Top 4 Vital Healthcare Website Design Best Practices
May 8, 2024
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Nearly 1 in 4 Americans feel uncomfortable asking their doctor health-related questions and 20% feel confused following an appointment. This begs the question, if patients aren’t asking their providers for clarification, what resources are they relying on?
Recent research indicates that between 67.5% and 81.5% of American adults look online for health-related information, which roughly equates to 6.75 million health-related Google searches per day. People want accessible, reliable, and immediate answers to healthcare questions, and your organization can help provide them.
Top 4 Vital Healthcare Website Design Best Practices
In this guide, we’ll explore four best practices for designing your healthcare website so that you can provide a valuable experience for your online audience. Let’s dive in!
1. Implement intuitive navigation
When an online visitor comes to your website, they should be able to find what they’re looking for quickly. If your website is difficult to navigate, you’ll likely experience a high bounce rate as a result of disengaged visitors. Not to mention, if a visitor comes across a cluttered and slow-loading website, they’ll be less likely to trust your expertise. Follow these recommendations to keep your website navigation easy to follow:
Use a customizable content management system (CMS)
Systems like WordPress are great options to keep your layout clean and easy to update. These systems help organizations maintain functionality while offering a variety of plug-ins, a custom look and feel, and plenty of training videos to get you up and running.
Optimize page speed
No one will be able to access your navigation if your site takes too long to load. You can optimize your page speed by compressing large image files and using tools like PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to get personalized recommendations.
Use a straightforward menu design for headers and footers
Limit your menu to the most relevant pages and consider using a dropdown menu for related pages. Keep your header and footers in consistent positions so that users can easily navigate to another resource without having to scroll. Stay away from mobile navigation on desktop sites. Mobile menus on desktop require users to click more times to get where they need to go and it’s not ADA Compliant.
Implement breadcrumb navigation
Help users understand their current position on your site by using straightforward breadcrumb navigation. It’s especially useful on large sites because breadcrumb navigation allows users to easily backtrack to your homepage or patient portal without getting confused or frustrated. For example, a website’s chronological breadcrumbs might display a user’s historical path of pages visited as follows: Home > About Us > Services > Cardiology > Meet Our Cardiologists.
A well-structured navigation system welcomes visitors and helps them find the information they need. If you’re unsure of how to manage your navigation, consider the top reasons why someone should find themselves on your website. Would they like to schedule an appointment or find updated health tips? Whatever their end goal, make it as simple as possible for them to follow through with clear navigation and intuitive calls to action.
2. Prioritize patient engagement
In addition to maintaining a simple navigation structure, healthcare websites also need to consider how they can keep current and future patients engaged.
This is another instance when it’s helpful to place yourself in the visitor’s shoes while keeping tabs on the latest healthcare website trends. For example, your organization may choose to incorporate the following features to anticipate patient expectations and needs:
Straightforward, uncomplicated language
Healthcare information can be overwhelming for many people. Using complicated language or medical jargon can make organization seem intimidating or unapproachable. Easy to understand language makes your content accessible to everyone, regardless of their level of health literacy. It also builds trust with your current and future patients by establishing your organization as a reliable source, and it’s good for SEO too.
Robust, simple search
For websites with large volumes of information, a simple search tool can be a game-changer. This way, your menu doesn’t have to be overwhelming and visitors can rely on suggestions, filters, and relevant results to find what they need quickly.
Mobile-friendly design
Nearly 60% of all online searches are conducted through a mobile device. Meet patient needs by ensuring your site is mobile-friendly. This means that all fields, menus, and content should load normally and not cause excess scrolling or zooming on mobile.
Voice-search compatibility
Voice-compatibility caters to users who prefer voice-activated search on mobile devices. You can meet these patients’ needs by structuring your content with a conversational tone and using specialized schema markup for voice search results.
Often, your website serves as a valuable first impression or a significant touchpoint during a patient’s health journey. Make it easy for them to communicate with you and incentivize patient engagement with simple and accessible website design.
3. Adhere to HIPAA and HITECH regulations
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was established to protect the privacy of patients by ensuring that protected health information (PHI) remains confidential. The Health Information for Economic and Clinical Care Act, or HITECH Act of 2009, extended HIPAA compliance to healthcare organizations and business associates.
Both of these regulations come into play for any healthcare platform that includes the following features that collect, display, store, or share PHI:
Especially if your website houses patient portals, it’s essential to make it easy for visitors to securely log in and view their electronic health records. This means you’ll need to use industry-standard secure and encrypted connections for patient records, medical histories, lab results, and any other sensitive patient data.
You can keep your messaging secure within patient portals by using email encryption for emails that contain EHR information and including clear, comprehensive privacy notices and terms of use within the patient portal. In simple terms, explain how patient EHR data is handled, accessed, and protected on your website.
4. Consider SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an inbound marketing strategy that helps your website show up on the search engine results page when online users search for you or related terms, leading more users to your website. Three action items your team can tackle to improve SEO are to provide high-value content, keep your site accessible, and maintain consistent branding.
High-value content
Getting Attention suggests varying the types of content on your website to increase your success with SEO. In addition to variation, consider creating content that offers long-term value. For example, you might post new research and updated case studies to educate your population in addition to evergreen resources that provide healthy living best practices.
As the top-ranked hospital in the nation, MayoClinic is a leading example of providing user-friendly, high-value content. Its accessible library of resources enables users to access a detailed overview and next steps for any symptoms or diseases.
Accessibility compliance
Websites that are accessible tend to experience higher search rankings as they cater to a wide variety of users, including those experiencing disabilities. You can make your site more accessible by following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) on every page. For instance, the guidelines point out that in addition to optimizing for mobile accessibility, websites should be mindful of text and hyperlink contrast.
Consistent branding
Consistent branding communicates professionalism and transparency. From an SEO perspective, search engines value cohesive and recognizable branding as a ranking factor. On the other hand, online users looking for updated health information or appointment-scheduling features trust sites with a clean, consistent branding scheme.
This means that your fonts, content, layouts, and imagery should loosely follow the same pattern for each page. If you notice discrepancies, consider putting together a brand guide for you to follow across all digital marketing channels to maintain continuity.
Your future patients are most likely online, and your digital presence needs to welcome them and provide a meaningful experience. Follow these best practices to build your website from the ground up or tweak your existing site with a strategic tune-up. As your organization grows and you welcome more patients, continue to monitor your site and make adjustments.
Who Manifested This Madness?
This fabulous human, that's who.
Monica Maye Pitts
Monica is the creative force and founder of MayeCreate. She has a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with an emphasis in Economics, Education and Plant Science from the University of Missouri. Monica possesses a rare combination of design savvy and technological know-how. Her clients know this quite well. Her passion for making friends and helping businesses grow gives her the skills she needs to make sure that each client, or friend, gets the attention and service he or she deserves.
