Analysing Healthcare App Satisfaction: Predictive Analytics Using

Stepwise Regression to Identify Key Factors

Arun Mittal

, Nirmal Singh

, D. D. Chaturvedi

and Priyank Kumar Singh

Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra Ranchi, Off Campus: Noida, Noida, India

Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

School of Management, Doon University, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

Keywords: Healthcare App, Customer Satisfaction, COVID-19 Pandemic.

Abstract: Healthcare applications have become essential tools for individuals seeking diverse health-related services.

These applications span from tracking fitness and reminding users to take medication to provide telemedicine

services. Their importance has been highlighted, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, where these

apps played a vital role in improving user satisfaction with public health management. A contented user is

more inclined to consistently interact with the app, follow prescribed treatment plans, and promote its use

among their circle of friends and family. The researcher considered 297 healthcare app users to conduct the

study survey and know the different factors that determine Customers' Satisfaction with Healthcare Apps

usage and the impact of different factors determining healthcare app usage on customers' satisfaction. The

study concludes that providing intuitive guidance, Value for money, saving time, user-friendly interfaces, and

Privacy protection have a significant impact on customers' satisfaction with healthcare apps usage.

1 INTRODUCTION

Healthcare apps have become indispensable tools for

users seeking various health-related services, with

applications ranging from fitness tracking and

medication reminders to telemedicine services. Their

significance has been further underscored during the

COVID-19 pandemic, where these apps played a

crucial role in enhancing users' contentment with

public health governance (Cao et al., 2022). However,

not all healthcare apps are equally successful in

attracting and retaining users. A satisfied customer is

more likely to engage with the app consistently,

adhere to prescribed treatment plans, and advocate for

its use among friends and family. Therefore,

exploring the multifaceted elements that contribute to

customer satisfaction is essential for healthcare

providers, app developers, and policymakers alike.

In understanding the determinants of customer

satisfaction for healthcare app usage, the importance

of functionality and intended health effectiveness

emerges as a central theme (Alnsour et al., 2017).

When healthcare apps effectively fulfil their intended

purpose while maintaining simplicity and appeal,

they tend to garner positive evaluations from users.

At the same time, overly complex functionalities that

are not seamlessly integrated can lead to negative

evaluations. Striking the right balance between

adding functionalities and preserving user appeal is

crucial for long-term user engagement and

satisfaction.

The proliferation of mobile health applications

(mHealth apps) in the healthcare landscape highlights

the critical factors influencing user satisfaction.

Usability, scientific validation, and ethical

considerations play pivotal roles in shaping user

satisfaction. Usability factors such as user-friendly

interfaces and reliable data recording are vital, as is

the assurance that information provided is

scientifically validated (Pires et al., 2020). Adherence

to ethical principles, like privacy protection and

trustworthiness, is also important in fostering user

confidence and satisfaction. Features such as plans or

orders, export of data, usability, and Value for money

affect user ratings. Users highly value apps that save

time, provide intuitive guidance for condition

management, and allow data sharing with designated

individuals. Interestingly, the tracker feature, while

negatively correlated, is positively linked with the

export of data and usability features, suggesting that

an efficient tracking process and meaningful output

display are essential for users' evaluation (Mendiola

et al., 2015).

514

Mittal, A., Singh, N., Chaturvedi, D. and Singh, P.

Analysing Healthcare App Satisfaction: Predictive Analytics Using Stepwise Regression to Identify Key Factors.

DOI: 10.5220/0012874200003882

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR-2 2023), pages 514-518

ISBN: 978-989-758-723-8

By exploring the role of mHealth apps during

critical public health concerns like the COVID-19

pandemic, assessing functionality and appeal,

examining usability, scientific validation, and ethical

considerations, and delving into specific app features,

this paper aims to provide valuable insights for

healthcare app development and marketing.

Understanding and enhancing these elements is

pivotal for fostering customer satisfaction and loyalty

in the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare apps.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

The study by Wu et al. (2022) reveals that perceived

reliability and online reviews significantly impact

users' intention to continue using healthcare apps,

particularly mobile health applications (mHealth

apps). These factors positively influence users' e-

satisfaction, with e-satisfaction playing a mediating

role. Habit formation is identified as crucial in

sustaining mHealth app usage, emphasizing the

importance of fostering user habits for app success. A

strong habit reinforces the connection between e-

satisfaction and the willingness to continue using

these healthcare apps. Online reviews and perceived

reliability are key elements influencing continued app

usage due to the availability of reliable health

information.

