Key user research methods for healthcare and pharma teams

User interviews are one of the most widely used qualitative research methods.

They involve one-to-one conversations with users to explore their experiences, behaviours and needs in depth.

In healthcare and pharma, interview participants may include:

• Healthcare professionals (HCPs)
• Patients or caregivers
• Hospital administrators
• Pharmacists
• Medical researchers

These conversations allow researchers to explore how people approach specific tasks, what challenges they face and how digital tools fit into their daily routines.

For example, interviews with healthcare professionals might reveal:

• How they access clinical information during consultations
• Which digital tools they trust or avoid
• How time pressure shapes their behaviour

Insights like these often reveal needs and constraints that would otherwise remain invisible to product teams.

User interviews are particularly valuable during the discovery phase, when teams need to understand the broader context around a problem before designing a solution.

Learn more about user interviews

Usability testing focuses on observing how people interact with a digital product.

Participants are asked to complete realistic tasks while researchers observe their behaviour and ask questions about their experience.

For example, a participant might be asked to:

• Find treatment guidance on an HCP portal
• Register for a patient support programme
• Complete a specific task within a digital health app

During the session, researchers observe where participants hesitate, struggle or misunderstand the interface.

This type of research often reveals issues such as:

• Confusing navigation
• Unclear language
• Complex registration processes
• Poorly structured content

In healthcare environments, where professionals work under significant time pressure, even small usability issues can become barriers to adoption.

Usability testing is commonly used when teams have prototypes or early product designs that need to be evaluated before development or launch.

Learn more about usability testing

Surveys allow researchers to gather feedback from larger groups of users.

Unlike interviews, which focus on depth, surveys focus on scale. They can be used to understand patterns across different user segments, regions or professional groups.

In healthcare and pharma, surveys may be used to explore:

• Attitudes towards digital tools
• Satisfaction with existing platforms
• Information preferences among healthcare professionals
• Patient experiences with support programmes

Surveys are typically conducted online and can include a mixture of quantitative questions and open text responses.

While surveys are useful for identifying trends, they are usually most effective when combined with qualitative methods such as interviews or usability testing.

This combination allows teams to understand both what is happening and why.

Observational research involves studying how users behave in real-world environments.

Rather than relying on what users say they do, researchers observe what actually happens in practice.

In healthcare settings, this may involve observing:

• How clinicians use digital systems during consultations
• How hospital staff interact with information systems
• How patients manage treatment or monitoring tools at home

This type of research can reveal workflow challenges that are difficult for users to articulate directly.

For example, observational research might uncover that a clinician frequently switches between multiple systems to complete a task, creating friction that digital tools could help reduce.

Because healthcare environments are complex and highly contextual, observational research can provide particularly valuable insight when designing digital tools for clinical workflows.

A/B testing is a quantitative research method used to compare two versions of a digital experience.

Users are randomly shown one of two versions of a page or feature, and their behaviour is measured to determine which performs better.

For example, a team might test:

• Two different onboarding flows
• Alternative page layouts
• Different content formats for HCP education

By analysing engagement, completion rates or other behavioural metrics, teams can determine which version better supports user goals.

A/B testing is typically used once a product is live and receiving real traffic, allowing teams to continuously refine the experience.

Collecting user insight is only valuable if it leads to better product decisions.

Once research has been conducted, the focus shifts from gathering information to translating insight into practical improvements. This typically involves several stages that connect research findings to product design and development.

Analysing research data

The first step is reviewing the research material to identify patterns and meaningful insights.

Researchers examine sources such as interview transcripts, survey responses, usability recordings and observational notes to uncover recurring behaviours, needs and frustrations.

At this stage the goal is not to catalogue everything users said. The focus is on identifying patterns that reveal where people encounter friction or where their needs are not being met.

Synthesising insights

Once patterns have been identified, the findings are synthesised into clear insights that product and design teams can act on.

This often involves creating artefacts such as:

• Personas representing key user groups
• Journey maps showing how users complete tasks
• Summaries of common usability issues
• Prioritised recommendations for improvement

These outputs help teams understand the context behind user behaviour and make the findings easier to apply during design and development.

Ideation and design

Design teams then use these insights to explore potential solutions.

Workshops, sketching sessions and wireframing allow teams to generate ideas that directly address the needs uncovered through research. At this stage the goal is not to produce a finished design, but to explore different ways of solving the identified problems.

Research ensures that these ideas remain grounded in real user needs rather than internal assumptions.

Prototyping and testing

Early concepts are turned into prototypes so that they can be tested with users.

These prototypes may be simple wireframes or more detailed interactive designs that simulate the final experience. Testing prototypes allows researchers to observe how people interact with the proposed solution and identify any remaining usability challenges.

This stage is particularly valuable because it allows teams to validate ideas before significant development effort is invested.

Iteration and refinement

Insights from usability testing are used to refine the design.

Teams adjust navigation, language, workflows or functionality based on the issues observed during testing. This iterative approach allows products to evolve gradually, improving usability and clarity with each round of feedback.

Implementation and launch

Once the design has been refined, the final product is developed and launched.

At this stage the design team works closely with developers to ensure the intended user experience is implemented correctly. Even after launch, research and analytics continue to provide insight that helps teams optimise the experience over time.

There is no single research method that answers every question. Different methods are suited to different stages of product development and different types of insight.

For example:

• User interviews help teams understand needs and motivations
• Usability testing reveals interaction problems
• Surveys identify patterns across larger populations
• Observational research uncovers behavioural context
• A/B testing measures the impact of design changes

The most effective research programmes combine multiple methods to build a well-rounded understanding of users.

For healthcare and pharma organisations investing in digital innovation, this understanding is essential. Without it, teams risk designing products that look promising on paper but struggle to deliver value in real-world environments.