Ochsner Launches Website with Consumers (and CTAs) in Mind
Amber Welch, director of digital content for Ochsner Health System
We recently spoke with Amber Welch, director of digital content for Ochsner Health System, about Ochsner’s recent efforts in creating its new state-of-the-art website and tracking the results.
eHST: How has the consumerization of healthcare impacted Ochsner Health System and how you operate online and through your website?
AW: Our online patients expect to find what they need through our search functionality just like a Google search. They want us to remember their behavior and serve them relevant content just like Amazon. To put this into a broader perspective, both of these companies represent the expectation for immediacy.
An even greater change is users’ expectations to read reviews and ratings about our facilities and providers, and feel empowered to make their own decisions when choosing their care. Consumers want to be able to “shop” for a provider just like on Amazon and read what others have to say about them before they make decisions.
eHST: What were the challenges with your old website that made you realize it needed to be updated to stay relevant in the rapidly changing landscape?
AW: Our old site had beautiful images and design, but the calls to actions were not prevalent. We needed a new design with clear calls to action that were front and center for the user.
Another major focus was to create a design that was easy to navigate on mobile. With more than 50 percent of our traffic now coming from mobile, we looked at our most highly visited pages and created mobile design mockups where a user could easily navigate and find what they need on a smaller, mobile screen.
Also, with Google leading online search, we needed to create a similar experience where our site search returned relevant results based on keywords and keyword phrasing with features like auto-population and search history.
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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