The Challenge
Overcoming a High Bounce Rate
The Urology Care Foundation (UCF), the official foundation of the American Urological Association, is the world's leading nonprofit urological health foundation and strives to provide urologic health information for the public, as well as fund young scientists working diligently to find the cause of, and cures for urologic conditions and disease.
The UCF website, urologyhealth.org, is a key channel for engaging the public with its mission, but challenges with navigation and mobile access created barriers for audiences. While there was a lot of great information available through the site, the user experience was fragmented and inhibited discovery and learning. Mobile audiences particularly had a difficult time navigating the site, which made it difficult for patients and caregivers to find relevant content. As a result, the site had a high bounce rate and low engagement.
The Approach
Creating engagement by aligning the user experience and patient journey
To improve public education and promote urologic health, the UCF needed a user-centered design that helped audiences learn and take meaningful action. The SAI team conducted an in-depth analysis of the patient journey to better understand audience motivation and online behaviors. For example, someone recently diagnosed with a urologic condition is likely seeking a one-stop source with plain-spoken information about symptoms and causes as well as tips for healthy eating and medications. From there, they may want to find a specialist, or learn about clinical trials. We used insights from user testing to design intuitive paths through the site that align with patient needs. The site was also optimized for mobile users, which is critical for patients and caregivers who need information at their fingertips.
The Results
Within the first six months post launch, the UCF saw tremendous improvement in site performance metrics:
- 27% decline in bounce rate
- 8.5% increase in new users
*Based on Google Analytics from 12/1/2019 - 5/31/2020 and 12/1/2020 - 5/31/2021
