How to make your healthtech product a success: You need medical credibility
Article by Anna Klepchukova, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Flo Health Inc.
Healthtech is one of the hottest and fastest-growing industries on the market today. According to McKinsey & Company, the global digital health market was valued at 350 billion USD in 2019, and it’s projected to grow by at least 8% each year until 2025 (1). As mounting evidence shows the benefits of digital health interventions, more and more people are thinking about founding, investing in, or collaborating within healthtech. In fact, the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Sciences states that over 250 health apps were released every single day in 2020 (2).
In the face of so much competition, how can you build a health app that gains traction with users? The harsh reality is that around 90% of startups go under, 20% within the first year (3).
Within the healthtech industry, one of the major reasons for this is that many entrepreneurs tend to forget about a key success factor: medical credibility. A 2015 review by researchers from Denmark found that most mobile health apps lack expert involvement and do not adhere to relevant medical evidence (4). Without the right medical expertise by their side from the beginning, healthtech startups are doomed to fail.
In this series of articles, I break down what medical credibility is and why it matters. I provide a step-by-step guide that explains how to build it for 3 main stakeholders: your users, the medical community, and investors.
What is medical credibility, and why is it important?
Medical credibility is an ecosystem made from the sum of trust in various factors. In 2017, researchers from Ireland created a “Trustworthiness in Health Care Software Model” that breaks down the components of credibility for healthtech products: security, efficiency, safety, functionality, reliability, regulation, validity, and accuracy (5).
Being perceived as medically credible is essential for product success and your company’s reputation over the long term. And here’s why.
Reason 1: Users expect healthtech brands to be medically credible and pay more when they are.
In 2020, we conducted a survey in the Flo app that asked users what they value most from brands in the health and well-being sector (6). Medical credibility ranked as the most important factor, pictured below.
Another UX research study conducted at Flo asked our users what motivates them to activate a Flo premium subscription (7). It turned out that medical credibility was mentioned as the main factor, alongside testimonials of other users, a description of what features are included in the subscription, and a money-back guarantee.
Here are some user quotes from that research:
So building a product that is perceived as medically credible by its users greatly benefits healthtech companies by making users more likely to pay for the product.
Reason 2: Medical credibility affects a company’s valuation.
In the eyes of the press, investors, medical community, and public, credibility carries great importance, and it can have significant financial consequences. Let’s take a look at a few examples to see this in action.
WebMD is a popular site for health information that’s well known for its medical credibility and its uncompromising, evidence-based approach to creating content. Nearly 80 million people visit the site each month (8) to learn about their well-being and check their symptoms. WebMD’s content is based on evidence from scientific research and reviewed by medical experts. In 2017, Business Insider reported that the company sold for a whopping 2.8 billion USD (9).
On the other end of the spectrum is Goop — a well-known wellness and lifestyle website. They have faced criticism after making product claims that weren’t backed by scientific evidence (10), (11), (12), (13).
In 2020, Goop was valued at around 250 million USD (14) –10 times less than WebMD’s valuation (15).
Reason 3: Medical credibility reduces legal risks.
When healthtech companies don’t focus on medical credibility, they usually end up being fined or sued.
In 2013, Belle Gibson, an Australian wellness blogger, launched her recipe app, The Whole Pantry, which was downloaded 300,000 times and earned over 1 million USD within a year. It was also one of the first apps linked to the Apple Watch (16). Belle received international book deals for two cookbooks and amassed millions of followers with her inspirational story of beating terminal cancer through healthy eating rather than with conventional medical treatments. But once it came out that her cancer diagnosis and recovery story were lies, her book deal was canceled; the app was removed from the App Store; customers sought refunds; and she faced legal action for fraud, according to The Guardian. She was fined 410,000 Australian dollars for making false claims about charitable donations (17), and her book publisher was fined 30,000 Australian dollars for not fact-checking the cookbook before release (18).
Takeaway
As you can see, medical credibility isn’t something you can just skip when building a healthtech product. It’s crucial not only for financial success but also for safeguarding against PR and legal risks.
