Client
North American Spine Society (NASS)
Website
Category
- Design
- User Experience
- Digital Strategy
Software
- BravoSquared
Leaving a Legacy: Giving NASS a face lift through Historical Analysis and Data Driven Design■
The National Association of Spine Surgeons (NASS) engaged BlueBolt to revamp the design of their website. The retiring Chief Marketing Officer tasked BlueBolt to come up with a fresh design that would be his legacy and gift to the association, enabling them up to digitally enhance their service to their members, as well as attract new surgeons and patients for years to come. NASS is a global multidisciplinary medical organization dedicated to fostering the highest quality, ethical, value-based and evidence-based spine care through education, research and advocacy. The National Association of Spine Specialists brings together spine care providers and patients as a unified voice in the fight for sound health policy. NASS stresses the importance of policies that preserve patient access to high quality, evidence-based spine care. Project outcomes included:
51%
Increase in time spent on website when using site search
30%
Increase in NASS website traffic
30%
Increase in referral traffic
From gaining an estimate and obtaining Board approval, to capturing focus group content, analyzing data, and throughout the creative development process, BlueBolt was in constant communication with me and the NASS group. Charged with the overall project, I sincerely appreciated the 24/7 access to project status, budgets and all related communications■
Service Provided:
- Historical Analysis of NASS Properties
- Data Driven Design
- Accessibility Audit
- WCAG Compliance Recommendations
- Site Search Integration
- Home page implementation
- Account Management and Support
NASS Project Highlights■
Historical Analysis of NASS Web Properties
The discovery process included in-depth reviews of all NASS properties, including reviewing Google Analytics, Heatmaps, and Qualitative data including interviews with stakeholders and surveys.
Data Driven Redesign
BlueBolt’s team used insights and analytics from user behavior and interactions to inform design decisions and create a more optimized and personalized user experience. The NASS team was thrilled with the modern, responsive design, the subtle micro interactions and streamlined navigation.
Improving Accessibility
NASS’s original site did not meet accessibility standards on many fronts. BlueBolt’s creative team worked with the client to help them identify and understand which accessibility issues needed to be solved to aid them in serving their members.
BravoSquared Site Search Implementation
NASS’s site search was clunky, lacking filters and out of date. BlueBolt implemented BravoSquared, an enterprise Federated Site Search solution, enabling members to quickly find relevant search topics.
To provide the best outcomes, BlueBolt not only dove into the NASS future business requirements, but to also performed a historical analysis discovery that consisted of qualitative analysis through stakeholder interviews and quantitative studies of data sources such as Google Analytics, Heatmaps and recordings of the client’s existing website. This helped uncover what truly had been working for customers and where they were getting frustrated. It also shined a light on the current heartburns and desires of associated stakeholders. For NASS, the BlueBolt team presented all this research in a multi-faceted presentation, where recommendations were made for the new website.
With NASS’s feedback from the Historical Analysis discovery presentation, BlueBolt’s design team created wireframes for the client to showcase data driven ideas for the website design, including a brand new home page with micro-animations to engage and delight users as they scroll, CTA’s to guide members to desired actions, a redesigned member dashboard, revamped content and updated site search methodologies. With the client’s blessing, BlueBolt’s team created new designs that brought to life both the stakeholders’ visions and a vastly improved user experience. As part of the design process, our team considered WCAG compliance guidelines, as NASS’s old website had multiple accessibility issues. Our team solved for them in the new and improved design, so that all surgeons and patients alike are able to fully engage with NASS and their digital properties.
Part of what the historical analysis showed with the former NASS website is that members were not finding what they were looking for when using site search. Heatmaps indicated that users were navigating to the second page in large numbers. BlueBolt implemented a multi-prong site search solution using BravoSquared. First, BlueBolt’s BravoSquared site search solution delivers federated enterprise site search that pulls from multiple data streams and delivers unified site search results to users. The new NASS site search also features both suggested popular terms and search filters to help members easily find what they are looking for the first time.
A Legacy of Success■
The client welcomed the historical analysis of their former website which allowed them to obtain data-driven designs that were both aesthetically pleasing and WCAG compliant. BlueBolt truly delivered on the desires of multiple stakeholders. Because of the SEO work done to the NASS website, traffic is up 30%. Referral traffic is also up by 30%. Additionally, time spent on the website after using site search increased by 51%. BlueBolt and NASS worked together with this implementation, with much of the actual implementation work done by the client. The retiring CMO who spearheaded this project, was thrilled knowing this set NASS up for member success for years to come.
