Website designHealthcare marketing strategy3 min read Making the case for a website redesign

Does your healthcare management team only see dollars when you present the idea of a website redesign? Maybe their mentality is, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” So why even approach them about a website design? It’s simple: Because your website can actually be costing your organization business.

It helps to start by understanding your management team’s perspective. Their pain points are likely to include resources (both monetary and staff), a lack of understanding about the value of an updated website, and return on investment. The more data you can collect to make your case, the more likely you are to be successful.

Get your ducks in a row

To justify a new website redesign, and to understand why an outdated site might be costing you healthcare consumers, start with a thorough assessment of your current site. Know your current stats and performance factors so that you understand where your weaknesses are:

• Was your website built more than 4 years ago? Technology moves fast and, to keep your consumers on your site, your website must be able to keep up with the changes.
• Is your website getting the traffic you want? The foundation of your website has a huge impact on your search engine optimization and browser results. How your site was built could be a system problem throughout your platform.
• Is your website cumbersome to update? If your content management system is not user-friendly, you probably aren’t updating your site as much as you should be.
• Does your site look bad on mobile? This year, 55% of page views came from mobile phones. In addition, 57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile.
• Are your third-party tools outdated? Are they slowing down your site speed? While the use of third-party tools can add functionality to your website, they can become outdated over time and do more harm than good.
• Does your website offer a poor user experience? Consumers are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience. Understanding your consumers’ behavior can help you create a more functional and enjoyable experience.
• Is your website optimized for speed? 83% of visitors expect a web page to load in less than 3 seconds.

Making your case

Defend your case with data. If you can present substantiated facts about the current state of your website and what an outdated site might be costing your organization, you are in a better position to make your case. Here are six indicators to help you justify a new website with your hospital administration team:

1. The data you have obtained in your assessment shows that your current site isn’t working.
2. You’re getting outranked in search engine results.
3. Value can come from a website that is fresh and highly functional.
4. The habits of your users, such as mobile use, is not adequately supported by your current website.
5. A redesign would more closely support your organization’s high-level goals.
6. Your website is lacking functionality that your competitors offer.

Once you have leadership buy-in, finding the right fit with an agency will ensure that you end up with a website that delivers real results. Make sure that agency specializes in healthcare and has a great track record with other hospitals.

We’re here to help

We'd love to talk with you about your website needs and how we can help. Give us a call at 888.805.9101 or email us.

If you'd like to find out more about us before you call or email, we invite you to see examples of our work and read about our website design and development services.