Hospital Websites: Beauty is in the Eye of the User

In April, we featured a blog post entitled What Do Consumers Want from a Health Plan Website?, which encouraged health plan companies to tailor their sites to consumer needs. But hospitals and clinics should also ensure that their sites don’t leave a user feeling confused and frustrated.

Hospitals face a complex balancing act. On one hand, visitors to a hospital website want to accomplish many tasks, including finding a doctor, getting directions, making an appointment and evaluating the hospital. But they also want clear and concise pages that are user-friendly. In the information age, in which 140 character tweets and text messages rule the air, people want a multitude of information in quick spurts.

The problem is that hospital stakeholders may not even realize that there’s a problem! It becomes automatic for them to click through a series of links or deal with a messy homepage. The best strategy for an employee wishing to revamp the site is to sit down and pretend to be a prospective patient. Picture yourself as a mom whose kid has a weird-looking rash or someone with an emergency.

Once you have taken on a persona, look at your site with their eyes, and focus on four main questions:

The Swedish Medical Center homepage is clear to understand and does not overwhelm the user.

Are you anticipating user needs?

By thinking of the user and why they go to your site, you can ensure that the homepage satisfies the most prevalent needs of your users. Place the most relevant information in easy reach on your hospital’s homepage. Include important phone numbers and location information.

Your homepage should be a hub of quality information without cramming every inch of it with words and links. Make sure your homepage is clean and without pointless distractions.

Searching just “cpmc” results in correct links and even a map of the California Pacific Medical Center campuses.

Are you Google friendly?

This question is basic, but important. Internet users love turning to search engines to get them to the correct site. Make sure that various versions of your hospital name typed into Google lead to the correct site.

The search bar found at the top of every Cleveland Clinic page offers auto-completion for terms entered as well as specific search parameters.

Can I find what I need within three clicks?

New users to your site don’t want to waste time. Make sure the most used or most important pieces of information are on your homepage or just 1-2 (easy to see) clicks away. A Search bar embedded on your site is also a useful tool, but make sure it works quickly and accurately.

Where am I getting frustrated with the site?

If you are getting frustrated with your own website, imagine how users must feel when encountering a swamp of confusing links and unnecessary text. Gauge where your frustration level is the highest and make notes of your location on the site in order to go back and fix the issues later. Though time-consuming, it’s very important to ensure your users have a great experience when dealing with your hospital’s website.

Final Thoughts

Once you have put yourself in the shoes of your users, answered these four questions and identified the problem areas, all that’s left to be done is to fix the issues. Making your website more user-friendly will result in happier patients and increased traffic, both of which can lead to greater revenue for the hospital.