We just launched our redesigned and restructured Bernafon website. We are happy and proud of our accomplishment. But we know, in the digital world, optimizing is an ongoing task. We have more improvements ahead of us. Here is a bit about how we have worked and what tools we have used to do an optimization of our website in the hopes that it could help you with your own website optimization project.
In the digital world, optimizing is an ongoing task.
Tanja Lottaz
Bernafon website redesign and restructuring
The Bernafon website is directed towards both hearing aid users and hearing care professionals. With two different target audiences with different needs, it is important to address both with the content they are looking for.
To learn more about our target audiences and their needs, we worked with the following two approaches:
User journey
We mapped out the user journey for each target audience with the questions they might have during the different phases of the user journey. We defined the information and content needed by the users in each phase. This is helpful to create content that the website user needs. Addressing what the user is looking for gives them a better user experience. If you would like to learn more about how to work with user journeys, visit this blog.
Poll survey
To find out who is using our website, we added a poll survey on the Bernafon website. If a user browsed the website for about 45 seconds, a survey popped up. We asked them 2 questions: who they were and what information they were looking for. This helped us to see who is using our website and what information they needed. This is helpful to balance out the importance of content and format for each target audience. The content can be in various levels of detail depending on the knowledge of the user. We used the online solution hotjar for this survey
Furthermore, we believed we needed a better user experience of the website. Within our website it was not easy to find the information desired. The structure was interlaced. We decided on the following 3 tasks to improve the structure and the user experience:
- Search engine optimization
- Internal review and feedback
- Navigation benchmark
Search engine optimization (SEO)
For the web update and the restructuring, we invested a lot of effort into SEO to make our website more visible on search engines. For that we analyzed what search terms are used around the hearing aid industry and by the potential hearing aid user. We added these search terms within the text on the relevant web pages.
Search engine optimization has many technical aspects which are not visible to users. We worked intensively with our developers and designers to make our website better with regards to SEO.
Internal review and feedback
We have a backlog where we store all the feedback that we receive. We also reached out to relevant website users and stakeholders to give us feedback and reviews. We gathered all the reviews and bundled them into a list. We went through the list and gave the inputs priorities. Some of the inputs became requirements for new developments of the website and others resulted in new content pages or additional content on existing pages.
Navigation benchmark
One big issue was the navigation on the website. We were restricted by the fact that it had only one level of navigation and no sub navigation. The user was navigating with links placed within the page to other pages. Many pages were not accessible via the navigation.
We investigated what others have as navigation and made a list of the pros and cons of different solutions. This list showed us the kind of navigation that suited our needs the best. With this direction, we sat together with the designer and developers to create the new navigation.
Several experts worked together in the Bernafon website optimization project and many people from different areas were involved. It is always relevant to involve people with different points of view to challenge your thinking. Sometimes you get surprised when people see or do things completely differently than you thought.
We took the opportunity to review all our digital design across channels and changed some design elements for a more unified look. The outcome of all the steps above and more, helped us to define and develop the solution that we have just launched. A big “thank you” to everyone for their support and effort in creating this new website.
What now? What can you do for your own website?
You may not have a team of experts to support you with your website. But here are some tips that can help you improve your own website.
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Think about the questions your clients often ask you during their appointments. This can help you define content that you could add to your website that will give your clients the answers they are looking for. Your website will become more relevant and get a better ranking on search engines. This will not only help you with your visibility on search engines but will also give the website visitors a better user experience. For more about content optimization read our blog post about SEO basics.
Collect feedback
Ask friends and colleagues for feedback about your website. Ask them about things they don’t find or don’t see on the website. Ask them to do simple tasks. For example: “where would you look for opening hours?” Observe how they navigate through your website and take notes. If you do that with several people, you will get some good feedback. You will see if you have a comprehensive website structure or if you could benefit from improvements.
Do some benchmarking
Benchmarking is a way of discovering what is the best practice. Browse the website of a competitor or an entirely different industry. See how they approach the same topics as you and what solutions they use. Analyze the gap between the different examples and define the solution that best suits your own needs. Just be aware, if someone is doing something differently, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is the best solution. Look out for solutions and topics you come across more often.
I hope this will inspire you and help you to make some improvements on your own personal or professional website. Enjoy improving your website, not for yourself but for the ones visiting it.