Researcher | Product Designer | Design Sprint Facilitator
Elsa.care
Finance | Healthcare
2021 | 8 weeks
Elsa.care was born during the 2020 pandemic quarentine under the idea of helping the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW). They wanted to make easier for them to take care of their families, starting with all expenses paid medical cards they could send to their families, due to medical expenses are really expensive in the Philippines. Elsa team wanted to understand their client and main user in order to improve this system and expand to other fields further than healthcare.
The business model on which they started working carried the message of caring, but the action of sending a medical card was merely transactional. The platform was based on an internet transaction which made users feel a little bit cold. So the challenge was to make the user more confortable around this service.
The Goal was to help Elsa.care understand their client on a deeper level in order to boost their service and how apply this to their digital product and their marketing strategy
A Kick Off session followed by interviewing the whole Elsa team gives us the vision and expectations they have regarding the product and the project. Main worries arise about the digital barrier between the OWF and their families, alongside with understanding the value of service over cash. Their culture is structured around sending money. With this information we know what they are expecting and with which hypothesis start researching in order to understand their user.
Understanding the relationship model of the OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) with their families. A research regarding the Filipino culture around caring. Due to the low technological profile of the users this research process was based mainly on interviews. 61% were made with the main user of the service, 22% with people living in the Philippines and the rest (17%) were with experts, people working on enviroments that connect the OFW with their loved ones in the Philippines. Clustering and crossing the interviews' results we validate the starting point hypothesis brough by the Elsa team worries. There is a big technological breach and the families are all about having cash but not quite confident about turning this into services that can provide for them in the future. Cash is also status for them and we also discover that the OFW feel like they have a duty or responsability about taking care of their families, which generates them a lot of stress for most of them are struggling to save money.
A very traditional culture: Revolving around taking care of their families. Cultural aspects as religion are a weight for the OFW and they feel like is always their duty even when they can’t afford it.
Sending cash: Most of the time this help is shown through sending cash on urgent situations, they are not used to hire services that can make them save money or assure a stability on the long term.
Duty and responsability: Every time they get a request for cash, the OFW feel like is their main responsability to cover this petition.
Where the money goes: Sometimes the OFW don’t know what the money they’re seinding is for. Most of the times they get requests by their families for an specific spend, but then the OFW discover the money wasn’t spent in what they asked it for
This brough up the game changing question: Who takes care of the caregiver?*
The solution must be focused on a benefit for both sides.
Ensure wellness: For the OFW and their family. Look out for the both of them.
Safety against the unexpected: Ensure their families are taken care of every moment
Help them save money: through trust and traceability. Where their money goes and how much they spend
The key of the new services shall be based on the feeling that everyone is taken care of. The OFW’s families by the piece of wellness state that their loved ones are sending to them; and theOFW must feel taking care of by what Elsa.care cand offer them. Assuring wellness for both parts. In Elsa.care’s words “Take care of them, we’ll take care of you”.
Additionaly, taking the services further from just a transactional platform. It will be a place where families can communicate with each other. They’ll be able to show their gratitude for the help received making the OFW feel welcome.
We develop this strategic solutions through a Design Sprint (wich I facilitated) to evolve them into real functionalities for their Digital Product. Altogether as a team we landed this ideas on a prototype: money traceability, family feeadback, general sense of doing some good through the visuals and copy… Which was tested afterwards with real users. Last but not least we delivered a functional document which was given to Elsa’s developing and visual desing team to finish the Digital Product.
The new Elsa.care is not just a transactional mean between the OFW an their family anymore. Now it is a point of union, a mediator which puts in contact the two parties and assures wellness for both of them. Elsa allows the OFW to take care of their family while at the same time Elsa is taking care of the OFW and generates a direct channel for them to communicate and feel close. Elsa’s idea of the service they were providing changed in only 8 weeks and they were able to land funding rounds (+200k) and partners (6 deals 1º). Elsa.care has now expanded their offer of services to groceries, mobile loads… and they are in constant growing and developing.
