Product naming guidelines
Naming conventions and SOP April 2019
311 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 • 617.402.1000 • athenahealth.com Product naming guidelines Conventions
What’s changed?
Over time, product names at athena have expanded into an extensive house of brands, in which anything from a feature to a product to the team that built it might include “athena-” in front of its name. To strengthen our existing brand and avoid diluting future brands, these guidelines provide a consistent framework for naming products, suites, and features. There are two notable changes:
1. The majority of products, services, and features will have descriptive names. We will drastically limit the number of new names branded with the “athena-” prefix. We will maintain a house of brands only for legacy products and for suites of products.
2. Code names should be used for anything that will be going through the naming process until a final name has been approved. This document outlines that process.
A naming vision that fits our brand
Our new naming vision aligns with the new brand platform.
Nam ing vision: The product’s name should be relevant to and easily understood by the intended audience. The name should evoke the product’s benefits and its transformative potential.
The following pages outline the new naming architecture and conventions and the process for name development, including a naming brief.
311 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 • 617.402.1000 • athenahealth.com
Naming architecture and conventions
All examples that are not current names are used to demonstrate the recommended structure and are not suggested replacements for current names.
Name type Conventions Examples Suite of products Suggestive athenaZ athenaOne
Compound word prefaced by “athena-” with a suggestive name as a suffix.
Legacy brands Suggestive athenaZ athenaClinicals, athenaCollector, Compound word prefaced by “athena-” athenaCommunicator, with a suggestive name as a suffix. athenaCoordinator; Epocrates will stay unchanged due to Epocrates; athenaNet brand equity. Product Descriptive (athenahealth) X Y Population Health
2-3 words that describe the service Performance Data provided and are easily understood Modelling without additional context.
Use “athenahealth” only on first reference on non-owned channels. Feature Descriptive x y schedule manager
2-3 words, with the final word athenaClinicals indicating the form that the feature document classification takes, if applicable. athenaCollector If similar features exist across document classification products, use the product name to differentiate between them. Billing Rules Engine (proprietary name) Unless the feature is proprietary, its name should not be capitalized except reporting dashboard where grammatically appropriate (e.g., template as a title on a piece of content or an athenaNet page). authorization management
medical coding services
311 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 • 617.402.1000 • athenahealth.com
Secondary rules: Apply these after following the conventions on the previous page. Name type Conventions Examples Partner Descriptive athenahealth X Y, by [PARTNER] First reference: services athenahealth Dental Names will vary subject to the terms of Service, by Dentrix the agreement but should aim to Ascend include both the athenahealth brand and the partner brand. Second reference: Dental Service On second reference, only use the descriptive name (X Y). Existing Descriptive X Y for A Data Modelling for product/app Health Plans for new 2-3 words followed by market market Data Modelling for Including the market helps Health Systems (Use only if differentiate between versions of the functionality product and raise awareness of our varies based participation in new markets. on market.) Mobile app Suggestive athenaZ / Epocrates Z athenaCapture (home screen: Capture) 1 word beginning with “athena” or preceded by “Epocrates” and followed athenaWell by a suggestive name.
Target length: 11 characters.
If the full name exceeds 11 characters, then the second half of the name (Z) should be <11 characters and should be able to stand alone on the mobile device home screen. In other places, use the full name.
Including the master brand in the app name aids discoverability and makes the app recognizable on the home screen, while the short, suggestive suffix is memorable for users. Use common search keywords in the subtitle field or as an extension of the name, as the app stores allow.
Apple App Store: • 11 characters on home screen for one-word names; 12 characters for two words Google Play: • 14 characters on home screen Both Google and Apple: • 30 characters in app store listing
311 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 • 617.402.1000 • athenahealth.com Product naming guidelines SOP
Name development for new suites, products, and mobile apps
1. Use code names. In the earliest stages of development, Product teams should use code names to avoid internal adoption of a name that hasn’t been vetted through this process. • For new products generated through acquisitions, use the first letter of the acquired company to create the code name. 2. Conduct market research. Product marketing manager conducts research in preparation for product launch to determine: • Competitors’ names for similar products • Linguistic or cultural considerations: What terminology do our users/medical professionals use when discussing related topics? Are there negative connotations that we should avoid? 3. Complete naming brief and submit to [email protected]. Product marketing manager completes naming brief and circulates among naming committee. 4. Brainstorm names. Naming committee members independently develop list of names for consideration. An initial list for a new product should contain dozens of names, as the vetting process is likely to eliminate many choices. • Note: Please specify if you’d like Creative Services and Brand involved in the brainstorm process upon submitting your brief 5. Identify top choices. Naming committee meets in person to select preferred names and brainstorm additional options if needed. 6. Vet names and submit list to approvers. • Digital landscape: If we will use the name in digital marketing, check social media usage of related terminology and domain name availability, if applicable. If naming a mobile app, search for use of similar names in Apple and Android app stores. • Legal vetting: Submit list of top 5-10 choices to Legal New Requests for review. 7. Release final name. The final name should be in place prior to the beta release.
