Invalidating sales channel hipotesis

Business opportunity

With a Covid test operation happening on pharmacies, an opportunity to expand sales was identified through a partnership between MeuDNA and pharmacies in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro city.

Sales on pharmacies

The propouse

With learnings from that operation, our executive leadership brought the idea of developing a new sales channel for DNA tests in pharmacies. We explored a way to test it before the official launch.

Discovery

We leveraged much of the knowledge from the existing operation to create our hypotheses and map potential issues in the journey.

Main hypotheses

Pharmacies can be a strong channel for MeuDNA to expand sales of ancestry, health, and baby health swab tests.

Pharmacies can increase the company's visibility and boost online sales, just as happened with MeuDNA Covid.

Risks

The purchase validation process required entering multiple numbers plus buyer registration and couldn't be revised, which was already a friction point in our current operation.

Registration time vs. pharmacy realities.

I conducted a research round purchasing from competitors that was already selling in some pharmacies to understand their service in this channel as well. Also did observation on how Covid operations was working.

Mystery shopper and observation

Covid test on Pharmacy

Design plan

We brought together the design team and our operations team to define the experiment's needs and criteria.

We planned the project and divided the necessary tasks among us.

My responsibilities

Facilitation of requirement definition

User journeys and flows

Planning and execution of concept and usability tests in pharmacies.

User flow

Designing

Prototype Changes in the Test box ans instructions

Simulation of invoices and test register codes as support material

Adjustments to MeuDNA pharmacy operations system

1

2

3

To enable a highly realistic test, me and the team chose the following materials:

Test materials

Validating service

The tests were conducted in different pharmacies in São Paulo and provided valuable insights to assist in decision-making.

20

Attendants

5

Managers

Clients

10

The tests were conducted with a functional HTML prototype, divided into two groups: pharmacy employees only and also involving participating customers.

Results

Based on the observations and recommendations I provided, the company decided not to pursue this type of operation at that moment.

Several factors were crucial to this decision:

Time x effort

Factor #2

Process erros

Attendants provided incorrect information during the tests and were interrupted multiple times, having to restart the task. They were also performing several tasks simultaneously.

Customer distrust

The sale of MeuDNA Genetics products requires registration with personal data, which caused friction when presented to customers as a purchase simulation.

The purchase process takes time to complete at the counter, especially if multiple items are purchased. At peak times, there was a lot of friction due to the increased waiting time in line.

Factor #1

Factor #3

55%

40%

80%

55% of attendants made typing errors during the test

of attendants were interrupted during the sales simulation

of customers found the purchase process time-consuming

MeuDNA Pharmacy operation system

Insights

Fail fast and small

This case reinforces the idea that validating quickly, failing fast, and pivoting when necessary is the best way to create services or products. Often, we need little time and resources to reach important conclusions for the business.

#1

Process need to facilitate

The purchase process complicates the attendant's routine and increases the likelihood of errors, especially during peak times. Here, we recognized the need to explore a process that causes less friction to ensure the success of the operation.

#2