Commune Media | Measurably Effective Digital Marketing™

Hospitals-in-Common Laboratory Website Redesign and Analytics Installation

Posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 3:21 PM by Sara Chappel  |  Comments (0)

Challenge

Hospitals In-Common Laboratory (HICL) is a private, not-for-profit corporation that has worked in partnership with Ontario hospitals since 1967.

HICL is Canada’s largest and oldest provider of referred-out medical laboratory services, specializing in complex testing and providing support to academic and industry-sponsored clinical tests. Through its referral network, HICL provides more than 500 medical laboratory procedures.

HICL now occupies a market with stiff competition from for-profit labs such as Gamma Dynacare and Lifelabs. In order to differentiate itself from its competition online and appeal to prospective clients, HICL needed to address the following challenges:

• The website, while functional, was outdated and poorly organized, resulting in regular calls to customer service and obscuring HICL’s long-established credibility
• HICL’s function and its key benefits—experienced staff, leading-edge lab technology, high quality testing and commitment to patient safety—were not expressed clearly through the site design
• HICL’s non-profit status—its key differentiator—was poorly explained
• Without analytics installed on the site, HICL was unable to tell which parts of the website were performing well and which needed to be optimized

HICL Website Before Redesign

Solution

As the first phase in a multi-phase website overhaul project, HICL engaged us to undertake a basic site redesign and install Google Analytics. (Content optimization and other site improvements are to follow in future projects.)

Specifically, we:

• Conducted an audit of HICL’s website pages, reference manuals and online database
• Consulted with key stakeholders to determine priority information and frequently accessed documents
• Streamlined the site’s information architecture, making key information easier to find by combining pages into logical sections and highlighting more resources on first- and second-level pages
• Redesigned and updated the site design to reflect a warm, inviting and professional tone
• Installed Google Analytics to track key pages, database use and reference downloads
• Implemented a regular reporting/recommendation schedule to synthesize Google analytics data and provide strategic implementation suggestions

Results

Since engaging Commune in late 2009, the HICL website has undergone many upgrades.

HICL Website After Redesign

Specific results from these improvements include:

• Improved usability

  The new site features easier access to key company information and the potential to add increased website functionality in the future.

• Renewed focus on HICL’s test database

  This key tool for users (and an important selling point for prospective clients) has received increased attention, and plans are now underway to make it more user-friendly. Google Analytics data revealed that many users were receiving an “Unavailable” result when searching for tests, prompting HICL to work on improving its test search capabilities.

• A more contemporary design

  Colour schemes, typefaces and images were all updated, giving HICL a contemporary face that more closely mirrors industry norms.

• Greater understanding of visitor interaction with website

  The ability to track visitor behavior and performance of key pages—right down to the most searched-for lab tests—has given HICL data it can use to launch further improvements to its offering.

Tags: branding, credibility, google analytics, return on investment, web analytics, website design