Only 10 in 100 eligible prescription fills used Pharmacy Checkout, quietly leaking prescription volume and GMV outside the platform.
The outcome
Research drove a redesign that directly moved key metrics across feature adoption, prescription volume, and pharmacy growth.
+30%feature usage
+3kfills per week
+20pharmacies onboarded
Background
NimbleRx makes money when transactions flow through the platform
NimbleRx generates revenue when prescriptions are processed through its platform. Pharmacy Checkout is a point-of-sale tool built into Nimble that lets pharmacy staff process orders on behalf of patients. When it doesn't get used, prescriptions get sold outside Nimble entirely — lost volume, lost GMV, and a missed opportunity.
Analytics showed only 10 in every 100 eligible fills were completed via Pharmacy Checkout. The data showed us the gap. It couldn't tell us why.
Of every 100 prescription fills, only 10 were processed via Pharmacy Checkout. That gap is what this research set out to close.
Research question
How can we increase pharmacy usage of Pharmacy Checkout to capture missed revenue and leverage it as a primary point-of-sale?
Research approach
Starting with the data, then going to the source
01
Scoping
Funnel data analysis
Analyzed checkout funnel data to identify where and who was dropping off, narrowing focus to high-volume specialty pharmacies and four pharmacy chains representing 50+ locations. The data told us exactly who to talk to.
02
Discovery
Pharmacy interviews
Interviewed staff at the highest drop-off pharmacies to understand where checkout was breaking down in their workflow.
03
Observation
Contextual inquiry
Watched pharmacy techs use the feature live. Observation surfaced navigation complexities and missing input feedback that staff had normalized and stopped mentioning in interviews.
04
Validation
Concept testing
Tested proposed solutions with the same pharmacy staff to confirm what would actually reduce friction before anything was built.
Key insights
Three barriers were driving pharmacies off the platform
Adoption wasn't low because pharmacies didn't want to use the feature. It was low because the feature made their job harder.
Insight 01
Usability friction at every step
Poor navigation, required input fields with no fallback, and minimal feedback left staff confused and added unnecessary steps to an already busy workflow.
Insight 02
The email requirement was a dealbreaker
Many patients lacked a valid email on file. Rather than troubleshoot it mid-transaction, staff abandoned checkout entirely and processed the order outside Nimble.
Insight 03
No way to collect digital signatures
Pharmacies needed signatures for compliance and audits. Without that capability in Nimble, the platform couldn't fully replace their existing point-of-sale process.
“
Even if it's a few more seconds and a few more clicks, when you have 30–50 patients per day, it can easily become a time sink.
Pharmacist
“
Not everyone has emails and your system requires it and it becomes a bottleneck when our techs have to keep asking patients. We want the signatures but not if it's going to put more strain on our staff.
Pharmacy Manager
What we changed
Each insight mapped to a specific product change
All three recommendations shipped in the same Q1 release.
UX simplification
Simplify the checkout flow
Fewer clicks, success and error feedback, and inputs surfaced directly instead of nested.
Remove friction
Make email optional
Removed the email requirement so checkout could always be completed regardless of patient data.
New capability
Build digital signature support
Specialty pharmacies needed signatures for post-COVID compliance audits. Without it, Nimble couldn't replace their existing POS workflow.
Impact
Research directly shaped product changes that moved the business
All three changes shipped in Q1. Results were measurable within the quarter.
Adoption
+30%
Easier navigation and optional input fields reduced friction across 20+ partner pharmacies.
Volume
+3k/wk
More prescriptions processed on Nimble each week, directly boosting GMV across the network.
Acquisition
+20
Pharmacies onboarded after digital signature support removed a key compliance blocker.
Longer-term impact
The pharmacies onboarded through this research turned out to be a top chain. Over the following years, they became responsible for roughly 50% of Nimble's revenue — making this one of the highest-impact research outcomes in the company's history.