Stay tuned for the next article in the series, where I’ll explain what you need to do in order for both users and doctors to perceive your healthtech product as medically credible.
Sources:
1. Cohen, Daniel et al. “Healthtech in the fast lane: What is fueling investor excitement?” McKinsey & Company, 01 Dec 2020, https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/life-sciences/our-insights/healthtech-in-the-fast-lane-what-is-fueling-investor-excitement
2. “Digital Health Trends 2021: Innovation, Evidence, Regulation and Adoption.” IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science, Jul 2021, https://www.iqvia.com/-/media/iqvia/pdfs/institute-reports/digital-health-trends-2021/iqvia-institute-digital-health-trends-2021.pdf?&_=1635853179774
3. National Business Capital and Services. “2019 Small Business Failure Rate: Startup Statistics by Industry,” https://www.nationalbusinesscapital.com/2019-small-business-failure-rate-startup-statistics-industry/
4. Subhi, MD, Yousif et al. “Expert Involvement and Adherence to Medical Evidence in Medical Mobile Phone Apps: A Systematic Review.” JMIR Mhealth Uhealth, vol. 3, no. 3, Jul-Sep 2015, doi: 10.2196/mhealth.4169
5. Abbas, Raja Manzar et al. “The Need for Trustworthiness Models in Healthcare Software Solutions.” Proceedings of the 10th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies (BIOSTEC), 2017, pp. 451–456, doi: 10.5220/0006249904510456, https://www.scitepress.org/Papers/2017/62499/62499.pdf
6. Flo Health Inc. “External Brand Perception” Survey, May 2020. Quantitative research, Sample size: 630 users, Geography: US, Gender: Women, Age: 18–45, Household income: >50k
7. Flo Health Inc. UX Research “Web Onboarding Full Funnel Test”, March 2021. Qualitative research, Geography: US, Gender: Women, Age: 20–45, User goal: Track, Get Pregnant, Pregnancy
8. “WebMD Launches WebMD Care, Connecting Consumers to Health Care Professionals.” PR Newswire, 14 Jan 2020, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/webmd-launches-webmd-care-connecting-consumers-to-health-care-professionals-300986096.html
9. Banerjee, Ankur. “WebMD has agreed to sell itself to a private-equity firm for $2.8 billion.” Business Insider, 24 Jul 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/webmd-kkr-deal-buyout-2017-7
10. “Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Accused of ‘Deceptive’ Health Claims.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 29 Aug. 2017, https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/gwyneth-paltrow-s-goop-accused-making-deceptive-health-claims-n796551.
11. Garcia, Sandra. “Goop Agrees to Pay $145,000 for ‘Unsubstantiated’ Claims About Vaginal Eggs.” New York Times, 05 Sept 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/business/goop-vaginal-egg-settlement.html
12. St. Félix, Doreen. “The Magical Thinking of ‘The Goop Lab.’” The New Yorker, 27 Jan 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/02/03/the-magical-thinking-of-the-goop-lab
13. Welch, Ashley. “Doctors Warn against Gwyneth Paltrow’s Advice on Vaginal Jade Eggs.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 24 Jan. 2017, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/gwyneth-paltrow-goop-advice-vaginal-jade-eggs-doctors-warning/.
14. Griffin, Riley. “Goop Is Making a Killing Off Women Who Want More Than a Doctor’s Advice.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 19 Mar. 2019, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-18/gwyneth-paltrow-s-goop-is-cashing-in-on-booming-wellness-market.
15. “WebMD Health Company Profile: Acquisition & Investors.” PitchBook, https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/42051-34#overview.
16. Montague, Jules. “Münchausen by internet: the sickness bloggers who fake it online.” The Guardian, 29 Apr 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/29/jules-gibson-munchausen-by-internet-sickness-bloggers-fake-it-whole-pantry
17. Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria v. Gibson, FCA 1148, no. 3, 28 Sept 2017, Federal Court of Australia, http://www7.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/FCA/2017/1148.html
18. “Belle Gibson to face legal action over claims, Penguin agrees to enforceable undertaking.” Consumer Affairs Victoria, 06 May 2016, https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/1615_cav.pdf
