If you are looking to create a patient-centric healthcare website, you must understand patient emotions and design with emotion in mind. You must also understand that patients don’t know much about the medical field, and therefore, they need information and advice from experts. That’s why you need to provide actionable content to build trust between you and your patients. Previously, experts would hoard their knowledge for fear of being replaced, but now, the opposite is true – knowledge empowers consumers, and empowered consumers keep coming back to your website for more and conversion.
ADA guidelines
To achieve ADA compliance for healthcare websites, you must comply with certain standards, such as ensuring that the content and layout of the website are accessible for users with disabilities. This means creating a website that offers features that allow users to customize their viewing experience, such as text resizing and increased line spacing. The ADA also requires websites to enable the use of assistive technologies, such as voice readers.
You can check whether your website is accessible by using a website accessibility tool. Some tools offer a page-by-page accessibility checker, while others offer detailed information. The most popular tool is WAVE by WebAIM, which breaks down a website into its individual components.
HIPAA compliance
If you’re considering a healthcare website design, HIPAA compliance is of critical importance. Approximately 80 percent of U.S. adults use the internet to research healthcare providers. And 63 percent of these respondents choose a medical provider based on their online presence. It’s vital for medical providers to ensure that their websites are HIPAA-compliant to avoid costly fines and penalties.
HIPAA compliance also requires securing data transmission. For example, if your website contains web forms, you must use Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to protect patient information. This ensures that no one can access or modify the information that a patient enters.
Long-form content
When it comes to healthcare website design, long-form content can be a valuable tool. The content can give prospective patients the information they need to decide if they want to schedule an appointment. By presenting evidence-based practices, long-form content helps them feel more at ease. This can ultimately lead to more new patients for your practice. However, the content must be well-written and easily shared.
If possible, include reviews from patients as they can be a great resource for your healthcare website design. Patients are often intrigued by testimonials, and testimonials can help you stand out from the crowd among other healthcare providers. This can help increase brand awareness, increase leads, and improve customer retention.
Accessibility
Healthcare website design should be accessible for all users, including people with disabilities. This means ensuring compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. This means making all buttons clickable, using descriptive labels in form fields, and avoiding pop-ups. It also means including short alt text for images.
Another key component of accessible healthcare website design is clear calls to action (CTAs). These actions should be clear and easily accessible for everyone. These actions can be anything from scheduling options to contact information. Inclusion of CTAs can improve your campaign’s results and drive traffic. It can even impact your product and service lines.
Mobile responsive design
One of the most important components of your healthcare website is its mobile responsive design. This type of website is crucial to getting noticed online because most Internet users search for healthcare information on their phones. Additionally, Google uses mobile versions of websites to rank and index them, so if your site is not mobile-responsive, you could find yourself falling behind your competition.
Another important feature of a mobile-friendly healthcare website is its ease of navigation. Visiting a website that is difficult to navigate or whose text is difficult to read is not a great way to engage with potential patients. Color-blind people, for example, may have trouble reading text that is too small. Even people with normal vision may have a hard time seeing small print.