Health apps have the potential to contribute to

senior health promotion, yet they often struggle with

low user retention rates. To enhance continued usage

of health apps among them it is important to foster

health technology self-efficacy and self-evaluative

outcome expectations. Knowledge about technology

and better usage of it can enable older adults to get

better accessible healthcare and promoting senior

friendly app design for health apps can improve long

term health behaviours in this demographic (Kim &

Han, 2021).

Anderson et al. (2016) investigated the factors of

consumer engagement with healthcare apps,

emphasizing the factors shaping customer

satisfaction, and found that key elements influencing

user behaviour and satisfaction are app usage

patterns, engagement themes, gamification, medical-

purpose apps, device convenience, perceived self-

management benefits, and integration with healthcare

professionals. With a growing demand for self-care,

especially among the elderly managing chronic

conditions, it's crucial to understand how users

interact with these electronic self-monitoring tools.

In a study by Pal et al. (2023), the focus was on

user experiences and satisfaction with mobile health

(mHealth) platforms, which gained prominence

during the COVID-19 pandemic. They identified key

factors influencing user experiences, including time,

cost, convenience, responsiveness, and availability.

These factors were categorised into two dimensions:

strategic adoption and motivational association. They

also highlighted the significance of review sentiment

in shaping brand perception and enjoyable

motivation, especially in aspects like online booking

and video consultations.

User satisfaction with healthcare apps,

particularly during public health crises like COVID-

19, relies on factors such as functionality,

performance, and meeting expectations, with a

specific focus on features like vaccination. This

satisfaction significantly impacts app usage. App

developers and policymakers must prioritise

improving aspects like functionality, information,

performance, security, design, and overall quality to

ensure user satisfaction and effective app utilization,

especially during such critical times (Samsuri et al.,

2022).

Users share their app experiences through various

types of reviews, including bug reports, feature

requests, performance evaluations, and user interface

feedback. It is important to identify categories like

bugs, usability, and performance, which are key

factors in determining user satisfaction with

healthcare apps as by improving these aspects based

on user feedback, app developers can enhance

customer satisfaction (Al Kilani et al., 2019).

Yu & Huang (2020) studies how to enhance user

experiences and satisfaction in yoga apps, particularly

the Daily Yoga app and identified sense, feel, think,

act, and relate as key factors that influences user

satisfaction. This highlights the significance of an

attractive interface, data record, and yoga classes in

improving user satisfaction.

Reddy et al. (2022) examined factors impacting

consumer satisfaction with healthcare apps in the

context of telemedicine during the COVID-19

pandemic in India and found high user satisfaction

but also the need for app interface improvements.

Critical factors influencing consumer attitudes

include reliability, proximity to health services, and

overall user experience, with age, education, and

income influencing perceptions. These apps have

reduced patient exposure and enabled remote care,

emphasizing their importance.

Fu et al. (2023) explored the complex landscape

of user satisfaction and continued usage intention of

m-health management apps, an area that is

increasingly vital in the context of modern health

assistance programs and found that the factors driving

m-health app success and customer loyalty mostly

depends on aligning app features with genuine user

desires. Ultimately, these insights have significant

practical implications for businesses and researchers,

guiding them in making informed decisions to

Analysing Healthcare App Satisfaction: Predictive Analytics Using Stepwise Regression to Identify Key Factors

515

enhance app functionality and better meet user needs,

thereby ensuring long-term business success in the

ever-evolving m-health landscape.

As people become more health-conscious,

healthcare apps have become popular and it has

become important to consider social factors like

subjective norms and personal factors such as how

users feel while using the app, their awareness of

health, and strategies for changing behaviour while

analysing user response to these apps. The extent to

which users find the apps useful and easy to use

directly influences their experience using them, and

the behaviour-changing techniques all affect whether

they'll keep using the app. Satisfaction plays a role in

this too. How health-conscious someone is can affect

how useful and easy they find the app, and how

satisfied they are with it (Yan et al., 2021).

The perception of vulnerability positively affects

users' belief in their abilities and the effectiveness of

protective actions, shaping their attitudes and

continued app usage. The presence of network

externalities, both direct and indirect also plays a vital

role in determining user attitudes, which, in turn,

impact ongoing app use. Direct network externalities

indirectly affect usage behaviour through attitudes

that serve as a key mediator between psychological

factors and continued usage, although other mediators

may exist. Demographic factors such as age and

education level also influence users, with older and

more educated individuals exhibiting higher self-

efficacy, response efficacy, and a stronger intention

to keep using m-health apps (Luo et al., 2021).

