It's a Mistake to Believe People Download Apps Just for Indoor Navigation (in a Hospital)
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
How our Greatest Mistake Ultimately Resulted in our Greatest Strength
Upcoming September marks 10 years since we developed the initial Eyedog prototype. Back then, our Wayfinding CMS was merely a collection of Excel tables (what were we thinking...), and we faced significant challenges dealing with the varying aspect ratios of iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 screens. It was a total nightmare.
Long before the world was captivated by the app gold rush, we envisioned a future where devices would guide us indoors, replacing traditional sign systems fraught with limitations. This concept had been brewing in our minds since 1996, reinforced by conversations with 'Mr. Wayfinding' himself, who had been designing wayfinding systems for nearly 50 hospitals over 35 years. Two decades of contemplation and discussions on UI and cognition led us to a breakthrough – a wayfinding app. A native iOS and Android app seemed like the perfect solution, or so we thought…
But, oh boy, were we wrong. 🤦🏻♂️
It turns out, people didn't want to download apps just for finding their way around. It didn't matter how top-notch the app was; people simply weren't interested.
Why Patients Don’t Download Wayfinding Apps
Patients want personalized and effective communication about their appointments, including wayfinding information. However, if they have to download an app, navigate the app store, and learn to use an app that provides no immediate value while they’re at home, they quickly lose interest. At home, they don't have an urgent wayfinding problem, so the effort required to use the app seems excessive and unnecessary. It's like offering someone an umbrella on a sunny day just because it might rain tomorrow.
Once onsite, nothing gets downloaded. In fact, people have long forgotten that they could download an app that solves a problem they don’t currently have. Most people won’t even notice it mentioned in the appointment letter and will simply walk into the hospital. People face a wayfinding problem only when they are lost, and at that moment, they won’t think, "Does the hospital have a wayfinding app? Let me check the app store, search for it, download it, learn how to use it, and then find out where I need to go." Sorry, that's not going to happen. By then, they’ve already asked someone in a medical uniform for directions, which is precisely what we’re trying to avoid.
Don’t believe it? Just look up some dedicated wayfinding apps from hospitals and check the download numbers in the Google Play Store; they are publicly available. You’ll see, the numbers are astonishingly low.
The Necessary Pivot
Our competitors faced the same issue, and skeptics echoed the notion that "if no one is using it, then no one sees the concept as valuable."
But this is where the magic of innovation shines – it flourishes in the face of challenges. Some rivals transformed into Digital Front Door providers to create more value, integrating urgent care check-ins, appointment scheduling, and medical record access alongside wayfinding into their native app solutions. Most wayfinding solution providers either faded away or reshaped into technology providers.
Our journey, however, took a different path. From an app-centric strategy, we pivoted to an API-centric strategy. The key insight? Wayfinding needed to seamlessly integrate into digital journeys, be it for patients, visitors, or travelers. In healthcare, particularly, interoperability emerged as a crucial force, streamlining the flow of context-aware information and harmonizing data from disparate sources.
Our most significant blunder has transformed into our greatest asset today. From the ashes of our mistaken app-centric approach, we've risen to create a digital wayfinding solution that is remarkably easy to implement. It can be integrated into strategic communication touchpoints in a very simple way, providing personalized wayfinding information to patients.
This innovation now offers patients a natural and unparalleled way to navigate their journeys with ease.
Our journey of adapting, learning, and evolving has led us to a solution that not only resolves our past mistakes but also strengthens our commitment to redefining navigation in a meaningful and intuitive way. 🌟
