The Experience Strategy Podcast

Veteran researcher and pharmacist Kevin Asher knows the pharmaceutical industry inside out.  Today he joins us to discuss innovative digital solutions that were born during the pandemic, industry breakthroughs, and the patient data powering the most valuable patient experiences.     In This Episode:    [03:49] How has the pharmaceutical industry’s focus shifted over the last sixteen years?  What has changed?   [06:58] Kevin shares what he believes is the biggest area of growth for the pharmaceutical industry.   [07:55]  An industry breakthrough for treating chronic musculoskeletal pain has just been licensed by the FDA.   [09:00] How can patient care be improved through digital solutions?   [10:01] What is inspiring Pharma to make these shifts after many years of the same approaches to patient care?   [15:00] Dave touches on how regulated our healthcare system is and how technology is challenging the system.   [17:47] Kevin answers the question, “Why would pharma need to collect data about patients using their products?”   [27:01] How have collaborative studies on patient experience affected how new clinical trials are being designed? [33:00] How has the pandemic challenged the status quo of the patient experience?     Key Takeaways:    The thinking behind patient care no longer focuses on a magic pill or magic injection, but rather on collaborative studies on patient experience.   Digital interventions are meant to create more access to resources for patients and consumers within the healthcare industry.   The pandemic has opened up many doors for the healthcare system to rethink some out of date regulations and systems to help modernize the patient experience.     Bio: Kevin Asher   Kevin Asher is a UK registered pharmacist who has spent the last 16 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry, primarily in the Medical departments of the business focused on generating, interpreting and communicating clinical data.  Since 2019 he has been focusing on how digital solutions can improve patient care and result in better communications with healthcare practitioners. 

Our homes are getting smarter! The more technology understands our unique needs and modes, the more it can make our lives easier and more meaningful. Today we are joined by Tanseela Molani, the Senior Manager of Experience Research at the Chamberlain Group, to discuss how experience insights are shaping the future of smart home technology.    In This Episode:    [1:14] What is experience research? [3:06] How Chamberlain Group is working to benefit their consumers in current times.   [5:30] Identifying consumer needs.  [7:28] How do consumer trust and convenience come into play when companies are designing new technologies and services? [19:45] Tech companies rely on consumer intelligence for innovation   [22:33] Connecting micro moments of our lives can drive technological advancements.   [33:40] How companies can measure customer experience return on investment (ROI).   [37:33] Final thoughts.     Key Takeaways:    Our needs and motivations change throughout the day, and smart products, technologies, and services should reflect those changes.   When we move from one “mode” to another, we are moving through a threshold, even if just for a moment.  These thresholds are the moments tech companies need to study to better understand customer needs.   As a consumer, companies providing a service or experience through smart technology need honest feedback.  This will allow them to upgrade and adapt their technology to further serve customers.   Strategists should focus on digging deeper into what drives behaviors, thoughts, trends.     Bio: Tanseela Molani   Tanseela Molani joined Chamberlain Group in 2017 as Sr. Manager, Experience Research. Prior to Chamberlain Group, she led the design research team at United Airlines and Motorola Mobility. During her tenure at these companies she drove meaningful growth by gaining a deep understanding of underlying customer needs and motivations, such as resetting the tone of the disrupted traveler notifications, to creating new mobile phone experiences when mobile phones were still a new technology. Professionally, nothing is more fulfilling for Tanseela than uncovering the motivational nugget that can lead to innovation, a better product or a new service.   Tanseela is a graduate of University of Calgary, where she majored in Industrial Design, with a sub-focus on design management. She resides in the Chicago metro with her husband. Outside of work, Tanseela enjoys a good TV binge, baking and working out.  

