Zepp Health Mobile App
Empowering mild and moderate hearing-impaired to be more independent
THE GAP
People with mild or moderate hearing loss lack the awareness of their condition and only have limited expensive options
ROLE
Mobile Product Design + UX Research
TEAM
2 Designers, Creative Technologist, Project Lead
GOAL
Competitive Analysis, Mobile App Prototype, Usability Testing
CONTEXT
Zepp Health wanted to enter the US hearing aids market. I owned the companion mobile app, competitive research, usability testing, and strategic product recommendations for a full 0-to-1 launch.
Americans are affected by some form of hearing loss
Exposed to daily ambient sounds higher than the normal limit
Haven't had any professional hearing tests in 10+ years
CHALLENGE
No Over-The-Counter hearing aid category existed before this project. Stigma was high, awareness was low, and Zepp was entering with a v1 hardware prototype and no established brand.
The UX had to earn trust from users who didn't know they needed the product.
DIGGING INTO THE PROBLEM
I didn't know the hearing health space coming in, so I did the most honest thing I could: I went through the entire experience myself.
WHY
To truly empathize with our potential buyers, I had to immerse myself in the POV of someone who wasn't sure if they had hearing loss.
DECREASING TIME TO VALUE
I mapped detailed UX flows to identify where Zepp could shrink time to value — the gap between purchase and the first moment a user actually benefits from the product.
WHY
The quicker users can experience their improved hearing health, the more likely they are to keep the product.
SOLUTIONING
Wireframes designed by Zepp's in-house team were functional but lacked a human-centric lens; I simplified the key interactions around first-time setup and customizations.
WHY
There was too much jargon for users who are unfamiliar with their condition. Simplicity and more humane UX copy would contribute to an increase in retention.
FULL JOURNEY RESEARCH STUDY
I recruited 15 participants (ages 30–50 with perceived hearing loss) and ran usability tests across the full end-to-end journey — the purchase website, the mid-fidelity mobile app, and the physical prototype hearing aids together.
Documented the learnings to iterate and refine designs, and report back to Zepp's team.
WHY
To triple-check my assumptions and to understand the potential user POV towards hearing aids currently.
KEY IMPACT
1000+
app downloads in the first month post launch
2022
LEARNING
Buying the competitor's product was a small budget ask with outsized returns. When you're designing for a problem you haven't personally experienced, finding the cheapest honest path into that experience is almost always worth it.
