UX Privacy: Content Writing for Privacy-Aware Designs on a Mental Health Platform
My recent design experience has brought me to have a hands-on UX role with a mental health and wellness company called Marvin. During my time interning with Marvin, I researched and presented privacy content and permission access requests to stakeholders wrote privacy content throughout the wireframes, moderated content user testing, and performed rounds of design iterations based on feedback. After implementing new data-driven design strategies and content, Marvin saw a 92% approval rating in user confidence. I was fortunate enough to be a part of some initial building phases of Marvin. It was amazing working on a team in a start-up setting, learning and working with them, and helping provide very important deliverables for Marvin.
Since Marvin is a mental health and wellness platform, users need to feel safe and protected when using this service. As a company, gaining access to sensitive data and requesting access to different features of a user's phone can be a difficult process, and if it's handled incorrectly can lose customers. There's a saying that says, "trust is earned, not given". This saying was at the forefront of my mind throughout the entirety of my internship with Marvin. With users' fear of selling data, and data misuse, users are hesitant to give up aspects of their privacy to companies. It was my role during this project to empathize with the user's fears and find solutions that would provide an honest and transparent context in every aspect of privacy within the Marvin app. In order to create a user experience where users felt safe, understood, and heard. It is our job as UX Designers to keep privacy at the forefront of the design process to ensure we are building trust with users right from the beginning of the user experience.
How might we gain trust and be granted access to the user's personal (data), to deliver an experience with Marvin that’s better tailored to satisfy their needs?
My Role as an Intern for Marvin included providing the following deliverables:
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Researching privacy content and ways to gain/build trust with users
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Writing content for permission request's purpose strings
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Adding privacy-based wireframes within onboarding and throughout the app
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Providing context of privacy settings to users
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Creating a privacy policy page
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Content Testing privacy wireframes with users
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Iterating context based on user feedback
Providing data-backed design decisions for Marvin's wireframes based on researching and testing user's security needs and privacy content.
After meeting with the Marvin team, it was important to get a sense of the company and its mission, as well as previous research conducted, and what deliverables they were asking for me to provide.
Once a timeline and deliverables were established, it was then time to research in order to provide an in-depth understanding of privacy content and permission requests. I wrote out the 3 ways I conducted my research:
1. Secondary Research - to better our understanding of privacy and phone permissions. Access to specific phone permissions can help better the experience a user has with Marvin. Beginning to create an open dialogue with users by discussing the why’s and how’s of needing this information will help begin to establish trust with users. In turn, leading them to be more likely to share the necessary data.
2. Competitor Research - played a huge part in understanding common permission scripts currently used in UX writing of similar applications/companies. Going forward this can help shape the UX writing of Marvin’s voice via notifications, etc. It might be valuable to begin to write a Tone of Voice Guideline so Marvin’s voice is cohesive and consistent throughout all platforms, notifications, etc.
3. Suggesting Testing - understanding the user a little better through testing (Cloze or Highlighting Testing) could help us understand better “how” users within Marvin want to be communicated with, what they are more likely to positively respond to, and better help them to decide to enable the necessary phone permissions.
Once the necessary data and information were found, it was time to present those finding's to Marvin stakeholders. Presenting with stakeholders was a crucial part of my internship. I gained hands-on experience presenting research to stakeholders, providing keys insights to the importance of how to write privacy content and permission accesses. It also provided enough data to ensure approval of necessary tasks going forward.
Why is Privacy Important?
Which is most likely to happen in the next year? Source:PwC US Protct.me Survey, 2017
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Consumers are very hesitant when it comes to sharing data, so gaining trust is crucial
Out of all the different type of businesses mentioned in the survey:
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Hospitals (42%)
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Healthcare providers (39%)
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Insurance Companies (26%)
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Were all ranked highest in most consumer trusted businesses
Further, in 2017 experts forecasted that by 2020 the health apps market will generate around $31 billion with an estimated 2.6 billion users
And they were correct, as of February 2020 that prediction was surpassed and now predicted to be heading towards $316.8 billion by 2027
Which is most likely to happen in the next year? Source:PwC US Protct.me Survey, 2017
Explaining the How's and Why's
Having a clear and consistent voice in each notification purpose string will help explain to user’s why their permission to use this data is needed and can also provide a how-to on how it will benefit them.
Apple Developer states “The system automatically generates the prompt’s title, which includes the name of your app. You supply a message called a purpose string or a usage description—in this case, “Your location is used to provide turn-by-turn directions to your destination”—to indicate the reason that your app needs the access.”
App permission requests contribute to the user experience as much as other aspects and should follow the same usability guidelines as other features:
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Be easy to use and understand
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Fit the user’s mental model
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Promote genuine, informed choices
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Stand up to scrutiny from regulators
Establishing a Relationship First
A Study from NNG shows that users were 12% more likely to grant a permission request when they were given a reason for the request
When onboarding on a new app, users do not want to deal with multiple pop-ups immediately asking for permissions:
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App Would Like to Access Your Location
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App Would Like to Access Your Contacts
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App Would Like to Access Your Camera
It leads to a negative impact on user experience and a higher likelihood of the app being deleted from a device within the first few days.
