A website is the most important communication and marketing tool for a healthcare institute. In the present healthcare world, a website is considered much more important than just a simple check on the marketing to-do list. It helps to maintain a solid patient base and also provides patients with in-demand online services.
Studies have shown that today 25% of patients look up doctor reviews and 75% of people have used the internet to search a hospital or private practice.
Feeling the need for a website is one thing, but understanding what your website needs is another. You could either leave it to your web designer, or you could research exactly what the top medical practices are doing to their websites to connect with their patients and to effectively communicate their brand.
Take for example the latest trend in web surfing:
The amount of mobile traffic now accounts for more than half of all internet traffic (overtaking traffic from desktop computers), hence healthcare organizations must have a strategy in place or face the risk of losing business.
After conducting thorough research, we have brought the latest trends that the top players in the healthcare market are applying to their websites:
Responsive Web Design:
A responsive web design holds utmost importance for websites of all sectors, including healthcare. A website should be designed for all screen sizes and resolutions. It is referred to responsive web design. This ensures that when a patient opens your site on different devices, it should have the same look and feel instead of a jumbled up display. If your site does not adapt quickly, you are in danger of losing potential patients. Make sure that they work smoothly on smartphones and tablets as they are quickly becoming the access point for patients searching for medical information. Delivering optimal user experience on computers, tablets, and smartphones will ensure your institution’s professional image. Visit Internetport Sverige for web development, server hosting, broadband solutions, telephony, system development and service desk solutions services.
Warmth & Connection:
Warm tones can make your website feel welcoming. In many healthcare website designs, the use of white as a central color adds to the sterile, cold feel.
To create an inviting mood, use white as an accent color alternately.
Speed:
Humans are impatient. People visit a healthcare website to find a solution to their health issues. And trust me, the task to find a solution to your body is very urgent. Here, speed becomes an essential feature that a website can offer to its visitors.
If you go all fingers and thumbs, your website will do your firm no good as you get only 3 – 5 seconds before you lose them if they can’t find what they’re looking for!
A beautiful site is a beautiful site, but if the design is so data-heavy that it takes too long to download, you could be losing a lot of revenue. Even worse is the Google Speed Update that went into effect in July 2018. Now Google has begun prioritizing rankings for sites that load faster than others, and it’s likely that other search engines will follow soon.
Social Media Buttons:
Social media buttons offer an easy way to your website visitors to share your content. Image buttons where your customers can see them. Ask patients to follow you for updates on your social pages. Make sure you provide relevant content and in return, your existing clients may share your content on social media platforms.
A study states that 58% of consumers share their positive experiences with an organization, and ask family members, colleagues, and friends for their opinions about the same on social media.
Customer Referrals:
Some patients come from client-to-client referrals, so these referrals are an amazingly cost-effective way to build your patient base. A well-designed website should help promote and encourage customer referrals. This can happen only if existing patients are proud to recommend your services and website.
Remember that your website will be the first impression on a prospective patient for your business, so make sure it correctly represents your practice and your services.
You can anticipate a minimum of 16% more in profits from referred customers.
Paying attention to your customers and consistently producing a positive experience is necessary to differentiate your business and to ensure continuing customer loyalty. Your website can play a key part in sustaining this customer loyalty and likely lead to a sustainable competitive advantage.
Navigation and Search Capabilities:
An easy navigation and a search bar are no doubt one of the most underused and essential functions of a website. The search function enables a user to easily find a piece of information from your website.
For patients, who have a specific search objective, finding information would be relatively easy. But for patients who are unsure of what to look for, easy navigation is a MUST requirement.
A study advocates that fixed navigation bars can lessen browsing time by up to 22%.
Having the navigation bar to follow the user throughout their on-site time eases the navigability and use of the overall site. Movable navigation bars also work extremely well with flat design concepts, enhancing the professional feel of your site.
Background Videos and Animations:
Motion attaches a dynamic quality to the websites. As bandwidth limitations are continuing to recede, we have seen an increased use of videos and animations as background elements.
Businesses using videos receive 41% more web traffic from search than non-users (Source: SmallBizTrends)
For example, on a healthcare website, a background video might show a positive doctor-patient interaction or lifestyle sequences that depict healthy outcomes or help showcase the facility your healthcare institute provides.
Testimonials:
It is undeniable that patients trust physician judgments and advice but sometimes they tend to hear the other side of the coin from fellow patients. While searching for a new physician, users want to hear about experiences from the patients who sought treatment. Patients can be very good brand ambassadors. They can convey a positive image on your practice via testimonials. A first-time patient listens to the peer-guided advice of a medical practice over a physician’s advice. Patient testimonials is an easy and free marketing tool to broadcast your brand to anyone visiting your site.
Let your website inform the people about your practice and what it has to offer. What is it like to be your patient? Consider whether your images express hope for an active, healthy lifestyle and whether the providers appear caring, helpful, and friendly.
25% of patients look up to doctor reviews to hear other patients’ opinions when seeking a new provider.
Let staff, patients, and their families narrate their stories by submitting their testimonials. Many medical websites also include narrative-based content through blogging. In addition to sharing your brand performance, regular blog posts improve SEO results and increase patient engagement.
Instant Chats:
Instant chat has been a hit across medical website design lately. This feature has been bestowed to the users to help them to communicate in real time. It has shown significant improvements in customer on-boarding. There’s also a rise in automated chatbots. These chatbots can hold conversations with people and provide information about your institution. The interesting part is that these automated bots claim to be a human operator.
Today, more than 30% of customers want live chat on your website.
HIPAA Friendly:
Failure to comply with HIPAA can prove costly. So when your healthcare organization is designing a website, you need to be certain that the appropriate HIPAA compliance measures are in place. Comprehensive HIPAA-compliant website design suggests that careful consideration of HIPAA is integral at every step of the development life cycle for your site.
If you’ve already created your website and it doesn’t comply with HIPAA, it’s not too late to work towards compliance. A healthcare website design company can review your website for HIPAA compliance and security holes, and work with you on implementing a sound, multi-phase approach to making the needed changes.
Your website is an indispensable tool for your healthcare business, and a well-designed site will ensure that customers have a simple, user-friendly experience, and most importantly, the motivation to visit your healthcare institution.
One of the most important but neglected aspects of web design is using a website to build patient loyalty and customer satisfaction. All the above steps can surely help your healthcare website generate the traffic it needs.
Max Effect Marketing has a team that analyzes and understands your business needs and gives you the proper marketing plan that aims at giving your online presence the boost and the ranking you expect. We use latest search engine optimizing tools to enhance the experience of your website audience and the potential customers.
With a proactive, supportive and highly innovative team, Max Effect Marketing is providing its services to companies, nationally as well as internationally.
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