How to Touch a Pain Point
How Healthy.io raised awareness of UTIs and opened the conversation on a taboo subject for women
How do you encourage tens of thousands of women to snap a photo of their pee?
I certainly never thought that I’d be the one tackling that question firsthand. As it turns out, that was one of my most complex and fascinating tasks as Director of Growth at digital health company Healthy.io.
Healthy.io transforms the smartphone camera into a medical device to deliver healthcare at the speed of life for at-home urinalysis and digital wound management. The category creator of smartphone urinalysis, we offer the only FDA and CE cleared home urine test equivalent to lab-based devices. Our pioneering technology is shifting clinical-grade urinalysis from the lab to the home: same test, any location, without compromise in quality.
When your business is pee, or wee as we like to call it, you’ll know the importance of understanding your users’ pain points (literally). One in two women will experience a UTI (urinary tract infection) in their lifetime. (Men also experience UTIs, but at a much lower incidence.) And though UTIs are one of the most common bacterial infections regularly seen by family doctors, 58% of women have to wait more than three painful days for an appointment to receive treatment.
In 2019 we launched our UTI test and treat service in the UK in partnership with NHS England and with retail pharmacies like Boots and Day-Lewis. The service aimed to provide an alternative, clinical-grade way to test and treat for UTIs while also easing the burden on GPs. Using our UTI self-test kit, women can test for a UTI at home with their smartphone, get a quick medical consultation at the pharmacy or from an online GP, and access immediate treatment, if needed, within an hour — instead of 3 days.
While we knew we were providing a sorely needed service, we assumed that the embarrassment women experienced regarding UTIs would be our brand’s weak spot. In the end, that very vulnerability was what empowered our brand, and our users — women everywhere. Here’s what happened — and how we used it to create a dynamic, trusting connection with our audience.
Takeaway #1: Be willing to have your assumptions shattered
The issue of shame regarding UTIs came up during our early-stage awareness campaigns. A portion of our most relevant audience — women currently suffering from UTIs — turn to Google when they’re experiencing symptoms. While they are searching for terms like “symptoms of a UTI” or “water infection,” they aren’t actually looking for a diagnostic solution online. As far as they are aware, their only option for a solution is an appointment with their doctor and a test at the lab. Checking out symptoms online is just to decide if what they are experiencing is likely to be a UTI, to help decide if it’s worth going through all the hassle that UTI diagnosis entails. Changing this mentality among women would first require raising awareness that this type of home-based test and treat service even exists.
We also knew that UTIs, despite being shockingly common, are still considered a taboo topic of conversation and often associated (incorrectly) with other taboos like STIs (sexually transmitted infections). The lack of open conversation leads to a dearth of knowledge and resources for women.
Well aware of these challenges, we started to carefully and thoughtfully test different strategies and messaging to find the best way to frame our awareness campaigns without offending or turning off our audience. Messages around the convenience of the service, along with empowering women as regards their bodies and their health, seemed like a good place to start.
As our campaigns started to roll out, however, we were surprised at the reactions.
Instead of shying away from the issue at hand, women were openly commenting on our Facebook ads. They were sharing experiences about suffering from UTIs, about their difficulties getting prompt diagnosis and treatment. They were even tagging their friends!
Had we only had a quantitative approach to measuring the success of our ad campaigns (e.g. how many shares, how many clicks, likes, etc.), we would have missed incredible insight and opportunity. By observing how our users were interacting with our ads and not only analyzing the amount of engagement they were generating, we were able to discover a deep, unfulfilled yearning to break the culture of silence and abandon the “hush-hush” attitude around UTIs.
Suddenly, it became clear to us that the shame and embarrassment around UTIs created a desperate need among women to learn more about the condition and to expand the private conversations they are having about UTIs beyond their intimate circle of friends. So we decided to own the taboo and transform it.
Takeaway #2: Embrace the taboo
Our awareness that this taboo was begging to be broken paved the way for Velieve’s influencer campaign, #UTIHorrorStories.
We targeted various UK-based influencers who had personal experience with UTIs and who were relatable (real people, not just Instagram models) to our potential users. We asked them if they would be willing to share some of their most horrific and embarrassing UTI stories to raise awareness and create an open, inclusive conversation.
Yet again, we were surprised to see their openness and willingness to tackle the UTI stigma. The influencers who worked with us were able to highlight the pain, hassle, and embarrassment around UTIs and the need for fast, clinical treatment better than we ever could by speaking with an authenticity that is harder for brands and companies to achieve.
Some of our influencers included:
The results were beyond anything we could have imagined. We managed to reach not only our direct audience (women who were currently suffering from UTIs), but also women who either had in the past or might in the future. Over 2,000 women shared their UTI horror stories and the campaign reached nearly 20 million users from all across the country.
In addition to the influencer campaign, we also created an information center as a helpful resource for women seeking information about UTIs.
We didn’t only embrace the taboo externally. In order to be able to address these issues in a real and authentic way, we had to embrace the taboo internally as well. We had to learn to speak openly in the office about very sensitive subjects. We had many interesting and, frankly, uncomfortable conversations that helped open our eyes to the real pain points of women around UTIs and how to address them in a genuine way.
Taking down the wall
The most natural reaction to a taboo is to treat it as… taboo.
After all, we want to be empathetic and sensitive. We want to avoid creating knee-jerk negative reactions in others. We don’t want to throw up a wall between ourselves and the people with whom we are trying to build a relationship.
But sometimes it pays to do something unnatural.
Ultimately, embracing the UTI taboo rather than delicately dancing around it helped our potential users find validation, empathy, resources and a real-time solution.
