Covid-19 had highlighted the importance of digital engagement, and sharpened the focus on the web experience as an essential vehicle for telling the Therapeutic Associates’ story, while educating clients on the effectiveness of physical therapy as a sustainable solution — versus perceived quick-fixes, such as pain medications, massage, and chiropractor visits.
A physical therapist-owned and operated partnership of clinics with 96 locations throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California, Therapeutic Associates’ multiple objectives for its redesigned site all drove toward growth — in both new patients and clinic locations.
Driving toward Growth
Within this framework of supporting patient acquisition and regional expansion, the revamped web experience set out to:
- Engage visitors in a user journey that effectively spoke to their varying needs and guided them down the funnel on a path that enabled easy navigation to the information they were seeking;
- Simplify the ability to find nearby clinic locations;
- Highlight the culture, staff, and services of the individual clinics;
- Ensure both mobile and ADA accessibility; and
- Streamline the content editor experience, enabling easy updates to the site while reducing redundancies for backend content management.
Framework for Flexibility
Key to the success of the web project was the development of microsites that enabled individual clinic locations to showcase the specific services that they offered, as well as their people and distinct cultures.
Leveraging the Elementor page-building platform for WordPress, Solid Digital developed a templatized system for clinic pages that was seamlessly integrated within the newly branded Therapeutic Associates design system, and provided a high level of flexibility in updating content and switching out images.
Education and Positive Identification
In an effort to refresh the web experience with a less clinical feel and a more human touch, the redesigned site had a greater emphasis on relatable photos, with a mix of images that depicted patients in a clinical setting, as well as healthy individuals swimming, running, or enjoying everyday activities.
Additional design features that were incorporated to further reinforce approachability and warmth included rounded edges on images and fonts, interspersing of a branded, sky-blue box, and playing with overlapping elements.
Instead of the former and cumbersome drop down mega menu under the “Locations” tab, “Find a Location Near You” functionality now invites visitors to key in a zip code for a map of locations pinned within a designated geographic range — the kind of app that most users have become accustomed to using on a daily basis.
The result proved to be a clean and modern visitor experience that provided breathing room on the page with a focus on a guided and uncluttered user journey.
Internal Alignment
Prior to the website launch, Therapeutic Associates created a “New Website Features and Overview” document for individual clinic staff, that explained essential features and benefits of the new site.
The document served as a step-by-step walkthrough, with multiple screenshots that pointed out the various components of the 96 clinics’ microsites, along with guidance on how to customize and ensure optimal advantage from various features of their individual sites, including online appointment setting, the clinic locator, individual clinic homepages, the clinic’s team page, and specific services offered.
Success Factors
