As member expectations rise, healthcare membership organisations are finding it increasingly challenging to meet these demands through their websites. In fact, many healthcare membership associations today are facing two big challenges while striving to give members what they need:
1. Adapting to a diverse audience
Many organisations are no longer just focused on research; they now emphasise education, advocacy, and the creation of evidence-based policies. As such, they communicate with a wide range of audiences, including healthcare professionals, charities, donors, patients, and more. This increased diversity requires tailored messaging and custom communication so that every group feels included.
2. Meeting evolving member expectations
Even with a focus on just a single demographic, organisations must adapt to changing needs and expectations within that specific group. The fast-paced nature of healthcare means new evidence and research continuously shape what members expect. Organisations need to constantly update their online communications to reflect the latest trends, approaches, and developments in their field.
These are serious frustrations, because strong member engagement and visitor satisfaction both depend on everyone having a positive on-site experience that provides them with exactly what they need. When organisations aren’t able to communicate in the right way, with the right people, it becomes harder – and sometimes impossible – to deliver these positive and engaging experiences.
Communication is key
Using your website to cater to all visitor types is essential, but a broad, generalised approach often falls short. Members want relevant information without having to sift through unrelated content. For example, a surgeon may not stick around long if they keep finding content intended for the public, rather than content that speaks directly to the needs of healthcare professionals. To keep members engaged and coming back, it’s crucial to offer personalised content that addresses specific needs.
So, how do you do it? How do you speak to everyone, while also offering a more tailored on-site experience? It seems almost impossible. And once upon a time, it was. Today, however, we’re able to embrace website personalisation to deliver the right content, to the right people, at the right time.
What is website personalisation?
As a modern healthcare membership organisation, you’re unlikely to have an ‘average user’. And that’s exactly what website personalisation is designed to address. This method takes the average user out of the equation, helping organisations to design experiences tailored to individual requirements.
It’s a way of acknowledging that everyone is different, and everyone needs a different on-site experience. It works by collecting, analysing, and utilising visitor data to generate personalised website views. For example, if a visitor is logged in and we know they’re from a charity, we can prioritise content relating to funding and how resources are being used to make a real impact. This makes it quick and easy for each individual member to find content that’s suited to their needs, and relevant to them.
Best of all, website personalisation is automatic, meaning the user doesn’t need to take any manual action. Instead, they’ll simply see a personalised view, each time they navigate to your website.
How to provide personalised experiences
These days, we all have our own ‘digital footprint’; a trail of information we leave behind when we use the internet. Our location, time zone, language preferences, browsing history, site interactions… These little snippets of information about us are all recorded online. Healthcare membership organisations can use this information to provide personalised experiences for their site visitors.
There are two steps to website personalisation:
1. Data collection
This involves using technologies such as website plugins to track and monitor visitor behaviours and preferences. These tools gather data on what pages visitors view, how long they stay, and what they click on, helping organisations to understand the unique needs of their audience groups better. User registrations, and the preferences they set themselves, are also productive sources of useful data.
2. Automation
By leveraging advanced technologies like machine learning or artificial intelligence, websites can adapt and display content based on the collected data. This means showing relevant articles, services, or recommendations tailored to each visitor’s interests, creating a more engaging experience.
The benefits of personalisation
Of course, there are many advantages to embracing website personalisation, such as easier communication, improved member retention, and a greater ability to attract new members.
But here are a couple of benefits you may not have thought about…
1. Giving your members what they want
Think about how we all use customisation settings when we’re online. Whether it’s changing font size or enabling dark mode, each and every one of us values the opportunity to make small changes that have a big impact on our browsing experience. Website personalisation is a natural extension of that, going further to build positive on-site experiences. Demand for personalisation is growing rapidly, and the ability to offer this to your members is one of the most effective ways to satisfy their needs.
2. Empowering you to achieve more
Collecting, analysing, and utilising member data doesn’t just help your members; it can help your organisation, too. With the relevant information, you can learn more about your members and better understand their needs. You can use this knowledge to make smarter decisions about what you do, and how you do it. Knowing who your visitors are, and what they’re looking for, can go a long way towards helping healthcare membership organisations create and refine a wide range of digital strategies.
Making website personalisation easy
There’s huge potential in website personalisation; potential to engage with all sorts of different people and build your member base. Ultimately, you can share information in ways that’ll ensure you’re achieving your goal of making a difference in the lives and futures of real people.
Yet personalisation isn’t always an easy task. Personalising experiences requires in-depth data collection, and the ability to utilise this data effectively and in a safe, secure, and ethical manner. You also need to track, measure, and improve the process constantly, in line with the latest trends.
On top of everything else you have to manage, personalisation can often seem too much.
So let us help.
Our aim is to give you ‘More Time To’ focus on what really matters to your organisation, while we work behind the scenes to optimise how you operate in the digital space. Get in touch with us to learn more about website personalisation, and how we can work together to impress your members.
