With the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 we experienced rapid growth in the number of not only regular users (patients) but also medical professionals. Healthcare app growth continues to accelerate at the end of 2023, with the market expected to grow at 11.8% from 2022 to 2030 (CAGR) and be valued at US$105.9 billion by 2030.
Organizations around the world are undergoing digital transformation virtually every day. Investments in process automation, changes in company culture, and innovative digital product development appear to be essential in 2023. The growing popularity of medical and health apps presents a unique opportunity for businesses to engage with their customers in entirely new ways, build more meaningful relationships, and learn. more. to the needs of our customers while enhancing safety and convenience.
In this guide, we'll explore recent trends in the healthcare industry, the differences between healthcare and medical apps, and key features of the healthcare app development process if you want to build a successful product in 2023.
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In this article you'll read about:
- What is Healthcare Apps?
- Healthcare App Building Process - Step by Step
- Industry Standards and Compliances to Consider Before App Building
- Healthcare App Development Strategies to Help You Succeed
- key takeaway
Healthcare Applications
Healthcare apps usually target people who want to learn more about their daily habits and small ways to adjust them to improve their well-being. These apps need to be HIPAA-compliant, which means they follow the rules outlined in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 that protect patients' sensitive data from being shared without their consent and knowledge. In general, the advice that healthcare apps provide is largely ad hoc and based mostly on user data collected within the application.
Healthcare App Building Process - Step by Step
In this section, we are focusing on healthcare apps or apps used by the general public. The process of building and developing medical applications is not uniform.
Step 1: Identify a Problem and Find Your Opportunities
Healthcare and wellness apps are nothing new: step-counters, calorie intake journals, and virtual coaches have been with us for years. Since market saturation is a disadvantage for newcomers, you should carefully consider your niche before building your app. The main purpose should be on solving the problem you want to resolve.
App Category (Diet, Lifestyle, Chronic Illness, Fitness, Mental Health) User type (caregiver, patient, medical provider, healthcare worker, student, others).
Learn all you can about other competitor apps that occupy the same or similar niche and make sure your app does something different from the competition or at least does something better than the others.
Step 2: Define Your Target Audience
Determining who your customers are and researching the needs of your target customers are the first two steps in product-market fit, as described in The Lean Product Playbook. This will help you understand what your users want and where your app is in the market.
Researching your target audience will also help identify early adopters. Your first customers will be important for the further development of your app. If you convince them, they will provide useful feedback as well as bring new people to your app.
From local laws and cultural backgrounds to common device screen resolution, a proper understanding of users' needs can determine the future of your healthcare app.
Step 3: Create an MVP
An MVP (minimum viable product) can be a powerful tool that will help you test the feasibility of your initial concept and gather insights for building the final version of your application. Focus on core functions first and ensure that your beta product provides real value to the medical professionals and patients who make up your beta testing team.
Step 4: Get Feedback From Medical Professionals and Patients
Analyzing users' in-app behavior provides clues about the popularity and ease of use of specific functionalities, and you'll get the best information from healthcare professionals and patients. Based on those insights, you can make better decisions about in-app improvements later. This way you can eliminate features users don't care about and focus on what's important to them. This knowledge is also irreplaceable when it comes to building better sales funnels.
Step 5:The App Launch
Although after working with beta testers, you may already have some early users. Now it’s the time to expand your audience. Launch your product in the Apple and Google Play stores.
Industry Standards and Compliances to Consider Before App Building
Before you start building a healthcare application, make sure what you're planning is in line with industry regulations and what's important to you, as these depend on the country/region where you operate and Want to expand our services.
Please note that medical applications are heavily regulated and following the standards listed below will not be sufficient.
Industry regulations in different countries/regions
America: HIPAA, HiTech, CCPA, NIST, The ADA.
Canada: PIPEDA
The European Union: GDPR
The UK: Data Protection Act (DPA), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG),
3 Healthcare App Development Strategies to Help You Succeed
Here are three effective strategies you should consider for building healthcare software.
#1 Find ways to build trust
Trust is important in any business, but nothing is more valuable when it comes to healthcare. When building a healthcare app, you need to convince your audience that they can trust you with their health.
Begin by taking care of the proper safety measures. People are somewhat uneasy about their medical data being stored somewhere on the Internet. Around the world, privacy regulations were introduced to address that issue.
The next step you need to take is open, transparent, and informative communication, especially when it comes to cost details and security guarantees. This would help to gain more user retention.
Another way to build trust, especially relevant to medical apps, is to provide real value to users for free.
#2 Get great customer support
While everyone wants to develop a seamless user experience, even the most well-designed apps may need additional support. Tutorials, an FAQ section, and a helpful chatbot can solve a portion of users' issues, at least some of which have to be handled by real-human customer support. Their professionalism helps build trust – people who go out of their way to ask you questions or send feedback are also customers attracted to your product. Gain their trust to build a long-lasting relationship.
#3 Use personalization
With the growing amount of health apps in the market, users are expecting more interaction with generic, irrelevant content and information at the wrong times. Today, personalization can be the key to winning and retaining users. There are many ways to personalize the app experience, from simple touches like addressing a user by their name, to creating unique offers tailored to specific locations or demographics.
To personalize an app, you must first collect user data. Knowing things like your users' age, gender, interests, profession, and location, as well as their device type and when they're using the app, will improve user retention and their overall experience if you harness that knowledge correctly. use from. use from let's use
Key Takeaway
The healthcare application market is a competitive one. To be successful, a company must have a strong concept for a unique product or feature and an idea of how to make it contemporary, reliable, and useful. That's when expert help can be beneficial. Learn how Montreal Healthcare works with us to develop the app and build your digital product.