There is an undeniable increase in demand for more convenient healthcare. In today’s episode, we are joined by thought leader and Chief Scientist for the Health and Human-Machine Systems Group at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Michael McShea, to talk about the why and how of making healthcare more convenient and helpful for patients. Join us for Part 2 of our series on Digital Innovation in Healthcare as we discuss how technology is helping healthcare providers work better, and patients heal better.   In This Episode:   [02:10] Introducing Michael and his thoughts on how consumer demand and expectation for virtual offerings have shifted. [05:34] Value-based healthcare, how it relates to experience strategy, and the role convenience plays. [08:31] Some of the key trends Michael has his eye on. [16:36] How close are we to having our own personal healthcare digital assistants? [19:47] The convenience and efficiency of moving more care to the home environment. [25:55] Competent data collection and using data effectively. [31:05] How Covid has prompted automation in healthcare. [36:21] Key experience strategy takeaways.   Key Takeaways:   Technology is not ready to take over for your doctor, but a big trend is happening towards combining digital and human elements to make healthcare a better experience. Healthcare has historically been slow to innovate, but they’ve gotten a powerful nudge from the world as consumer needs and expectations shift. The increase in demand for more convenient healthcare, COVID, and a shift towards value-based care make up a trifecta driving healthcare changes right now. We are finally seeing some headway in digital-first primary care, not entirely unlike the Netflix model.   Bio: Michael McShea   Michael McShea is a Chief Scientist for the Health and Human-Machine Systems Group at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) supporting the National Health Mission Area. In this role, he works with the Military Health System, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and other Academic Medical Research Organizations and federal agencies on population health, precision health, telehealth, decision support, AI, and digital health initiatives.    In addition to his APL position, Mr. McShea joined the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Board of Directors in 2016 and serves on audit and compliance, service quality and operations, and cybersecurity committees, as well as the CareFirst Holdings board which oversees CareFirst’s venture arm HealthWorx.  He is also an industry advisor to the Digital Health Collaborative, a cross industry consortium advancing research in personal digital health engagement, and has been a strategic advisor to multiple early stage digital health companies.    Prior to APL, Mr. McShea was a product management executive in the population health business group at Philips Healthcare, where he managed product portfolios including the eICU Tele Critical Care platform, remote patient monitoring, population health, care management, and other digital health solutions.  Before Philips Healthcare, he worked in mission critical infrastructure technologies in the satellite, financial services, and aviation industries. 

In part 1 of our series on Digital Innovation in Healthcare In today’s episode, we’re discussing why now is the moment for healthcare to look at patient journeys through fresh eyes. Joined by Tom Donnelly, Ph.D., who has a background in psychology and leads the MedTech group at Branding Science, we look at how digital interventions can lead to better health outcomes and other ways technology can improve the patient experience.   In This Episode:   [01:50] Introducing Tom, what he’s been focusing on these days, and what drives him. [03:30] Patient journeys and how that relates to the work that Tom has been doing. [04:42] How healthcare companies should be thinking about patient journeys. [11:15] Shifts in patient journeys related to COVID. [18:25] Examining consumer expectations around healthcare and how they relate to consumer habits. [22:07] The Stupid Dumb Smart Genius Framework and Tom’s own journey with healthcare tools.  [32:30] Focusing more on better outcomes and removing friction with technology. [33:35] Key experience strategy takeaways.    Key Takeaways:   Covid has accelerated the availability of home healthcare, but the industry has to look at that experience in its new context, and get a full understanding of the experience, if they want it to work.  Observational research is a powerful way to understand how people and environments interact with med-tech in their real lives. Whether you’re examining the patient or customer journey, it’s essential to step back and think about journeys in an integrated and holistic way instead of just moment to moment. Genius solutions will help people take healthcare actions by using data to make the experience meaningful and help get us all in a better place.   Bio: Tom Donnelly, PhD   Tom leads the MedTech group at Branding Science where he provides marketing research consultation and human factors using approaches informed by social science. He also leads their Inclusion Team in an effort to help people feel they belong and are included, as well as to help the industry become more diverse. Tom is involved in various industry organizations. He leads Intellus Worldwide’s Clear Health Communication Taskforce that focuses on how health literacy can improve healthcare outcomes. He is also a founding member of the Digital Healthcare Collaborative [a collection of thought leaders from Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, Solutions Providers, Medical Systems and Health Insurance Companies conducting several rounds of research as part of an innovation process]. Prior to his 16 years in industry, Tom was a Visiting Professor at Rutgers where he taught psychology and statistics. He received his PhD in Cognitive Psychology from NYU. Tom hosts MedTech Chat podcast where he discusses the latest healthcare tools, device technology, as well as research approaches.    You can find his podcast on Spotify or at WWW.MedTechChat.Com

