A Call for More Targeted Healthcare Apps

Featured article by Becky Wu, Senior Executive Vice President, Luth Research

Technology has revolutionized every aspect of life, and one of the most exciting things about it has been the way it helps people monitor and improve their health.

The medical field has already benefited immensely from technological gains, and there is much more to come. The healthcare system is slowly starting to take advantage of technology’s potential. IBM Watson Health is an example of cognitive healthcare, where Watson uses cognitive computing and data analysis to help clinicians. Steps are already being taken to connect doctors to the data people collect with the apps at their fingertips. Certain e-health devices and tablet apps have been developed specifically to diagnosis certain conditions and ailments.

It’s only a matter of time before this technology leaves the hospital and ends up in people’s palms. In small ways, it already has. More and more people track their sleep, diet, and exercise on their phones. Just as there are apps to help people manage their personal finances and their dating lives, there are apps to help them manage their health. From running apps to period tracking apps to mindfulness apps, a new world has opened up for digital healthcare.

Market research helps us learn how people are using these apps – and what opportunities there are for healthcare companies to develop other health-related apps to help people lead healthier and happier lives.

We used our ZQ Intelligence software to crunch the numbers and analyze the trends on how people use health-related apps. We pulled data from thousands of mobile apps users and found interesting insights into the world of mobile health.

How and When Do People Use Health-Related Apps?

The first thing that stood out was how few mobile apps there are compared to the number of health websites. Though there are thousands upon thousands of health sites, there are fewer than 400 mobile health apps. The number of mobile health apps represents only 4% of the health sites out there.

Despite this large disparity, mobile users spent far more time on health apps than they did on health sites. Given how much time people spend on their mobile devices, this shows there is an enormous opportunity for more healthcare companies to develop apps to reach mobile users.

Of the time people spend on digital healthcare on their phones, 90% is on a health app, with only 10% on a website. However, on a tablet, people spend roughly about the same amount of time on health sites as on health apps. This is likely because tablets offer a bigger screen better suited to viewing websites, while phones’ smaller screens are better suited to apps.

Whether using a tablet or a smartphone, people use health apps more on weekdays, with use peaking on Thursdays and sharply dropping off on the weekend. This an interesting finding – though people have more time on the weekends, they are less likely to use a health app, perhaps because weekends are leisure time rather than health time.

As for time of day, people use health apps most in the morning and early afternoon. Use sees a particular lull around dinnertime, and then picks up a bit just before bedtime.

Knowing how and when people use health-related apps is important for anyone developing such apps, and further research on which types of apps are used when would yield even more valuable insights.

The Opportunity for Targeted Apps

We looked at health-app usage and cross-referenced it with a wide array of ailments, from allergies to diabetes to heart problems to cancer.

The data showed the Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker app was among the most popular for many ailments. Whether their ailment was anemia or high blood pressure, many people used the Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker app to help them with their personal health.

This app lets users easily track their diet and exercise, and given how closely diet is connected to anemia, high blood pressure, diabetes, and many other health conditions, it makes sense this app was popular for many ailments.

FitBit, which has many of the same features as Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker, was another popular app – no surprise given the press and attention it has received. Apps catering to women’s health needs, such as pregnancy and menstrual cycle trackers, had a smaller but still notable number of visits.

Various other fitness and running apps are also popular, demonstrating how many people are now using technology to track and monitor their exercise.

This research shows there are two opportunities for healthcare companies thinking of developing apps:

– Cater to the specific needs of people within more broadly applicable apps.

– Develop specialized apps to help people with specific ailments.

Apps like Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker succeed in part because of their ability to cater to a wide range of health needs. Someone with diabetes can monitor their sugar intake, while someone else with anemia can make sure they are getting enough iron. It’s easy for individual users to use these apps in the way that suits them.

Alternately, this market research shows the opportunity for healthcare companies to meet the needs of those with specific health concerns, such as allergies, asthma, or fibromyalgia. The popularity of apps geared towards women’s health demonstrates this.

Such targeted apps could go beyond tracking measures related to the user’s condition, to making suggestions on actions to improve the user’s health, or recommending when a visit to the doctor is necessary.

The next frontier may be to go beyond taking into account many conditions and instead cater to more specific individuals and ailments. A man with high blood pressure and a family history of liver disease is different from a woman with high blood pressure and diabetes, and their health needs are different. Targeted apps could take into account these differences.

By conducting market research to identify the opportunities, we can make personal health go mainstream with targeted apps to help people improve their health. The demand is there, now it’s time for the mobile health industry to meet it.

Contributed By: Becky Wu, Ph.D. Senior Executive Vice President. Becky Wu joined Luth Research in 2001 and brings unique perspectives in a wide array of research practices, particularly in the areas of digital tracking for advertising effectiveness, new product development, media measurement, and branding and marketing strategies. Becky has worked with companies including LG Mobile Communication, Cox Communications, Comcast Cable Communications, Cricket Communications, HSBC, Disney Digital Publishing, and ProFlowers.