Providing safe and discreet healthcare online, the Lloyds Pharmacy Online Doctor service (LPOD) was the first of its kind in the UK. Launched in 2002, 1.3 million patients had registered with the service by May 2017 and it is now viewed as a reliable alternative to seeing a GP.
Apart from the obvious advantages of saving time and generally making life easier, the service is particularly helpful for people that want to find out more about sensitive issues such as sexual health.
However, whilst being widely used, research showed that users were still unaware that sexual health tests could be delivered to their door.
Delayed testing can lead to STIs, that would otherwise be easily treated, going undetected and potentially causing serious damage.
With a rise of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in the UK, LPOD wanted to raise awareness of remote healthcare as an effective solution for people who were either too embarrassed to go to their GP or who chose to ignore the problem until it was too late.
LPOD recognised that they needed a campaign that would not only reach the masses but would also be engaging enough to inspire behaviour change: ie, educate the public about the risks of STIs and encourage them to get tested.
Following extensive analysis of the market and researching existing content in the area of sexual health, we realised that to get people to take action, our communications had to have an element of:
To raise interest
To enhance social sharing
Statistics had to mean something to the reader
National statistics had to resonate with the audience
To drive people to take action
The first step was to design a customer friendly web platform for users to access the LPOD services.We initially produced a series of wireframes that concentrated specifically on the home and services page journeys.
This then enabled us to create mobile first, modular prototypes that actually shifted around the site based on how the user interacted with the content. Enhancing the user journey, it meant that users could find content that they were looking for much more quickly.
Identifying key demographics (Adults Over 50 and Young Professionals), we devised the "Sex Degrees of Separation" campaign. Using an algorithm to calculate potential exposure to STIs based on the number of sexual partners, the campaign aimed to encourage regular sexual health testing.
‘Sex Degrees of Separation’ was launched at the start of Sexual Health Week. We aimed to make the campaign highly shareable by specifically targeting students during Fresher’s Week and the Calculator was featured by sites such as LAD Bible and Cosmopolitan.
1.3 million people engaged with the brand – linking LPOD with Sexual Health
1.6 million completions of the calculator
20,000 Social Shares
1268 people went on to complete the STI assessment
97% increase in organic traffic
396 followed links
Successfully news-jacked Sexual Health Week ranking top for all related terms in Google News.
Successful with links from 12 of the most authoritative UK media sites including Mail Online and FHM.
Over 1.1 million people had used the calculator and engaged with the content.
Organic traffic for sexual health products increased by 97%