There’s nothing better than a human to understand other humans. In today’s episode, we’re joined by Jess Lynch, Founder and CEO of Wishroute, to discuss the #1 thing most digital wellness companies are missing: human-powered accountability supported by technology. If it’s your job to help people achieve their goals, don’t miss this episode.   In This Episode: [02:00] Introducing Jess and Wishroute. [10:36] Collecting meaningful data and having a human in the loop. [16:34] How Wishroute combines automation and humans for consistent, scalable, and high quality customer support. [19:04] Using meaningful data to motivate and support customers when they need it the most. [25:42] The shift in language around setting goals and how reflection fits into Wishroute’s design. [31:18] Gretchen Ruben’s Four Tendencies and how Jess and her team use it to turn intrinsic motivation into extrinsic motivation. [33:58] Things to consider if you’re delivering experiences and making decisions in service of your customers.   Key Takeaways: Wishroute is a unique human-powered platform that helps people improve the way they live their lives and stay healthy. By using strategic text messaging, Wishroute is able to nudge customers forward along the desired customer journey through authentic two-way conversations. Companies aren’t providing the support people need to actually change their habits and adopt the product. Wishroute takes it a step further with positivity and coaching their customers to guide them and meet them where they are. Customers on transformational and aspirational journeys need human support to succeed. The most impactful solutions are digital plus human and finding the right blend to have the scale, consistency, and quality.    Bio: Jess Lynch   Jess Lynch is a prior PwC forensic consultant and Babson MBA, who turned her investigative talents toward figuring out how to help people achieve their goals when they sign up for new products. Wishroute’s unique methodology was born from her family’s experience with lifestyle change—her brother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and her mom wrote a book about the family's experience that helped many families in similar positions. Wishroute's next-generation customer engagement platform increases customer retention and success for wellness companies through AI-enhanced, human text message conversations.   Links/Resources Mentioned:   Gretchen Ruben, Four Tendencies

Patients are humans. The digital health landscape is constantly evolving, and there is a lot of opportunity for the US healthcare system to better utilize tools and data to improve the patient experience by viewing them as human beings with individual needs and values. In today’s episode, we’re looking at the intersection of healthcare and experience with Jan Oldenburg of Participatory Health Consulting. Tune in to hear how we can start doing better by patients.   In This Episode:   [01:30] Introducing Jan and her role at Participatory Health Consulting. [09:34] The complexities of the healthcare system and social environment in the US. [14:58] The impact of Covid-19 and how quickly the healthcare system can change. [24:45] The untapped potential of using data for individualized care and tools that are helping get to specific why’s effectively at scale. [30:52] Why both the physical and the digital environments have to cohere. [35:41] Aransas and Dave’s main takeaways for experience strategists.   Key Takeaways:   Participatory health is health care that takes advantage of the individual and respects that person and their decision-making and engagement in the process. Social determinants of health, such as social and physical environment, community, and broadband capabilities, all significantly impact your ability to be healthy.  Your zip code is the thing that can most tell how healthy you’re likely to be because it reflects all of the societal components that affect your health. Generalized education doesn’t work. It’s crucial to individualize the patient experience and deeply understand their journeys, needs, values, and what motivates them to drive cost down for the whole system and drive efficacy up.   Bio:    Jan Oldenburg, FHIMSS, is the principal in Participatory Health Consulting. She advises and mentors healthcare organizations about the evolving digital health landscape.    Ms. Oldenburg has focused on digital transformation in healthcare for 20 years. Her experience includes leadership roles in several advisory firms, including EY. She has worked for and advised organizations in all areas of healthcare: payers, providers, medical device manufacturers and software vendors. She served as the Vice President of Patient and Physician Engagement in Aetna’s ACO organization and held senior leadership roles in Kaiser Permanente’s Digital Services Group and at HealthPartners. Selected consulting clients include: UnitedHealth Group, Philips Healthcare, CareCredit, MedRespond, Synergiq, Healthfully, Spectrum Enterprise, Baxter Regional Health System and others.    Ms. Oldenburg is the principal editor of both Participatory Healthcare: A Person-Centered Approach to Transforming Healthcare published 2016 and Engage! Transforming Healthcare Through Digital Patient Engagement, published in 2013. Ms. Oldenburg also authored chapters in the Third and Fourth Editions of Medical Informatics and The Journey Never Ends. She’s a board member of the Society for Participatory Medicine, co-chair of the HL7 Patient Contributed Data workgroup, and the former co-chair of the HIMSS Connected Health Committee. Ms. Oldenburg is also a member of the Patient Advocacy & Ethics Group for the Datavant COVID-19 Research Database. She tweets @janoldenburg.     Links Mentioned:   http://janoldenburg.com   Twitter @JanOldenburg

