What We Can Learn from Amazon Pharmacy’s Approach to Trust
In healthcare, the real product isn’t the pill — it’s trust.
My wife and my mother told me about their struggles in the doctor’s office. They felt unheard, and their concerns were frequently dismissed altogether. By contrast, I keep a small note on my phone where I log questions and issues throughout the year so I can bring them up at my limited annual visits. It’s a simple system, but it empowers me to advocate for myself. When I shared this approach, they told me that even with such a list, their key concerns would feel unwelcome or brushed aside. While they’ve since found physicians who truly listen and look beyond surface-level issues, that journey took time, patience, and a deeply personal touch.
It left me wondering: if trust is so fragile and personal in a healthcare dynamic, how could a giant like Amazon possibly build trust in healthcare? What chance did they have to meet patients where they are?
Trust is a scarce currency in healthcare. Public trust in physicians and hospitals dropped dramatically, from 71.5% in April 2020 to just 40.1% by January 2024. (1) Patients constantly navigate opaque pricing, unclear processes, and inconsistent service, all while making critical decisions about their health. In this environment, traditional pharmacies often feel like faceless intermediaries rather than partners.
Amazon Pharmacy flipped that script. Rather than focusing solely on logistics or discounts, Amazon approached pharmacy as an opportunity to build a “trust machine” combining transparency, logistical excellence, and simplicity into every touchpoint.
Instilling trust through transparency, from the first click, Amazon addresses price opacity by showing upfront costs with and without insurance, providing clear comparisons to local pharmacies. This instant clarity removes one of the most significant traditional friction points and signals to users: “We have nothing to hide.”
I know a colleague who didn’t realize how many medications he was taking to manage his autoimmune issues. We counted up seven prescription medications he was managing simultaneously. Even with great healthcare insurance, juggling co-pays and approval forms, his pharmacy visits were still a headache. For people without coverage, these challenges (along with opaque pricing ) can be crushingly expensive and emotionally draining. “Nearly 20% of Americans report not filling at least one prescription due to cost… and nearly 10% spend over $100/month when uninsured.” (2)
Next comes logistics. Amazon didn’t reinvent delivery; it leveraged its world-class fulfillment network to ensure fast, reliable prescription shipments. By consistently meeting or exceeding expectations, Amazon converts initial trust into habit, which becomes a built-in feature, not an afterthought. Even better, it builds on the trust that already exists: you already trust Amazon to deliver your AA batteries (one of its top sellers), and they leverage that foundation to deliver your medications on time. They also achieve this through intelligent acquisitions, such as PillPack, a trusted brand that simplifies the management of multiple medications for patients. It’s an excellent service.
One quick tangential note:
Product Managers entering a new organization: building trust in you is achieved in the same manner. Small, incremental, valuable delivery, over time, allows you to build the social equity necessary to ask for the bandwidth and resources for Big Bets later. I plan to develop this thought further in a future article to help PMs get up to speed in a new organization quickly and efficiently. Stay tuned.
Communication is the final pillar. Instead of cryptic messages or pharmacy calls, Amazon offers clear, proactive updates throughout the process. Refills are automatic, reminders are timely, and support is accessible around the clock. Every detail reinforces the idea: “We’re handling this, and you can relax.”
The core insight for Builders and Product Leaders? We can’t bolt trust on later. We must design it from the ground up. Trust is not a marketing campaign; it’s a product feature embedded in operational processes, user experience, and even pricing (and pricing transparency in most cases).
Lessons for smaller teams and startups:
Start small, build consistently
Even without Amazon-scale logistics, you can introduce transparent pricing, predictable service levels, and proactive communication. I began my career as a Customer Service Representative, so being close to the customer is near and dear to my heart. These relationships are crucial to creating successful brands over time, whether they are small or large.
Design for clarity:
Avoid jargon, hidden fees, or surprise steps. The simplest path builds the strongest trust.
Operationalize trust:
Turn trust into explicit product requirements —> measure and improve it like any other feature.
Takeaway Tools: How Might a Telehealth Company Operationalize Trust?
Define and measure trust explicitly (Ask the patient)
- Use a patient-reported trust score after each session (e.g., “How much did you trust your provider/process today?”)
- Set a benchmark (e.g., average above 4.5 out of 5)
Turn trust into product requirements
- Display verified provider credentials, experience, and reviews clearly
- Provide transparent, plain-language privacy policies and an onboarding privacy walkthrough
- Guarantee reliable connections with fallback options (e.g., auto-switch to audio)
Embed trust signals throughout the experience
- Show real-time data security indicators
- Display provider activity status (e.g., “active now,” “last login”)
Include trust in team KPIs
- Tie trust score improvements to product and engineering goals
- Set SLAs for resolving trust-related support issues
Audit and iterate regularly
- Run quarterly trust audits using surveys and analytics
- Prioritize backlog items that improve or protect trust
Every detail reinforces the idea: “We’re handling this, and you can relax.”
In my product leadership journey, I’ve seen the difference firsthand. In one case, we introduced new AI into a previously human-centric clinical workflow. When we, as product leaders, neglected trust, adoption stagnated, and support tickets piled up. No one wanted to use the AI, and when they did, they were largely unhappy with it. Later, we prioritized transparent processes and brought in a small group of clinical leaders to test it and serve as examples for others. Clinicians began to see more reliable outcomes, user adoption improved, and productivity skyrocketed compared to its initial rollout.
Amazon Pharmacy’s example proves that in healthcare and many other verticals, trust isn’t just a value; it's a necessity. It’s the product. Build it deliberately, and everything else follows.
Have you designed trust as a product feature in your own work? Share your stories below — I’d love to hear them.
Learn more at www.SeanLAdams.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.
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About the Author
Sean L. Adams is a Director of Product Management with 15+ years of experience driving platform transformation and organizational change across healthcare, fintech, and SaaS. He specializes in building high-performing teams, aligning business strategy with product execution, and modernizing legacy systems into scalable, future-ready platforms.
Learn more at www.SeanLAdams.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.
