SkinVision Improves Customer Experience & Cancer Detection With Branch

About SkinVision

Founded in 2012, SkinVision is a skin cancer awareness and tracking solution. It supports individuals by helping them recognize the most common forms of skin cancer as early as possible. These include melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and precancerous actinic keratosis (AK). 

SkinVision is also the first certified skin cancer application. This certification is based on extensive clinical trials conducted in partnership with Erasmus University Medical Centre (EMC) and the university clinic of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU). In its most recent study, published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (JEADV), researchers determined the app has a sensitivity rating of 95% and specificity rating of 78%.

SkinVision stats

• 1.2 million global users
• 3.5 million pictures of suspicious and benign skin lesions
• Commercially available worldwide on iOS and Android (except in the United States and Canada)
• Amsterdam, the Netherlands headquarters

Challenge

SkinVision’s app helps users identify skin cancer risks by allowing them to upload Smart Check photos of skin spots. The SkinVision algorithm checks for the risk of skin cancer and supplies a recommendation. If a user is low risk, they are encouraged to keep checking the spot every three months. If a user is high risk, they are advised to see a doctor. 

SkinVision is not an app people need to use every day. In fact, after their first few visits, users probably won’t need to use the app again for another three months. Because of this, the SkinVision marketing team has to be thoughtful about how, when, and how often to message users. 

Once a message is sent, usually via email or push notification, SkinVision has to ensure users are directed to the right place in the app depending on where they are in the user journey. For example, if it’s the user’s first time opening the app, they should go through the onboarding flow rather than being asked to upload a photo right away. Conversely, if the user has already onboarded, uploaded a Smart Check photo, and is waiting for results, they should be taken directly to their in-app results rather than landing in a photo upload section again. 

Because the app is a health service, privacy restrictions prevent SkinVision from being able to share most information via email. As a result, much of the communication between SkinVision and its users must take place through the app. This makes it vital for the marketing team to get people into the app to take Smart Check photos, share their risk assessment, disclose whether they visited a physician based on the app’s recommendations, and close the loop by sharing if the recommendation was accurate. 

With all these important aspects in mind, it’s clear that getting the right message to the right user at the right time was a complex challenge SkinVision needed to tackle.

Solution

SkinVision now uses Branch’s mobile linking platform (MLP) in 40 different campaigns. All campaigns are based on the triggers that send users messages, benefits, or promo codes. These then direct people to the right part of the app based on where they are in the customer journey. 

“We needed to make it easier for users to get into the service and download the app,” says Max Ijkelenstam, SkinVision’s Marketing Operations Specialist. “To use a solution like Branch, we know we can trust the service. And after we start using it, we can use all the data to understand where users come from and what their journey is. It was a big part of the decision to use Branch.” 

The two examples below show how many users reenter the app to read SkinVision’s communications about their skin spots and skin health.

Branch enables SkinVision to get users back into the app and to the right place. Before Branch, the team had to guide the user through a complicated series of steps to achieve this, which proved daunting for both the users and the team. 

The use of Branch deep links removes most of the previously required steps. It also greatly reduces the time and resources SkinVision had to spend explaining those steps.  Now, with Branch, users just click a button or scan a QR code, and they are exactly where they need to be. 

“Now it’s just a link that works every time and takes the user to the right place without needing to explain anything,” says Ijkelenstam. 

It’s key for SkinVision to keep communicating with people and make the journey through its app as interesting and helpful as possible. With Branch, SkinVision can add touchpoints, co-branding, and specific journeys for users that make the process more personal.

Branch’s customization also allows SkinVision to co-brand with insurance providers. By using Branch QR codes or Branch deep links, SkinVision is able to ensure users get the right benefits from their insurance providers. Also, through co-branding, users can instantly recognize it’s their own insurance. All this working together leads to a more secure and personalized experience. 

Furthermore, SkinVision is able to include their partners’ Branch links in its messaging to users. This further ensures users continue to have the best experience possible with the SkinVision app.

Results

In using Branch, Skin vision has had 22,000 users access the app and share their skin health within the last six months. They’ve also shared whether they have been to a doctor, how it went, what the outcome was, and if they’re okay.

Users sharing whether SkinVision’s recommendations are accurate is essential to training the AI algorithm. This means that the more people participate, the better the recommendations will be. Accurate pathology reports and clinically-validated results improve the app all around. 

“[Before], when using other systems or just explaining everything, the number of results from users and number of feedback was a lot lower. Having one simple click with Branch makes the journey easier, so there’s been a massive increase in data from users,” says Ijkelenstam.