Task
A university student health center had to deal quickly and effectively with COVID-19. As the remote communications specialist and website manager, I developed COVID-19 content (web, mobile, and email) about the fast-moving pandemic and the university’s response.
Challenges
- Pandemic speed: The rapidly changing pandemic required urgent updates and frequent removal of outdated information on four websites. Health recommendations came from multiple sources (university, state county health systems, and the CDC) and changed daily.
- Communications ecosystem: Campus communications teams sought to quickly coordinate and unify their strategies.
- System limitations: The website’s CMS required creative solutions to meet the unprecedented needs of a medical clinic during a public health crisis.
Tools
Cascade CMS, Photoshop, Canva, social media scheduling tools
Process
- Prioritized: Developed a clear prioritization framework so that safety and critical service content took precedence, such as updates and specialized pages for testing, vaccines, and FAQs.
- Audited: Drew up a comprehensive and much-used content audit document for our COVID content ecosystem.
- Iterated: Created a flexible information architecture, such as anchor links and redirects that the CMS could handle, to address web pages that quickly got cluttered.
- Reviewed: Established rapid content review processes with clinical staff and leadership, balancing speed with quality.
- Adapted: Support team staff and the Student Advisory Board alerted me when patients reported unclear website content, allowing me to make immediate adjustments.
Pivoted to meet emerging needs
- Addressed pain points: The customer support team faced a surge of calls from the public. Callers hoped we could give them vaccines or tests, but unfortunately, only certain groups of university-affiliated people were eligible for on-campus vaccinations. I created some pointers for the public and listed alternative sites for vaccines. When creating content I created precisely worded vaccine eligibility content with guidance from medical/COVID supervisors.
- Increased visibility of critical info: I added big, bright buttons on the home page that said “COVID-19 Testing” and “Vaccine Information” to address users’ most frequent concerns, which cut down on Support calls.
- Reviewed popular news sources: I scoured the news daily to find the popular news sources (as opposed to the clinical sources that medical staff reviewed) that patients based their questions and assumptions on.
- Collaborated cross-functionally: When the campus put together a group of communication experts from different departments, I joined and used my new connections to inform my work.
- Sped up the communications process: To support my clinical colleagues, I drafted initial versions of key communications, enabling them to focus on patient care and finalize the communications more efficiently.
- Created workflows with IT staff: When a new batch of vaccines arrived on campus, patients would receive vaccine availability notifications. However, the vaccine appointments would fill up immediately, causing frustration when patients tried to schedule. I created a process to shift the Vaccine Clinic website quickly from “open” to “closed.” This involved close communication with the systems analyst, who could tell me the instant appointments filled up.
Results
Our website changed from multiple scattered pages about immunization and health news to:
- Improved information architecture: Highly visible and scannable front-page news and vaccine info buttons.
- Clearer content hierarchy: Pages that used progressive disclosure to front-load critical information.
- Decluttered knowledge base: Streamlined FAQs that highlighted the most important info.
- Visible status indicators: Clear and timely “Vaccine clinic open” and “Vaccine clinic closed” indicators.
- Crisis-appropriate voice and tone: Content with an empathetic tone to help patients feel supported and informed without unnecessary alarm, while still adhering to the University’s voice guide.
Takeaways
The most important skills I honed were:
- Guerilla user research and user-centered design: Informally interviewed students and staff about pain points related to communications and the site’s information architecture, then developed a comprehensive sitemap and user flows to guide the website’s structure and help my team create a smooth user experience.
- Information architecture: Designed and implemented an intuitive website structure with clear navigation and user-friendly information hierarchies.
- Content strategy: Developed and implemented a content strategy that prioritized up-to-date critical information for users, such as testing locations, vaccine availability, and safety guidelines.
- Agile content management: Conducted frequent content audits, ensuring timely updates and removal of outdated information.
- Data-driven decision making: Analyzed website traffic and user feedback to identify areas for improvement and inform content updates.
- Voice and tone: Developed and maintained a consistent and empathetic, crisis-appropriate voice and tone across all communication channels.