In today’s episode, we imagine a world in which consumers have the knowledge and power to comprehend the impact of our garments throughout their life cycles.  We are joined by Amy Lee, the Senior Trends and Insights Manager at Avery Dennison to learn the research, applications, and benefits of smart fashion technology like RFID. Listen in to learn how a little bit of data in just the right place can impact society as a whole. You don’t want to miss this one!   In This Episode:   [03:41] Introducing Amy, Avery Dennison, and RFID. [07:13] Building trust and enabling circularity through smart technology. [15:36] The evolution of repairing and reusing clothing. [19:24] Consumer trends and paving the way for conscious manufacturing and transparency. [25:01] How the entire system can benefit from using digital triggers. [28:12] Using smart technology to be smarter, more responsible members of this planet.   Key Takeaways: Attaching a digital identification or a digital passport to a product means that you can have all of the content of the product be verified and accurate, in addition to maintaining a connection with consumers even after the point of sale. Smart technology builds trust and loyalty by giving consumers the knowledge and power to care for their garments long after purchasing. Consumers are increasingly skeptical of greenwashing claims, and using digital triggers paves the way for more conscious manufacturing in all categories, not just retail. Using a digital trigger as simple and accessible as a QR code on a label is really powerful in terms of being more responsible members of this planet.   Bio Amy Lee is the Senior Trends and Insights Manager for apparel at global materials science company Avery Dennison. Amy specialises in research and creation of forward-thinking content to inspire branding products and solutions for apparel and footwear markets. With a background in textile design and 12 years of experience in the fashion industry, she has worked with both large-scale brands and emerging designers across the globe to collaborate and drive conscious decision-making. https://www.averydennison.com/en/home.html   Links Mentioned: White Paper

Most businesses only collect feedback from 1% of their customers and by the time they’ve reviewed it, it’s too late to effectively respond. It’s time to address the problem of biased and irrelevant customer research. Georgina Nelson, Founder of TruRating, joins us to discuss how she’s helping her clients collect actionable and contextual customer feedback at point-of-sale. Tune in to hear why it’s time to let go of Net Promoter Score (NPS). In This Episode: [02:55] Introducing Georgina and TruRating. [04:02] Examining survey fatigue and the underrepresentation of customer experience. [07:54] The thesis behind TruRating. [11:25] Ensuring actionable feedback by focusing on the “what” instead of the “who”. [17:27] What TruRating’s customers are saying and how they’re getting closer to their customers. [25:04] The problem with NPS. [30:17] The big lessons Georgina is taking from her work and what she’s seeing emerge. [33:29] How TruRating is an excellent example of the movement happening amongst consumers towards a focus on context.   Key Takeaways: Businesses usually hear from less than 1% of their customers, and the majority of that feedback is from days or weeks after the event. TruRating is a way to give consumers a voice back to businesses in a far easier, quicker, and anonymous manner. TruRating ensures actionable feedback by emphasizing the what and not the who with a super quick and simple point-of-sale rating system. Why it’s important to focus on context and driving social proof and organic SEO. NPS alone is no longer the business-driving decision-maker that we once thought it was. Specific situational data gives us a much better read on customers in general.   Links Mentioned: https://trurating.com   Georgina LinkedIn    Bio:  Georgina studied Psychology at University, where she became fascinated with how to measure, understand, and predict human behavior.  She realized that key to everything was data you could trust, which required sample sizes not usually seen in market research.  After graduating George took a turn into law, working first in finance with Clifford Chance LLP before joining Europe’s largest consumer association Which? representing consumer privacy and data issues at an EU and UK Government level.  It was here she identified a market need for representative consumer feedback.  Putting two and two together Georgina created TruRating, a point-of-sale rating system that by making feeding back super simple and super quick, achieves what other survey tools fail to do - mass, genuine customer data samples at speed.  TruRating doesn’t stop there, all data is shared back to consumers via profile pages, to ensure that the data exchange is a fair one for both parties.   With over 250 million ratings collected worldwide, TruRating is now the world’s largest platform of validated consumer ratings. 

