CHALLENGE

With Britain facing an obesity and long-term conditions crisis, Public Health England (PHE) wanted digital solutions that could drive behaviour change among 40-60-year-old adults – helping them live healthier lives for longer.

Our challenge was to design a range of services that focused on supporting better lifestyle choices understand the triggers, motivations and barriers to change among those adults in the C2DE socio-economic groups and. These focused on exercise, smoking, diet and alcohol. 

SOLUTION

We drew on the proven behaviour change model – the Behaviour Change Wheel (COM-b)^[1] – which identifies that successful change requires users to have the Capability, Opportunity and Motivation, along with positive systemic and environmental interventions.

Extensive research allowed us to understand the triggers, motivations and barriers to change design a series of digital tools and mobile apps, starting with the ‘How Are You?’ quiz -  a questionnaire for users to identify long-term health impacts, based on current behaviours.

The quiz was highly visual, with questions based on behaviour. A core design principle was to only ask questions that users could easily answer – removing need for clinical or medical knowledge, increasing participation and reducing attrition.

We designed and built a bespoke algorithm that scored the user’s responses, based on the scientific research and dynamically presented content with recommendations on next steps. At the conclusion, users would receive an overall score and guidance, signposting to relevant support services, including the OneYou Apps.

The mobile tools were designed to provide users with the capability and opportunity to change.  They included Sugar Smart, Easy Meals, NHS SmokeFree, Drinks Tracker and Couch to 5K, along with the over-arching OneYou campaign website, containing information and guidance on preventative health.

IMPACT

OneYou was launched in 2016 and in the first few weeks, over 1.5m people completed the HAY quiz, with a completion-to-start ratio of 75% versus an original target of 30%. The OneYou ‘Couch to 5k’ app has seen over two million users start running journeys.

OneYou continues to be PHE’s central marketing campaign aimed at the 40-60 year-olds. The HAY tool and supporting apps have undergone continued iterations with more services added to the portfolio over time.