Odela’s Asynchronous Patient Flow
4 engineers
2 founders
Overview
As a young startup, Odela’s goal was to create a medical ecosystem that met women’s sexual health needs comprehensively. The major entry point into this ecosystem was through an asynchronous onboarding process that matched prospective patients to the type of treatment they needed. Over several months, I spearheaded a redesign focused on improving the patient experience and increasing completion rate.
Project Impact:
1,000+
Women successfully treated
1250%
Improvement in conversion rate
100%
Medical intake completion
80%
Retention over 3 months
BUT FIRST, LET’S TALK ABOUT...
The sexual healthcare gap
A woman's health journey is often paved with more questions than answers — what is happening to my body? Why doesn’t anyone know about this? Why is the system failing me? From getting brushed off by doctors to being excluded from important research, women are fighting an uphill battle just to be heard and helped.
Today's reality:
- Women spend an average of 9 years struggling with health problems, which means they spend 25% more of their lives in poor health compared to men. In fact, women are diagnosed 4 years later than men, on average.
- It's only been 30 years since women were included in clinical research. Before the 1993 NIH Revitalization Act, women, underrepresented racial and ethnic minority populations, and even female animals, were largely excluded from early clinical trials due to the complexities of their hormonal cycles.
- Countless women report feeling invisible, disheartened, or ashamed when seeking medical help, a symptom of a deeply misogynistic medical system.
However, change is in the air. More and more people are recognizing the urgent need for a healthcare system that truly understands and addresses women's health needs. We're on the brink of a big shift, moving towards a future where women's health is a priority, not an afterthought.
NOW...
The patient experience
To set context about how important designing the asynchronous onboarding flow is, it’s essential to understand the entirety of the patient journey. Odela’s medical ecosystem begins with either a consultation or the onboarding process, both acting as crucial gateways to the entire patient experience.
1. Asynchronous Onboarding
Patients complete their medical history online, and Odela’s medical team will create a comprehensive care plan the same day.
2. Virtual Consultation
Patients can opt for a free virtual sexual health consultation with an Odela clinician if they are unsure or want to speak with a doctor.
3. Personalized Care Plan
Patients get a care plan that includes prescription medications, sexual healthcare coaching, and lifestyle recommendations.
4. Medication Delivery
Medications are discreetly delivered, and patients can meet with their provider to review their care plan and address any questions.
5. Patient Portal
Patients can use the patient portal to track their progress, schedule appointments, manage prescriptions, and explore educational articles.
6. Ongoing Care
As patients continue treatment, they can expect regular check-ins to fine-tune their care plan for optimal support.
Identifying pain-points
When I first joined Odela, they had an early version of their asynchronous flow running but were experiencing a high drop-off rate of 58%. People would often sign up for the service, fill out the medical intake but exit upon checking-out, leaving the founders stumped. Together, we hypothesized several problems we felt were causing the drop-off.
Lack of Emotional Connection
We understand that discussing sexual health can be sensitive, and the language used plays a crucial role in comfort levels. Previously, our communication was too clinical, relying on pharmaceutical terms. We needed to adopt a warmer, more relatable language to connect with our patients on a personal level.
Key points:
There is a missed opportunity here to create a connection with patients, there should be more emphasis on creating a “Personal Care Plan” rather than getting a prescription.
Poising the solution as only two products suggests that there are only two solutions.
Generic Treatment Results
After completing the medical intake, all users reached the same results page. This lacked personalization, since the treatment was generic and didn't consider the individual answers from the medical intake, since a nurse practitioner needed to review it.
Key points:
The lack of visual hierarchy made it easy to overlook details, such as the toggle button for more product information.
Pricing Confusion
Additionally, hidden membership fees at checkout, inconsistent pricing across pages, and unclear subscription details created confusion and eroded trust among potential patients.
Key points:
Membership subscription fees were not communicated earlier in the flow
Many bugs were found with inconsistent pricing totals across several pages
Language is unclear about when patients should expect their prescription to renew
A visual investigation board
Taking on the role of a detective, I created a visual investigation board. This board tracked everything from user pain-points to customer support tickets and business goals, making it easier to test hypotheses and provide a reliable source of truth for decision-making.
This document also created a foundation to help us map out the previous pain-points we identified and brainstorm ideas for how to solve them. It served as a living, breathing artifact that was continuously updated with new findings, discarded features, and ideas sparked during casual lunch meetings. Ultimately, it helped us prioritize tasks and align our efforts with the company's broader mission.
SO, HOW MIGHT WE...
Building patient trust is the most important focus
Whether it was user testing, patient feedback, or notes from clinicians, the theme of trust consistently emerged in our research. Below are some key insights we gathered from this recurring trend.
Correcting misunderstandings: Odela offers more than estrogen.
User testing revealed a disconnect between the welcome page and the treatment results. Many patients mistakenly believed Odela only offered estrogen products and chose not to checkout, because they preferred to get a prescription from their doctor instead.
This misunderstanding highlighted the importance of aligning language with visual design to build trust. We needed to do a better job of clearly communicating the full range of services Odela offers so patients knew exactly what they were signing up for.
Trust levels vary among women buying prescriptions online.
Our survey of over 770 women showed varying trust levels in tele-health services among perimenopausal, menopausal, and postmenopausal women.
66%
of respondents have used tele-health services before.
50%
of respondents are comfortable ordering prescriptions online.
We used this data to create three user profiles, focusing on the most skeptical group to address trust issues and cater to all comfort levels.
One-size-fits-all flow neglects women's diverse sexual health needs.
The previous process didn't cater to women's unique health needs, treating everyone the same and offering generic results. To build trust, it's essential to personalize the experience by addressing each patient's specific concerns and providing tailored information and treatment options.
Creating warmth & reassurance
What happens when you leave a really good doctor’s visit? Ideally, they would have shared a little about their medical experience, shown you pictures of their five dogs, listened to you earnestly, and recommended a treatment plan with thorough explanations.
Our flow was missing that - that very human warmth you feel when someone listens and responds. So, our new strategy was to craft dialogues that felt informative, welcoming, and reassuring. This guiding principle helped us stay focused on what truly mattered from the patient’s perspective — connection.
How our designs evolved
Over the course of 10 months, we tried many different designs that didn’t always hit the mark. While the creation of the dialogue cards helped our completion rates soar, we spent a lot of time redeveloping other parts of the flow. Below is a summary of that evolution.
Onboarding
Medical Intake
Treatment Results
Checkout Flow
THANK YOU FOR READING!
Post Project Reflections
Rethinking the status quo
It’s only been 30 years since women were first included in clinical research—a reminder that the journey toward equity in healthcare is still in its early stages. I’m proud of the work Odela has done to serve women everywhere because even if we’ve helped just one woman, the ripple effect of empowering her can inspire change in others.
Accessibility begins at the ground level, through education and challenging the status quo to ensure inclusivity. Promoting patient education by delivering personalized, curated insights fosters safer, more meaningful connections between patients and providers—spaces where trust can thrive.
Designing for patient trust taught me to trust myself
When I joined Odela as a fresh post-grad, I jumped into the deep end of the startup world as the only designer on a small but driven team. It was exciting, but honestly, I felt intimidated being surrounded by more experienced coworkers. I had to learn how to adapt—quickly—and to speak up even when I wasn’t sure if my ideas were good enough.
Over time, as I shared more, leaned on mentors, and saw my work actually making an impact, I started to trust my design intuition. I learned how to explain my thought process in a way that clicked with my team, which made all the difference. Thank you, Leslie and Max, for believing in me when I was still learning to trust in myself!