3 OBJECTIVES

• To explore the factors determining customer

satisfaction for healthcare app usage.

• To ascertain the impact factors determining

healthcare app usage on customers'

satisfaction.

4 METHODOLOGY

The researcher considered 297 healthcare app users to

conduct the study survey and know the different

factors that determine Customers' Satisfaction with

Healthcare app usage and the impact of different

factors determining healthcare app usage on

customers' satisfaction.

5 DATA ANALYSIS

Table 1: Factors determining customers' satisfaction.

S. No

Factors determining customers'

satisfaction

1. Fitness tracking

2. Reliable data recording

3. User-friendly interfaces

4. Scientifically validated information

5. Privacy protection

6. Trustworthiness

7. Value for money

8. Save time

9. Provide intuitive guidance

10.

Allow data sharing with designated

individuals

Table 2: Model Summary.

Model R R Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of the

Estimate

1 .723

.522 .520 .57752

2 .747

.558 .555 .55664

3 .758

.575 .571 .54645

4 .764

.584 .579 .54140

5 .769

.591 .584 .53791

To evaluate the necessity of dimensions of different

factors in predicting customer satisfaction, stepwise

multiple regression was applied. Table 2 shows

multiple linear regression model summaries and

overall fit statistics for the dependent variable

customer’s satisfaction with healthcare app usage.

The multiple correlation coefficient of model 1 is

.723, indicating approximately 52% of the variance of

customer satisfaction could be accounted for Provide

intuitive guidance. The multiple correlation

coefficient of model 2 is .747, indicating

approximately 55% of the variance in customer

satisfaction could be accounted for by providing

intuitive guidance and Value for money. The multiple

correlation coefficient of model 3 is .758, indicating

approximately 57% of the variance in customer

satisfaction could be accounted for by providing

intuitive guidance, value for money, and Saving time.

The multiple correlation coefficient of model 4 is

.764, indicating approximately 58% of the variance in

customer satisfaction could be accounted for by

providing intuitive guidance, Value for money,

Saving time, and User-friendly interfaces. The

multiple correlation coefficient of model 5 is .769,

indicating approximately 59% of the variance of

customer satisfaction could be accounted for by

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providing intuitive guidance, Value for money,

saving time, User-friendly interfaces, and Privacy

protection.

The results of ANOVA indicate that the

dependent variable (customer satisfaction) is

statistically and significantly predicted by the

independent variables (Providing intuitive guidance,

Value for money, saving time, User-friendly

interfaces, and Privacy protection) across all the

models.

Table 3: Coefficients.

Model

Unst.

Coeff.

St. Coeff.

t Sig.

Std.

Erro

Beta

(

Constant

)

.221 .198 1.116 .265

Provide

intuitive

uidance

.280 .080 .282 3.507 .001

Value for

mone

.190 .068 .182 2.794 .006

Save time .271 .082 .264 3.305 .001

User-friendly

interfaces

.083 .037 .092 2.246 .025

Privacy

rotection

.097 .044 .092 2.191 .029

DV: Customer Satisfaction

Table 3 shows that there is a significant impact of

Provide intuitive guidance, Value for money, saving

time, User-friendly interfaces, and Privacy protection

on customers' satisfaction with healthcare app usage.

Figure 1: Impact of different factors determining

Customers' satisfaction for healthcare apps usage.

Figure 1 shows the unstandardized beta values for

each independent variable with its relationship to the

dependent variable. It may be interpreted from the

values that Provide Intuitive Guidance as the most

important variable with a beta value of .282 followed

by Save Time with (.264), Value for Money (.192),

User-Friendly Interface (.092) and Privacy Protection

(.092).

6 CONCLUSION

Healthcare apps have evolved into indispensable

tools for individuals seeking a range of health-related

services. From monitoring fitness and sending

medication reminders to offering telemedicine

services, these applications play a crucial role. Their

significance became even more pronounced during

the pandemic, where they played a vital role in

enhancing user satisfaction with public health

management. A satisfied user is more likely to engage

consistently with the app, adhere to prescribed

treatment plans, and advocate for its use in their

network. The study was conducted to know the

impact of different factors determining healthcare app

usage on customers' satisfaction. It is found that

factors like Providing intuitive guidance, Value for

money, saving time, User-friendly interfaces, and

Privacy protection have a significant impact on

customers' satisfaction with healthcare app usage.

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