Why experimentation matters for healthcare and how to start small
Imagine feeling so ill you can't get out of bed to reach the phone, so you use a healthcare website to get care. You're probably scared and certainly unhappy, but at least your laptop is close by.
Unfortunately, the online system is so confusing you give up and have no choice but to force yourself across the room to call. It hurts, it's frustrating, and when you finally get through, you're told you should be resting anyway. You tried!
Unfortunately, this is a reality for many digital healthcare systems. Healthcare teams know patients need easy digital experiences. But according to Kameleoon’s 2025 Experimentation-Led Growth Report, only 17% of healthcare organizations expect significant growth this year, the lowest of any surveyed industry.
Why are teams falling behind?
Concerns surrounding patient privacy and compliance can slow progress, but they don't have to stop it. HIPAA-compliant tools like Kameleoon support safe, responsible testing. Yet only one in three healthcare teams actively improve digital experiences like appointment booking or online forms. And only 13% make it easy for all teams—patient experience, scheduling, and clinical—to run experiments.
Peter Ernst, head of experimentation at Providence, one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the country, puts it simply: “When someone is sick or stressed, they have zero patience for confusion. We have to make things easier.”
This article shows how healthcare teams can start small with experimentation to improve patient experiences step by step.
What is experimentation and why does it matter?
Experimentation, conversion rate optimization (CRO) and/or A/B testing means testing small changes to see what actually works before rolling them out widely. It helps your team learn quickly, fix problems, and improve patient experiences step by step.
For example:
- Appointment reminders: Should reminders come by text message or email? Which one helps patients show up on time?
- Provider search: Should patients see providers by location or by past visits first? Which option helps them feel more confident booking?
- Virtual care vs. in-person visits: Are patients more likely to complete an appointment when offered a video visit, or do they prefer to come to the clinic? Testing can reveal what helps patients get care faster.
Each of these experiments helps your team find small ways to make care easier to access and understand. That can mean the difference between a patient who completes care and one who delays it.
One of the most common misconceptions in healthcare is that you need detailed personal health information to make meaningful improvements in digital experiences, and while this can make it easier to create more personalized experiences for specific patients, there is plenty you can do with anonymous users too.
For example, you can test ways to simplify appointment booking, optimize site navigation, improve search, and create educational content that is accessible and relevant to all visitors. These experiments help remove friction and guide patients to care more effectively, without needing any sensitive health data.
Work with your analytics or IT teams to understand how your systems identify users. Ensure your experimentation platform respects these differences and keeps your patients' information secure. This way, you can confidently design experiences that support every patient, whether they are already in your system or visiting for the first time.
17 real-world examples of experimentation in healthcare
Here are real experiments (anonymized) from Kameleoon’s healthcare partners that show how teams are testing, learning, and improving patient experiences. Each example notes whether it was tested with known users, unknown users, or both.
Simplifying appointment flows (Unknown)
Shorter steps and clearer labels improved task completion rates.
Reducing friction in scheduling (Both)
Progress bars during scheduling increased completions by 15%.
Improving provider search filters (Both)
Default filter by closest location reduced bounce rates.
Streamlining new patient onboarding (Unknown)
A “Start here” button boosted booking rates by 18%.
Testing telehealth vs. in-person choices (Both)
Side-by-side comparison helped patients choose more quickly.
Provider bios with photos (Both)
Photos increased trust and appointment bookings.
Step-by-step form guidance (Unknown)
Breaking long forms into smaller steps improved completions by 25%.
Summarizing lab results (Known)
Highlight summaries reduced follow-up calls by 12%.
Pre-visit preparation guides (Known)
Checklists reduced no-shows by 15%.
Redesigning symptom checker (Unknown)
Clearer language and icons increased use by 15%.
Progress bars in surveys (Both)
Adding a progress bar improved survey completions by 20%.
Testing language toggles (Both)
Better placement of language switch increased non-English usage.
Reducing decision overload (Unknown)
Simplified choices on home page improved bookings.
Behavioral nudges in billing (Known)
A friendly reminder reduced late payments by 10%.
Personalized education resources (Known)
Tailoring based on patient history improved engagement.
Streamlining post-visit follow-ups (Known)
A “Next Steps” button improved follow-through.
Improving help center search (Both)
Making the search bar easier to find reduced time to answers.
Myth-busting: Experimentation is not risky; it is essential
Myth: Experimentation takes too long.
Fact: Small, focused experiments can deliver insights in days or weeks, helping teams act faster than traditional project timelines.
Myth: Testing needs big budgets and complex systems.
Fact: Many tests start with simple changes—like adjusting appointment reminder text or reorganizing a website flow—and can be done without developers.
Myth: Experimentation is too risky in healthcare.
Fact: With HIPAA-compliant platforms and responsible data handling, experimentation can improve patient care while protecting patient privacy.
Myth: Experimentation means big, risky changes.
Fact: The best experiments are small and incremental, improving patient experience step by step.
Myth: Testing is only for marketing.
Fact: Testing helps every team, from digital to clinical operations, understand what patients need and where they get stuck, leading to better patient experiences.
Myth: Engineers and data teams need their own experimentation solution.
Fact: A shared experimentation platform helps all teams collaborate, learn from patient behaviors, and improve experiences consistently across the healthcare journey.
How to get started
You do not need a big budget or transformation initiative to begin. Start small and build confidence with these steps:
Start small and build momentum
Pick one question tied to a patient journey pain point. For example, do patients book appointments faster with a text reminder or an email? Choose a low-risk experiment that will help your team learn.
Understand the data you need
Talk to your data team early. Know what data is available, how it is stored, and how to access it responsibly. Tools like Kameleoon are HIPAA-compliant and support BAAs. This makes testing safe, but your data and compliance teams need to be involved from the start.
Involve every team, but go one step at a time
Every team has something they want to optimize, whether that is appointment scheduling, digital check-ins, or patient education. Start by identifying one question that matters to that team. Then use experimentation to validate what works. As confidence grows, expand to include more teams and more questions.
Use tools that work with your existing analytics and data systems
Choose platforms that integrate with the systems you already use to analyze patient behavior, appointment scheduling, and digital journeys. This makes testing easier to manage without disrupting your core systems.
Healthcare does not have a strategy problem. It has an execution problem.
Experimentation is how you move from strategy to action, quickly and safely. It is how you learn what really works for patients and make care easier every day.
Next steps
See the full research
Download the 2025 Experimentation-Led Growth Report by Kameleoon to explore industry benchmarks and insights.
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