Nam ing committee: Nam ing approvers (grouped in order of review): • Product Management Director • Product Marketing Lead • Product Marketing Manager • Product Management Lead • Product Management Zone Lead • User Experience Lead • UX Designer Zone Lead • Brand Lead • Legal (for initial consultation on top choices) • Brand/creative • Chief Product Officer • Brand Governance Committee
Name development for partnerships Solutions offered by a partner should follow the conventions outlined in the naming architecture and the process above, with the addition of the partner’s representatives in the committees as needed. Level of branding may vary based on partner terms.
311 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 • 617.402.1000 • athenahealth.com
Name development for new features
1. Use code names. Before new features and services are incorporated into the Release Plan, Product teams should use code names to avoid internal adoption of a name that hasn’t been vetted through the following process. 2. Identify features to be named. After receiving the Release Plan, the designated Product Marketing lead for a service reviews the list of features in development and identifies those that will impact our value proposition and those that will not have a significant impact on our value proposition. This will be determined based on tiers used to classify features, but overall: • Differentiating features: Features that we will market as a key differentiator will go through the naming process outlined below. • Non-differentiating features: All other feature names will be determined by the UX designers and Product Management teams based on their best practices and the naming conventions outlined in this document. 3. Conduct market research. Product marketing manager conducts research for each feature in the upcoming release to determine: • Competitors’ names for similar features • Linguistic or cultural considerations: What terminology do our users/medical professionals use when discussing related topics? Are there negative connotations that we should avoid? 4. Complete naming brief and submit to [email protected]. Product marketing manager completes naming brief and circulates among naming committee. 5. Brainstorm names. Naming committee develops list of names for consideration. • Note: Please specify if you’d like Creative Services and Brand involved in the brainstorm process upon submitting your brief 6. Identify top choices. Naming committee meets to choose list of top 5 choices. 7. Vet names. • Digital landscape: If we will use the name in digital marketing, check social media usage of related terminology and domain name availability, if applicable. • Legal vetting: Submit list of top 5-10 choices to Legal New Requests for review. 8. Review by approvers. Product marketing manager shares list of names with approvers to identify top choice. 9. Release final name. • Names should be released to clients during alpha or, at the latest, beta. • Names should be released internally in the Rosetta Stones developed as part of the release planning process.
Nam ing committee: Nam ing approvers (grouped in order of review): • Product Management Director • Product Marketing Lead • Product Marketing Manager • Product Management Lead • Product Management Zone Lead • User Experience Lead • UX Designer Zone Lead • Brand Lead • Legal (for initial consultation on top choices) • Chief Product Officer • Brand/creative • Brand Governance Committee
311 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 • 617.402.1000 • athenahealth.com Product naming guidelines Naming brief
Part I. Naming requirements 1. Naming committee members: Approvers:
2. Describe what you’re trying to name in one sentence.
3. This is a (check off all that apply):
Brand Suite of products Product Feature in______. Mobile app Partner product/service
4. List the top benefits of this product/feature.
5. Who is the target audience? Does this represent a new market for athena?
Role(s): Segment(s): Care setting: Specialty: New market? (Y/N) Other info:
6. How/where will the name be used? (Check all that apply.) In athenaNet In another application: ______As a standalone application As a domain name In public-facing assets (marketing/sales collateral) Other:______
7. What are the key messages this name should convey?
8. What is the intended effect of the name? How should the audience think or feel differently about athena after hearing this name?
9. What associations should this name avoid? / What other learnings from market research are there?
10. What similar names already exist at athena? / Does this already have an internal name?
11. List competitors’ names for comparable offerings.
311 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 • 617.402.1000 • athenahealth.com
Part II. Names to consider List the top 5-10 choices of the naming committee.
Part III. Recommended name List the proposed, vetted name put forward for final approval.
311 Arsenal Street Watertown, MA 02472 • 617.402.1000 • athenahealth.com