Finding what was stopping patients from engaging

Ampersand Health was founded by doctors and patients to help people living with long-term inflammatory conditions. Its app offered expert-led courses, self-management tools and a direct line to clinicians. But the website struggled to explain the product in a complex and sometimes taboo space. Most visitors left before downloading, and many who did download never finished signing up.

The website was the immediate focus. But as I looked at the wider journey, it became clear there was an opportunity to connect what users needed with where the product was heading. The team needed a shared view of customer behaviour, priorities and what success looked like.

The short-term goal was subscription revenue. The long-term vision depended on users engaging regularly with the app’s tracking features.

My role was to set clear direction, build the team’s product maturity and deliver results against both.

I began by interviewing the founders and leadership to agree what success looked like. That shared definition became the basis for every decision that followed.

I then spoke with people living with IBS and arthritis to understand their experiences, ran usability tests and a heuristic review, and studied analytics to see where visitors dropped off.

The research showed that the problem went beyond the website. The journey needed to make the product easier to understand, easier to start using and more compelling to return to.

The website was rebuilt around two clear routes, one for patients and one for clinicians, with expert content and real patient stories to build trust.

In the app, I split sign-up into essential and optional details. Users gave only their name, email and condition at the start. Further information was gathered over time through A/B-tested emails and in-app prompts.

I also ran workshops with the team to shape the features that would bring users back each week, helping establish a clearer product direction and a more user-centred way of making decisions.