Covenant Health System Website Case Study

BACKGROUND
As the region’s largest health system, Covenant Health System believes it is their responsibility to provide the best possible care for every one of the 1.2 million people they serve. In the fall of 2006, Covenant Health System was in the midst of a major effort to develop a strategic communications and marketing plan. As a result of these initiatives, Covenant needed to reorganize its interactive functions from multiple Web sites to one singular site that would extend Covenant’s overall brand position and key equity elements online, providing a positive and engaging, holistic user experience that invites users to come back again.

SITUATION
Covenant Health System had multiple sites/many voices. There were 13 Covenant Web sites that looked and sounded different, detracting from Covenant’s ability to control the experience customers had with Covenant through the Web. The previous Covenant Health System Web site was a loosely connected series of Web sites. Over the years, the site had grown periodically without any organization or plan. There was no unified global presence when moving through the various sections and no way for users to know that they were still at the Covenant Web site as they navigated. There was an inconsistent sense of place and an inconsistent, or even non-existent, brand throughout the site. All of this made it extremely difficult for the visitor to use the Covenant site effectively.

This type of Web organization had many downsides, including the following:

  • Made it difficult to manage/control content at the corporate level
  • Decreased ability to cross sell services to consumers
  • Devalued brand equity of www.CovenantHealth.org
  • Diluted Covenant’s brand and therefore the brand experience

OBJECTIVES
Covenant’s Web site is one of the most visible and potentially effective communication channels. Covenant needed to strengthen and maintain its brand through all communication channels, especially Web, to keep up with the dynamic markets and competitive landscape.

The main objective was to re-organize, redesign and brand www.CovenantHealth.org, to position the site as a health care information destination, attracting and influencing patients’ and physicians’ health care purchasing decisions and potential recruits’ interests. Covenant Health System identified several communication goals: To meet these goals, we worked to establish visual design standards, functionality requirements and usability metrics. Other keys to success were also identified: must be intuitive, must draw people in, must give visitors an “exploration experience,” must give visitors the confidence that they are always on the Kelley Web site no matter which section they are visiting.

  • Educate and inform.
  • Promote comprehensiveness.
  • Take care of online business.
  • Attract physician referrals.
  • Promote people and facilities.
  • Promote advanced treatments & technologies.
  • Improve credibility and trust.
  • Make a positive first impression.
  • Clarify the call-to-action.
  • Restructure the site.
  • Communicate key features and benefits.
  • Update resources.
  • Customize and personalize information.

Other keys to success were also identified: must be intuitive, must draw people in, must give visitors an “exploration experience,” must give visitors the confidence that they are always on the Kelley Web site no matter which section they are visiting.

APPROACH
Proper planning and organization from the beginning of this project was the most important part of creating an effective Web site for Covenant Health System. Finelight worked extensively with the client to establish the scope, budget, timeline, production schedule, basic structure, visual style, technical needs, content, target audience and primary message to be conveyed.

CONCLUSION
Because of the project’s scale and importance, the client was interested in a design process that would reduce risks in delivering on the project goals. With that in mind, Finelight was able to apply critical usability methods and research techniques throughout the project.

The redesign accomplished:

  • An information architecture with improved categorization and labeling that achieved shorter, simpler tasks and greater cross-site consistency
  • A greater consistency across service lines
  • A standardized approach to navigation and global brand elements
  • An improved design based on Web behavior trends and usability feedback
  • Greater accessibility
  • A new site structure that makes it easier to implement future design improvements and apply those improvements consistently across the whole site
  • The means to make rapid conversions for updates

RESULTS
Finelight has only recently completed the Web site redesign that reflects the new brand identity and provides a more cohesive, user-friendly experience. Covenant Health System partnered with Finelight to develop a site that makes it easy to find information while also providing solid content and functionality. Covenant Health System took the time to step back and analyze the business objectives of the site and overall internet efforts, and to develop a long-term plan for getting the most from this communication channel. A tiered launch is scheduled for 2007.