Apps first need to create in the onboarding experience a bond with the user, share a story, share with them what their values are, and why it’s necessary before they ask for these permissions
What to Consider for Content Writing
In order to be granted specific phone permissions, there are first a few things to consider:
1. Laying off legal terminology - it benefits the company and leaves users either uncomfortable or confused. Only 14% of consumers actually read the small print
What can Marvin do?
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Keep all UX writing simple, easy to understand and build trust/confidence of service with the user.
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Have a specific Privacy Terms page - but continue to refrain from legal jargon and make it user friendly
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Begin to build Marvin’s Tone of Voice Guidelines and follow consistently throughout all pages, notifications, and buttons, etc.
2. Offer more control to the user - Prioritizing customers’ privacy by offering the ability to let them pick and choose what they share
What can Marvin do?
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Offer users the ability to see and track their data being shared (maybe within their profile)
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Present clear toggle button that can be turned on/off at any time - and immediate notification confirmation to the user after the update and what happens in doing so.
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Buttons should be next to charts of personal data or in direct sight and easy to see - never hidden to put users at ease knowing they possess control
3. Make the interaction fun - that includes making users feel important as well also
What can Marvin do?
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Possibly have a tab in-app dedicated to privacy
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Maybe think to include team members, bios, the backstory of Marvin, etc.
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Include fun and/or interactive visuals during onboarding explaining why being granted certain phone permissions benefits them as users
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Show that user’s data matters to you - answering the how’s and why’s before requesting these permissions
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Word Associations
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Confidence
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Belief
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Faith
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Assurance
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Reliance
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Certainty
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Safe keeping
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Protection
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Care
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Conviction
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Welfare
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Well-being
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Protection
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Security
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Peace
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Quietness
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Lack of disturbance
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Confidentiality
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Seclusion
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Retreat
Competitive Resarch
Next it was time to perform competitive research comparing different apps and their company's takes on content writing for privacy.
Inspiration UI to Consider
Privacy-Aware Guidelines to help Permission Requests
n the UK, there are some UX Guide with respect to GDPR that can be used as a guideline to help Marvin gain permission and trust from its users:
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Users must actively opt into having their data collected and used.
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Users must give consent to every type of data processing activity.
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Users should have the right to easily withdraw their consent at any time.
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Users should be able to check every organization and all third parties that will handle the data.
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Consent isn’t the same as agreeing to the terms and conditions, so they shouldn’t be bundled together; they are separate, and should have separate forms.
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While asking for consent at the right times is good, it’s even better to clearly explain why consent will benefit their experience.
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Also known as “just-in-time” data collection. This explains why data is required, and how it will and will not be used — but only when the app or website actually needs it.
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Prioritizing Privacy
Prioritize privacy and permissions early in the product design process
Designers are key to building trust with users
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It is important to communicate the frameworks you are creating with users by helping them understand the implications to sharing their data. Allowing them the ability to make the smart choices with their data is crucial
Next Up - Adding Privacy-Driven Wireframes
If we have access to...
Then we can help you with...
Consistency, clarity, and honesty will build trust with Marvin’s user's community by:
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Clear and simple explanations as to why their data is needed
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Express empathy by sharing information about Marvins inner workings to the user community - gain trust
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Easy to see actionable steps in privacy settings
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Toggle buttons available clearly in-app to stop/start sharing specific data points at any time
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Instant follow-up notification buttons explaining the new action
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Let users see (in either colorful graphics, graphs or percentages, etc.) their data and how it’s helping Marvin help them
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Update users continuously to changes to permission changes giving them the ability to decide themselves - offering them control
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Include incentives for allowing access to their data - with games and fun visuals
After presenting my research findings to stakeholders, it was unanimously understood just how important designing with the user's privacy in mind was, and how to communicate that with these users as well. After presenting I was approved to begin writing the content for wireframes. With the design team already previously create wireframes, it was my role to create new pages that accomplished my research and edit any existing wireframes that needed privacy content to be written and reworded. I first started with sketches
Then presented some of my wireframe ideas to stakeholders:
After presenting my wireframes with the team I was given some suggestions and iterated some concepts. Then from there, I was given the approval to moderate and conduct user testing. After researching testing options for content, I decided conducting highlight testing would be most beneficial for results. With highlight testing, the user is given the task to highlight the content presented to them in either:
Green - meaning they felt confident in understanding the writing and what is was saying/asking them
or
Pink - meaning they did not feel confident in understanding the writing and what is was saying/asking them
I thought due to testing privacy understanding the user's confidence in the content would provide the best insights. Tests were run remotely with 5 users, all given the same Google Doc to look over and highlight as they felt. After testing was over to grade the results metrically, I counted the ratio of lines in pink verse green in comparison to the overall content, then gave it a grade.
Results
Because of the user testing conducted, Marvin stakeholders were able to see the benefits of testing content for privacy - With a final testing score of 92% user confidence in Marvin's Platform. Users felt like the wireframes I created for Marvin were: transparent, honest, and upfront, clarifying, as well as many other positive adjectives overall establishing trust with users and benefiting the overall experience that a user would have with Marvin - knowing that their privacy is the utmost priority to Marvin.
After implementing these ideas, stakeholders approved that these pages would now be apart of the app. Wherever there was pink content, I iterated my wireframes and re-presented them to stakeholders. It was there that my internship ended on a high note with plenty of hands-on experience, the new-found knowledge to take with me in my future positions, and the ability to test my skills in real-world and start-up experience.
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