Leukaemia Foundation 2019 – Part Two

This two-part case study provides details on the work to aid the Leukaemia Foundation in an effective and thorough analysis of their website, and resulting recommendations for their redesign. The first part of this case study focused on website accessibility, branding, researching and observing the website’s users, analytics, and competitor analysis, and how that work led to effective recommendations for the site’s revamp. You can read the first part here.

The second part provides more information on the additional audits undertaken. The result of these audits provided valuable insight that supported further recommendations for the Leukaemia Foundation’s new website.

Personas

User personas are created to provide a fictional representation of your ideal supporter, volunteer, contributor, etc. These profiles are created based on user research that includes the perceived needs, goals, and observed behaviour patterns of the target audience. 

In auditing the Leukaemia Foundation website, we identified a broad number of user personas which included users such as acute and chronic patients, parents and family members, fundraisers and donors, researchers and many more. Each persona was then profiled to highlight their goals, motivations and challenges, where and how they access the site and what connection they may have to the content.

The information drawn from the personas is then mapped into user journey flows which in turn help to inform recommendations for content and functionality of the website based on specific user persona groups. 

A key recommendation for any website design, and especially for NFPs like the Leukaemia Foundation, is making certain all personas identified have relevant content on the website. These personas are integral in creating user stories and ensuring user journeys cater to all personas in the website redevelopment.

Information Architecture

The website’s Information architecture (IA) focuses on organising, structuring, and labelling content in an effective and sustainable way. We started with the existing sitemap and analysed each piece of content to see if it followed a user – centric design (more details outlined in the section below).

Our goal for the proposed sitemap is to group relevant content together by finding efficient ways to present the content groups across the site, thereby reducing the current sitemap and making the whole site much easier for its users to navigate and find content relevant to them.

User-Centric Design

As part of auditing the website’s IA, we broke down the website by analysing key elements such as the header, footer, main navigation, side menus and forms. We then provided recommendations on how to structure the key elements based on best practices and achieving a user-centric design. Our key challenge was finding the best way to present the vast amount of content to the different user persona groups.

Based on our deep understanding of Leukaemia Foundation’s website user journeys and Leukaemia Foundation’s website goals, our key recommendations were to create a sticky mega menu and a unique search bar so different users can be guided on their journey. 

As building a responsive, mobile-first website is a must these days, our recommendations incorporated proven approaches in website designs to cater for mobile users as well. Then we drilled down the key pages and areas of the website, such as the donation page, news hub, homepage, services page, about us page and provided our detailed report on how the content and CTA can be structured so the objectives of every page of the website are achieved.

Security

Keeping supporters safe is a key priority for the Leukaemia Foundation. This is why we believe all NFP websites should be regularly maintained and monitored to prevent vulnerabilities that could lead to security breaches. We used various tools and security scans over a period to provide a security health check of Leukaemia Foundation’s existing WordPress site. As a WordPress expert & partner, we made key recommendations to Leukaemia Foundation to bring their existing website up to date to keep their supporters safe & happy!

Based on the security audit, we recommended WordPress be patched and updated, the admin URL be IP restricted if possible, that all plugins be updated, and for the use of a firewall.

To take simple steps to protect your website from vulnerabilities, follow the steps in our State of Security report here. 

Technical Architecture

To help the Leukaemia Foundation build a future-proof website, a technical architecture audit of their existing website was essential to look at what systems they were using, and which best suited their needs. We worked together with the Leukaemia Foundation to map out how external systems they currently have in place, such as their payment gateway, CRM, marketing platform, donation and registration platforms, interconnect and interact with their corporate and campaign websites. Working closely with their team, together we developed an online technical solution for their new website.

After years of working with numerous NFP clients, our team has a deep technical understanding of different systems NFPs require. Using this knowledge, with our thorough understanding of the Leukaemia Foundation’s goals for the new website and its future, we worked with their team to develop an online technical solution to better link existing systems and applications, providing a pathway for future connections.

The future for Leukaemia Foundation is looking a lot clearer – with each website and marketing activity (such as their donation & registration information) being passed onto its Salesforce CRM, so it remains a single source of truth.

Wrapping Up

The Leukaemia Foundation’s renewed focus on their stakeholders and reframing innovation meant they needed to update and redesign their website to better support new strategies, programs, products, tools, service delivery methods and an evolving brand.

Additionally, they wanted this current update to be scalable and future-proof, to have greater control over future enhancements that will help make sure the charity reaches its goal of zero lives lost to blood cancer by 2035.

It is important to go through the steps we’ve highlighted from this project so that valuable recommendations can be delivered. NFP organisations like Leukaemia Foundation, need to go through a thorough discovery workshop before undergoing a website refresh or redesign to help avoid unnecessary costs or wasted time.

Together with Leukaemia Foundation, we developed a well informed website strategy that aligned with their objectives and brand.  

What’s Next?

We are excited to work with Leukaemia Foundation on their new website! With the results of the discovery workshop to hand, we can begin building a more progressive and responsive website with the Leukaemia Foundation! The audits created a wealth of understanding for both teams, providing key insight into changes to be made and a roadmap for the fresh and updated website that better represents the Leukaemia Foundation’s goals and the valuable role the organisation plays in helping more Australians with any blood cancer survive and live a better quality of life. 

Scoping workshop and audits are a great way to refresh or revamp your site, but also essential steps to take before revamping or refreshing your website. Having a third-party help provide objective analysis is beneficial and can really help give your website a leg up. 

Get in touch if you would like to learn more!