Cedars Sinai
Repositioning a Recognized Healthcare Leader with a Consumer-Centric Website and App
About The Client
Cedars-Sinai is a nonprofit academic healthcare organization serving the diverse Los Angeles community and beyond. With pioneering medical research achievements, education programs defining the future of healthcare, and wide-ranging community benefit activities, we’re setting new standards for quality and innovation in patient care.
My Role
Design Director overseeing (5) Designers, (4) UX Architectures, (4) Copywriters, (2) Editors, and (1) Business Analyst, (1) Front-End Developer for the West Coast Division of Perficient
Over $25 Million Engagement Revenue
What if ...
we could help change the Cedars-Sinai public perception and reinvent its digital customer experience?
Goals
As healthcare consumers become more savvy, they’re researching with digital resources before selecting a care provider. They want to be more informed before they set up an appointment or step through the door. They are searching the web, on both phones and desktops, and leveraging social media more than ever before.
To better reach current and future patients with services, healthcare organizations need to improve brand awareness, increase engagement and transform their digital experience.
Cedars Sinai is not just a hospital; it’s also an award-winning research and education institution. We needed to help change public perceptions about Cedars-Sinai while also re-platforming its digital properties and updating messaging to be more unified and consumer-centric.
We created and executed against a two-year strategic digital roadmap with these goals:
-
Help improve brand perception about what Cedars Sinai is: a highly visible, innovative, digitally savvy and customer-centric healthcare organization
-
Expand the capabilities and customer experience of Cedars Sinai’s digital platforms
-
Launch new identity across all digital platforms
Project Approach
Our approach to Cedars-Sinai’s digital transformation was very strategic; we viewed each solution holistically and began with the highest-impact areas. Based on our CX engagement, we developed a vision for Cedars Sinai, which then helped define its two-year roadmap.
We prioritized sections in stages following the roadmap, with guidance from the Cedars Sinai steering committee.
We established internal processes and procedures and built internal capabilities, moving the organization from waterfall development to agile development and putting in place the governance and tools needed to enable the Cedars-Sinai team to deliver on future initiatives.
What We Did
-
Design system, style guides and component usage resources
-
Meets accessibility standards
-
Digital Wayfinding
-
Audience-focused social media
-
Website replatform
-
Migrated more than 1,100 pages
-
Introduced analytics and integration
Apple Watch
We also created an Apple Watch application, because of its future potential to link patients directly to daily health information and options for personal management features like reminders and calendars. Via the iPhone app, the Apple Watch application can access nearby urgent care clinics and medical centers, call a doctor a user has recently searched, or be used as a panic button to reach Cedars-Sinai.
The launch of the Apple Watch app makes Cedars-Sinai one of only a few hospital systems to offer a digital, interactive app on the Apple Watch platform.
Rebrand
Before moving forward with any deliverables, we worked with Cedars-Sinai to refresh its brand. Getting the look, feel, and message right was a critical first step, as it would inform the creation of every new experience.
We led Cedars-Sinai through a rebrand, focused on upholding its four brand tenets:
World-class care
Accessibility
Emotive
Leading research and academia
Using its original brand guides as a base, we performed research and inspiration sessions to determine how to represent its four tenets throughout the brand. We created mood boards and visual expressions to support those tenets, which led to the creation of the Cedars-Sinai UI Kit – an online site with brand fonts, colors, components, and styles.
Brand06
Brand09
Brand07
Brand05
Brand04
Brand03
Brand02
Website Redesign
Using the creative elements from the UI Kit, we redesigned Cedars-Sinai’s website with an updated look and bolder branding.
The site tells a story of “discovery to healthcare” and how having access to leading academics and research benefits patients and the community. The new site also meets accessibility standards and establishes baseline measurement tools that will be used to track, evaluate, and continually improve the consumer experience.
Using the core design as a beginning point, we designed web homes for various clinical areas. Each area has its own look and feel, with messaging aligned with that specific audience, but still feels united with the brand. We created style guides and component usage resources to ensure that Cedars-Sinai staff can continue to build these sections independently.
Website Clinical Sections
Managing one’s own health, or that of a family member or friend, can be an overwhelming and anxiety-ridden experience. We aimed to relieve the uneasiness.
We worked with Cedars-Sinai to develop a content journey within each clinical area, identifying the various touch points a patient or caregiver will have—before, after, and during treatment. This information is presented on the website and includes information on ways to prepare for appointments, treatment options, common medicines, discharge information, identifying members of the care team, and emotional support available.
Instead of using a typical clinical tone for these sections, which can often be cold and confusing, we employed a conversational style, meant to simplify the information and comfort the reader.
The clinical area content can also be translated into other languages to provide a larger audience with valuable healthcare information.
Mobile App
With the Cedars Sinai mobile experience, we were focused on function—helping users complete steps in their healthcare journey.
The mobile experience is not just the website on a handset; it’s also activity-based and action-oriented, satisfying the needs of Cedars Sinai’s four main segments:
Patients
Visitors and Guides
Guardians and Caregivers
New and Unknown
We developed apps for iPhone, iPad and Android, tailored for each unique platform.
Each mobile app is a complete resource for managing medical records, connecting with care teams and exploring all that Cedars Sinai has to offer. Patients and guests can locate the nearest hospital or urgent care facility, as well as get directions and call a location or provider. The app also features a Find-a-Doctor tool that allows users to search for doctors by condition, procedure or name.
The updated app experience was widely received, and within a year of release, the number of mobile app downloads increased by 10x. The mobile app store star rating also increased from 3 stars to 4.8 stars.
Social Messaging
Cedars Sinai is an integral part of the Los Angeles community, and we revamped its blog and social channels to tell that story. We also coached content authors on how to develop content that is less clinical and more engaging.
The Cedars Sinai social networks now provide audience-focused content about how the organization contributes to and makes a positive impact on the community.
We also established monthly and quarterly reports for Cedars Sinai staff members to help them identify social content that is resonating with its audience.
Photography Guidelines
Cedars Sinai’s photography represents one of the most pure forms of influential brand assets. Cedars Sinai should have a recognizable and dependable visual communication. Internal and external audiences should have an emotional connection with the photography used on the website, mobile or social media. Whether pulling from the digital asset management library, executing a photoshoot, or sourcing stock images, high quality visuals are critical in conveying the message
Results
In the two years following the launch Cedars Sinai experienced 3x the amount of top rankings
10x
Number of mobile app downloads increased
+102%
Paid search leads
+50%
Page Search Conversions
+175%
Paid search conversion rate
-40%
Cost per paid search lead
Final Thoughts
The site now tells a story of “discovery to healthcare” and how having access to leading academics and research benefits patients and the community. The new site also meets accessibility standards and establishes baseline measurement tools that will be used to track, evaluate, and continually improve the consumer experience.