July 12, 2021

Using Health Data to Create a Personalized Customer Experience

Woman checking activity tracker

Personalized experiences are the accepted norm on social media apps. People take it for granted that the app will show them what they want to see. 

When it comes to retailer apps, consumers expect the same curated results. This personalization comes from data gathered about each customer, but compared to social media giants like Facebook, retailers have limited datasets to pull from. 

What retailers can have access to, however, is data gathered by fitness trackers, such as the Apple Watch. The Sprout Open Health API™ makes this data easily accessible to app developers by allowing them to plug in data collection features from fitness or activity trackers to create personalized experiences, drive customer engagement, and improve brand loyalty. 

When combined with existing customer data, such as buying habits and preferences, health data offers a unique opportunity for creating new customer experiences. Activity, for instance, can be added to a grocery store ecommerce app. Incentives based on health data include publishing a reward schedule showing various step-count-based rewards. 

The point is not the reward structure but rather the idea of linking a person’s interest in self-improvement to your brand to build and strengthen customer loyalty. Put into business terms, integrating health data into your app allows your customer to monetize the data they are already collecting and willing to share. 

This data, collected in a safe and secure manner, frees your business from relying on past consumer habits. Instead, the app receives current data that ties in a person’s health-related motivations with your brand’s offerings. The result is personalized discounts and promotions presented at the most relevant times. A running store delivering offers for shoes after a predetermined number of steps; a grocery store offering a sports drink coupon after a workout; or a coffee shop offering a jolt of caffeine after a restless night are all examples of how health data can be integrated into retail apps. These behavior-based recommendations add value to the customer relationship while helping to drive revenue. 

The Sprout Open Health API also includes a proprietary health risk assessment that leverages activity tracker information in conjunction with survey questions to provide a clear picture of a person’s health and risk factors. To make this data valuable to the consumer, the API suggests ways to improve their health. The user learns their risk of health conditions such as developing cardiovascular disease, lung disease, or lower back pain through the retailer’s app. For both the retailer and the consumer, the tangible benefit is in using the retailer’s app to help the consumer improve their health and reach their goals. 

Using the e-commerce grocery example again, the company would use this customer-provided information to assist the consumer in reaching their health goals. When the user is building their grocery list, the app could make suggestions for healthy alternatives. This might include high protein options for muscle recovery or sugar-reduced alternatives for electrolytes and sports drinks post-run. 

Beyond consumer purchasing patterns, health data behavioural patterns and risk assessments can be applied to tele-health, offering a better basis for medical professionals to assess and assist users.

Through analyzing the various data points, the API works with the app to create a personalized user experience to deliver relevant content. This can be videos, articles, special offers, events—the important part is the relevancy. 

Delivering content that matters to the user, and creating a pleasant user experience, keeps users coming back to the app. This approach of applying user data insights to content delivery is what has made social media apps so popular. They provide content relevant to the individual user to create personalized experiences that feel unique. The Sprout Open Health API aims to do the same thing by combining health data with consumer activity data to create an experience that helps each user become healthier, happier versions of themselves. 

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