It’s time to start treating students like customers. Historically, higher education hasn’t leveraged modern customer experience techniques to support students throughout their journeys. In this episode, Cindy Casper, the first insights strategy consultant in higher education, makes the case for taking a fresh look at students’ needs. Tune in to discover the powerful insights and experience strategies Cindy and her team employed at Arizona State University to better support students at their institution. In This Episode: [02:28] Cindy’s transition from Sam’s Club to Arizona State University.  [06:50] The downside of thinking that students need to prove themselves to be worthy. [12:06] Examining the shift that happens once a client or student is “won over.” [18:10] The importance of making students feel like they matter and KPIs to consider. [23:15] Aspirational vs. social jobs and the impact of having a Success Coach. [29:17] The need to look at student journeys as customer journeys. [32:41] The big opportunity for higher education institutions that want to better understand their customer’s needs and motivations.  Key Takeaways: There is too much focus on winning the customer or student and not enough focus on their experience throughout the long-term relationship. The shift from marketing to operations can have a significant impact on the customer experience. Like most industries, looking at customer needs and their JTBD reveals huge opportunities to better serve students. By understanding what matters most to these “constituents” we can customize the experience and make it more meaningful. It takes a powerful leader to convince top leadership that they need to think about KPIs and organizational structure to have a better customer experience. Bio: Cindy Casper is founder of Casper Insights, a boutique market research firm that provides insights strategy consulting, project design and analytics to help organizations achieve their goals. Her research and analytics experience spans both supplier and buyer roles across retail, consumer packaged goods and higher education. Cindy is a creative thinker, having devised a patentable process for integrating survey and first-party data to predict consumer attitudes. Cindy is a frequent presenter at insights conferences and webinars. To address the niche needs of colleges and universities, she created Collegiate Insights.  Cindy is particularly skilled at working across the aisle with chief marketing officers, closing the gap between goals, insights and execution. Cindy is ABD toward a doctoral degree in marketing from Case Western Reserve University and holds an MBA from Bowling Green State University. Notable Roles & Achievements: Founder, Higher Ed Insights Collaborative, an organization intended to increase cross-industry excellence                  Managing Director, Knowledge & Insights, Arizona State University                                                                                    Insights and research executive-level positions with American Greetings, Sam’s Club, Jo-Ann Stores and OfficeMax

In this episode of The Experience Strategy Podcast, we are joined by Mary Putman, Lead Digital Strategist for The Collaboratives at Stone Mantel. We discuss how The Collaboratives make learning and research an interactive and transformative experience. Unlike conferences which provide ideas, but rarely support integration into your real-life scenarios, or traditional research that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per project, or development programs which can take years to complete, The Collaboratives teach you skills and frameworks to lead digital, hybrid, IRL Experience Strategy in your organization, while solving complex real-life problems at a fraction of the cost of even a single research project.   In This Episode: [03:17] Mary’s experience as a member of The Collaboratives before joining the team. [04:34] How The Collaboratives came to be and how the program works. [11:09] The biggest benefit to becoming a member of The Collaboratives. [15:40] Participating in The Collaborative in person or virtually. [17:02] The Healthcare and Retail tracks of the current program and their goals. [21:47] The new Experience Strategy Certification. [26:39] The Collaboratives FAQs. [30:29] The ideal participant for The Collaboratives. Key Takeaways: The Collaboratives is a unique year-long immersive program that takes a collaborative approach to solving big hairy problems within organizations and leaves its participants more well-rounded, well-informed, and innovative experience leaders. The ideal participant for The Collaboratives program isn’t just for those from big companies. It’s for anybody who wants to make a difference for their customers and their experiences. There is an incredible amount of learning and inspiration across the teams participating in The Collaboratives. The new Experience Strategy Certification will help participants in The Collaboratives (and potentially non-participants in the future) become leaders within their organization and deliver a high level of strategic insight and thought leadership.   Links Mentioned: The Collaborative at Stone Mantel - https://thecollaboratives.com/ Bio: Mary loves helping companies transform.  She has a passion for consumer insights, data and innovation.  With extensive expertise in digital, innovation, marketing, finance, and strategy, she brings foresight into the business — championing ways to foster growth.  Before becoming a thought leader and facilitator of the Collaboratives with Stone Mantel, Mary led Digital Capability Innovation and Business Development at Hallmark.   She led Hallmark’s Omnichannel strategy, helped frame the new brand promise and helped launch Hallmark Magazine. Mary drove change at Hallmark as an advocate for open innovation, APIs, social integration, and a mobile-first approach to everything.   Mary has extensive speaking experience at large and small conferences.  She earned an MBA in Marketing & Finance from Rockhurst College in 1996.  Mary lives in Kansas City and enjoys sailing, disc golf, gardening, and biking.  She is also a fan of the Chiefs and Kansas City BBQ.