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Website design for healthcare involves various areas of expertise. It requires meticulous attention to navigation considerations, design principles, and branding best practices — with the ultimate goal of delivering a modern and seamless user experience (UX) to keep visitors on websites and drive conversions.
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However, website UX design has evolved rapidly to respond to advancing technologies and shifting customer expectations. What worked in the past may no longer achieve the same results. For instance, some design elements, like rotating homepage images, may even hurt your website experience.
So, how should you design an outstanding UX for your website? We asked Erica Pierce, Creative Director and Spot On Partner, to share her insights on how UX is evolving and the most critical UX components health tech companies should focus on.
UX includes all interactions users have with a product or service. Website UX design aims to provide meaningful experiences to visitors through branding, usability, functionalities, content, and visual design.
"UX is critical in website design for healthcare because prospects won't stay on your site or come back for more content if it fails to provide a satisfactory experience. People who have a hard time finding relevant information or interacting with your content won't take the next step to progress down the sales funnel, like requesting a demo," says Pierce.
UX is the backbone of a high-converting healthcare website. But what should you focus on? Let's take a look.
When you review your website analytics, you may notice a growing number of visitors using mobile devices to access your content. This trend will only continue, and your website must deliver a mobile-friendly experience to accommodate this pattern. A website without mobile optimization can be hard to read or navigate on smartphones and tablets — potentially turning leads away.
"We must shift from the old way of doing things — designing for desktop first and then adapting the site for mobile — to prioritizing healthcare mobile marketing. This approach is particularly critical if a significant amount of your traffic comes from mobile users," says Pierce.
Some design elements can cause disrupted UX and distract users from your core messaging. "The top offenders are homepage sliders and video backgrounds," says Pierce. "They make it hard for visitors to focus on the content you want them to digest, like understanding your brand and solution."
B2B decision-makers are busy. They won't spend the time and energy to parse through your content to figure out how your solution can help them. You must get to the point by eliminating distractions so visitors can tell immediately what you do, whom you do it for, and how you do it the moment they land on your site. Follow the five-second rule — covered later — to deliver a modern UX.
When promoting a software product, you should highlight its innovative qualities. Having a modern-looking website is a key component of showcasing your cutting-edge solution. "Would you trust a company with an outdated website with your software and technology solutions?" says Pierce. "A modern, cutting-edge website and UX design helps you draw the connection and project the right brand image."
While awards and badges build credibility, putting them front and center could distract visitors from your core message. "Prospects care more about their pain points and challenges than the awards you've won," says Pierce. "They first need to know you can help them before becoming interested in your accomplishments."
The same idea applies to news and highlights about your company. Although sharing these updates helps engage prospects further down the funnel, they could distract visitors from your value proposition and understanding how your solution or service is relevant to them.
Here's the cold, hard truth: You invest hours writing content and designing your website, but visitors typically spend less than a minute on each page. It takes them even less time to decide if your product or service makes sense for them. That’s why your website design must prioritize speed and simplicity. If a user can't figure out what your website or solution is about within five seconds, you'll likely lose them.
A streamlined webpage must answer critical questions running through your prospect's mind in the first five seconds:
Conduct a five-second test to see how quickly pages engage your online visitors. You're on the right path if they stay on your site longer, click on several elements of your website, and ultimately request more information.
The five-second rule also applies to load speed. Forty percent of visitors would abandon a website if it takes more than three seconds to load — the time is even shorter for mobile users. After all, good design is only effective if users stay long enough to engage with your content.
Website UX design has many nuances and subtleties. And implementing and maintaining components that go into a successful, modern website require close tracking of evolving standards for high-quality design. "Our clients rely on us to point things out and apply the latest best practices to meet user expectations," says Pierce. "Sometimes, they may have an idea, and we advise against it if it negatively impacts the user experience. We consider everything from legibility and clarity to load time and mobile-friendliness to ensure the content is accessible from any device — especially with the rise of healthcare mobile marketing."
Ready to set a solid foundation for your healthcare website? Partnering with an experienced healthcare website design company helps you take the guesswork out of the UX design process.
Spot On helps healthcare companies develop and implement a holistic website strategy, starting with user experience design. We’ll work with you to create a fresh, on-brand website that clarifies your message and gives customers a clear path to convert. Schedule a meeting with one of our experts to see how we can help you build a solid foundation for your online marketing strategy.
