with the goal of staying healthy. Caregivers use the platform’s app to passively monitor their loved one’s adherence and to video chat. We had previously worked with the Pillo Health team on in-home studies for Pillo. Pillo Health recommended us to Stanley, Black & Decker as they were getting ready to launch Pria. We did similar work for both clients. We recruited participants who were mostly older and had a range of health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension where they need to take medicine on a fixed schedule. For the Pria study we brought in loved ones and their caregivers, so we could understand how the device enhances the caregiving experience.
Our Solution – Our goal was to evaluate the consumer’s end-to-end user experience with the technology from first impressions to setup and then through daily use. At each step we gathered usability feedback as we watched participants unbox the product, set it up on their home WiFi, download the app, enter the medication regimen, load their medication into the device, and then converse with the voice assistant. Once Pria was up and running participants and their caregivers used the product over the course of several weeks. We kept in touch through surveys, phone calls and a private and secure online community where participants shared their experiences and feelings around using the product. At the end of the project we returned to each participant’s home for a retrospective interview with the loved one and their caregiver.
Results – Throughout we provided usability and consumer feedback that our client leveraged to refine their product’s user experience. The Pria/Pillo device has several user touchpoints: the voice assistant, chatbot smart phone app, pill loading and dispensing, and the initial setup wizard. We provided detailed and actionable usability feedback on each one. The Pillo Health and Pria teams, who accompanied us on all the visits and took part in continuous debrief discussions, had the chance to see target consumers use their product in a real-world environment.