Going Beyond the Data: How I Leveraged Social Engagement to Build Healthcare Products

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post. Interested in collaborating on Product School’s blog? Email Gabriela Araujo at gaby(at)productschool.com

The next level growth in any innovative technology-based feature-rich product is based on data and leveraging data. The Data-Driven Decision, Data-Driven Design & Data-Driven Product are some of the key indicators that determine growth and scale. The cutting edge technology is replacing AI, ML, and Big Data at a rapid pace. The trick is to use data in the right way to scale optimally.

The main pain point of many growing companies is that they do have the data but do not drive the right way to use it. A company’s ability to compete and innovate on a tech-driven product is dependent on how it uses data to successfully build features around that.

Doctor Network Is the Basis of Success 

Curofy arguably has the largest number of doctors with 350,000+ from over 1500 cities on its platform. The success of the app is due to the active participation of the medical fraternity to use technology that enhances productivity and efficiency. A doctor is a busy and overworked individual who hardly has time to network and upskill. The scarcity of time has encouraged more and more doctors to come forward and engage on this platform. The discussions and library add to diagnostic efficiency.

The power of social engagement can help achieve acquisition, activation, and retention as a target. Product use is catapulted in the path of 10X growth. Social interaction is one mechanism which has really worked for the team. The core value proposition and doctors mindset is traditional and the ease of usage and value addition that Curofy offers has led the revolution to adapt to new technology.

Mechanism varies from company to company, product to product or user to user. It is important to figure out what that mechanism would look like. Doctors are the most benefited by the process and they are the ones who make the platform a success.

The Healthcare Ecosystem in India revolves around doctors. The change towards digital adoption includes a major change in behaviour. Doctors have their own challenges in adopting new things in tech. Lack of time, resistance to change, and barriers to using new things often form roadblocks in the way to change. The change is eased due to the simple mechanism of Curofy. The doctors’ mindset and the knowledge of their pain points helped create a hooked model using social engagement as the key.

Every social network has one value proposition or hooks for the user. Curofy uses a patient case discussion with peers, network friends or top doctors across 1500 cities. The success of the product is based on the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) factor among the non-users. Every person needs to feel at the top of the game and not lagging behind.

The leaderboard has a gamification score and weekly contests accelerate the interest quotient, allowing the company to add and retain users optimally. Literally, thousands of experiments and iterations have led to the final product.

What Makes Success Viable?

The success of the application is based on data usage, innovation, and engagement.

• Decision making is based on data, and the data-driven methodology is the key to adding value to customer delight. There are clear markers towards customer usage and behaviour that pave the way for future innovations and improvements.
• User feedback is the main ingredient for success in this space. The nature of the industry values makes the feedback of the user the core of innovation and enhancement of features.
• Clarity of vision is the goal. Features and competition result in short term gains only. The long term vision for the product and its growth is the most important factor for sustainable innovation.
• Prioritization is the most essential skill for any product manager. The trick here is not to be waylaid by small tweaks in features and feedback but to keep the maximum optimization of delivery expectation.

The Indian Healthcare system is at the cusp of change. Technology invasion has begun and is taking rapid strides. The doctor’s fraternity is choosing the right tools to stay abreast and grow both their clientele and knowledge. Innovation is the key factor along with the correct usage of the vast amounts of data available today. The major hurdle in keeping pace is awareness and usability of the product. Easy application and engagement will spell success. 

Meet the Author

Abhishek Sharma is the VP Products at Curofy. An entrepreneurial Product Leader with 9+ years of product management experience in world-class digital products in eCommerce & Healthcare sector. Abhishek has extensive experience in technology, marketing, analytics and building start-ups like Flipkart, LimeRoad, and Curofy. As a Product & Growth advisor, he has helped many startups find Product-Market fit and Scale.