Elvie Stride

Elvie is a technology company creating a hub of connected health and lifestyle products for women. In 2018 they launched Elvie Pump, a silent, wireless breast pump that fits in your bra. In 2021 I supported the launch of Elvie Stride, their second breast pump – an ultra-quiet, hands-free breast pump with a lower price point. 

Research from Elvie Pump showed that successful onboarding was strongly correlated with user satisfaction and reduced product returns.

The three main challenges we sought to solve were:

• Identifying the best sized Breast Shield for your breast

• Aligning the pump on the breast correctly

• Assembling the parts correctly

First touchpoint: app guides

I worked closely with a content designer and digital artist to develop three step-by-step animated guides. They are designed to give users all of the key information they need to use their breast pump for the first time. The content is empathetic and reassuring, with health literacy a key consideration – all medical information is presented clearly and in simple terms. The visuals were methodically briefed and iterated upon to capture the right level of detail and show each action clearly.

Key design features:

• The app was adapted to support multiple product SKUs

• A high-level view of the onboarding process empowers users by setting expectations early

• The guides are also accessible from the home page, so users can revisit them at any time

Second touchpoint: help videos

Following positive feedback on the app guides, we were tasked with creating Elvie Stride help videos as an additional piece of support content. The same principles were applied: provide proactive, accessible support in a straightforward way.

We started by organising the pumping tasks into key themes. Next, we developed the narrative and collaborated with product management to outline the key shots. We then created rough video edits to send to a videographer. The set, model and styling were defined collaboratively with Elvie’s creative team.

The final outcomes:

• 8 videos that take the user through each step of the pumping process.

• 30 self-contained cutdowns to target specific troubleshooting topics (embedded in support articles on elvie.com).

Third touchpoint: packaging

Video diary studies showed us that users often felt disorientated when unboxing Elvie Stride for the first time. They also rarely looked at the printed manual in the box.

Elvie Stride Plus was a subsequent SKU that included a cool bag and other spare parts. We were tasked with designing a more in-depth unboxing experience that included a pumping parts orientation, and a printed Quick Start Guide to get users up and running instantly.

Key outcomes

App guides

Analytics showed that Elvie Stride’s step-by-step guides performed much better than the guides for Elvie Pump. We subsequently updated the original guides to follow the same sequence and style.

Here are some quotes from an independent review that followed these updates:

“I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this pump was to set up. It was even easier to use. The fact that they also have information guides to watch on the app also helps to understand how to pump properly. For most first-time mums this is a GREAT help. I had no idea how to really use a pump as I have never needed one so these videos would really bring comfort to a lot of women who may be starting their breastfeeding and pumping journey.” – Jenny, MFM parent tester

“It’s really easy to use and really quite intuitive, especially with the accompanying app so the instructions are just detailed enough.” – Ausilia, MFM parent tester

Help videos

The Elvie Stride help videos have over half a million views on YouTube to date. You can watch them here.

Packaging

The Elvie Stride Plus packaging designs were also well received. Here are some quotes from a review by Genuine Lactation:

“The packaging was designed to help support the overall consumer experience by making the guides hard to miss!”

“The box is infinitely better.“