Why pharmacies weren't using checkout, and what it was costing us
A mixed-methods study to find out why a revenue-critical feature sat unused, and what to do about it.
The problem
Only 10 in 100 eligible prescription fills went through Pharmacy Checkout. The other 90 were processed outside Nimble entirely.
The outcome
Research drove a redesign. Feature usage, prescription volume, and pharmacy growth all shifted in the same quarter.
+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 went through Pharmacy Checkout. This research was about figuring out why.
Research question
How do we get pharmacies to use Pharmacy Checkout as their primary point-of-sale, and stop losing the prescription volume that's leaving the platform?
Research approach
Starting with identifying who and then understanding why
01
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
Pharmacy interviews
Interviewed staff at the highest drop-off pharmacies to understand where checkout was breaking down in their workflow, and whether the platform aligned with their business needs.
03
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
Concept testing
Tested proposed solutions with the same pharmacy staff to confirm what would actually work 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 fields with no fallback, and minimal feedback confused staff and added steps they didn't have time for. When you have 30–50 patients per day, a few extra clicks becomes a time sink.
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
Three insights, three product changes
All three shipped in the same Q1 release.
Simplify the checkout flow
Fewer clicks, success and error feedback surfaced inline, and inputs promoted out of nested menus so staff could complete a transaction without hunting.
Make email optional
Removed the email requirement so checkout could always be completed regardless of patient data on file. No more mid-transaction dead ends.
Build digital signature support
Specialty pharmacies needed signatures for post-COVID compliance audits. Without it, Nimble couldn't fully replace their existing POS workflow.
Impact
Three changes, all shipped in Q1. All measurable.
Results came back in the same quarter they shipped.
+30%
Feature adoption
Easier navigation and optional email got 20+ partner pharmacies using checkout consistently for the first time.
+3k/wk
Prescription volume
More prescriptions processed on Nimble each week, directly boosting GMV across the network.
+20
New pharmacies
Pharmacies that had been waiting on digital signature support before they could go live — unblocked in the same Q1 release.
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. Nobody predicted that when the research started.
