Unified Notification Experience
CVS Health Dashboard is a centralized hub for health records and care options. As part of a broader initiative, the team set out to develop a consistent notification strategy across email, SMS, and push notifications to better support customers before and after their healthcare visits.
Discover
The existing email communications lacked consistency across channels and failed to meet accessibility standards. Through a design audit of current email communications, key gaps were identified in timing, frequency, channel type, and overall customer experience. The goal was clear: evaluate the full notification journey and propose a future state that would reduce friction and better inform patients like Sophia, a representative user who relies on timely, clear instructions to manage her health appointments and records.
Define
The core design challenge was to create a customer-centric pre- and post-visit notification experience that aligned multiple lines of business around a single, consistent strategy. Success meant delivering notifications that reduced uncertainty, empowered patients to focus on their health rather than logistics, and provided easy access to health records such as after-visit summaries, vaccinations, and lab results.
Design
With the problem defined, the team moved into an iterative design process focused on building a notification experience that was clear, accessible, and scalable across channels.
Design Audit
The process began with a thorough audit of existing email communications across lines of business. This surfaced inconsistencies in layout, tone, hierarchy, and accessibility compliance that were contributing to a fragmented customer experience.
Ideation and Iteration
With the audit findings, multiple design directions were explored. Early concepts focused on establishing a clear visual hierarchy, improving scannability, and ensuring critical information such as appointment details, preparation instructions, and health record links were easy to find at a glance. Several rounds of iteration refined the layout, content structure, and component patterns.
Prototyping and A/B Testing
Prototypes were developed and put through A/B testing to make informed decisions between design directions. Testing focused on how users engaged with key content areas and calls to action, providing data to validate design choices rather than relying on assumptions.
Responsive Email Template
A core deliverable of this phase was building a responsive email template that would work across devices and screen sizes. Components were designed to be modular and reusable, allowing teams across lines of business to maintain visual consistency without starting from scratch.
Cross-functional Collaboration
Throughout the design phase, close collaboration with multiple lines of business ensured the notification designs accounted for the full end-to-end user journey, not just individual touchpoints. This alignment was critical to delivering a unified experience across email, SMS, and push notifications.
Documentation and Handoff
High-fidelity screens were prepared for developer handoff alongside detailed documentation covering responsive behavior, component usage, and accessibility guidelines. This ensured the design intent was preserved through implementation and gave teams a reference point for future notification work.
Deliver
The redesigned notification system produced measurable results across accessibility and engagement. Three accessibility defects were eliminated, and the email design was elevated from WCAG Level AA to Level AAA compliance. The optimized email achieved a 98% delivery rate, 83% open rate, and 32% click-through rate, establishing a scalable foundation for a consistent notification experience across the customer journey.
Client
CVS Health
Services
Audit, Ideation, Research, Collaboration, Design, File Preparation, A/B Testing
Industry
Healthcare
Credits
Mary Beth Sheehan, Sitarah Zemar, Beatrice Keyzer-Pollard