If a website is a chance to make a first impression, there are a lot of people out there who didn't get a good first impression of ObamaCare's healthcare.gov website.
From glitches that prevented visitors from signing up before the deadline to broken menus and incorrect form submission that made it hard to use the site, healthcare.gov's failings quickly became a national talking point.
If you're in the health insurance field or any other business for that matter, you want your visitors to be talking about your website for all the right reasons.
What are the key elements your health insurance website needs to have in order to avoid healthcare.gov's mistakes and provide users with a pleasant and helpful browsing experience?
User Friendly Design
Visitors should be able to get around your site easily with clear and functional navigation.
From choosing a pleasing and professional color palette and welcoming images to making it as easy as pie for your visitors to get where they want to go, user friendly design should be at the forefront of your mind. Don't forget that your visitors will be viewing your site on a range of devices, so your site needs to display well on all screen sizes.
Easy To Find Information
As stated in the article “Health Insurance Premiums Likely To Rise In 2015”, growing health insurance costs are a national concern, with more people than ever looking for good health insurance quotes.
Make it easy for your visitors to find what they need with information that is categorized and targeted to different groups (such as individuals, businesses and those looking for a specific kind of insurance). Provide clear and easily understandable information to help your visitors make insurance choices that are right for them.
Clear Calls to Action
Your visitors should understand at every stage what is required of them next.
Clearly set out where to click to find information, what to do if they're ready to buy insurance, and where to look if they're not sure which insurance package is right for them.
On every page of your website your visitors should be able to see at a glance what their next step should be. Keep your calls to action straightforward, friendly, and useful.
Place to Ask Questions
Health insurance can be complicated, with many different options. Having a "buy now" button isn't enough.
Your visitors need to know what to do if they have further questions or need more help in deciding on the right plan for them.
Whether they want to ask someone a question, get a free quote, or get some more information, make sure your visitors can see clearly how to do those things. From a search bar to live chat or an email contact form, provide your visitors with options that will help them get what they need from your website.
Right Hosting Package
A series of crashes plagued healthcare.gov and prevented visitors from using the site when they needed to.
To make sure your visitors will never have cause to complain about that, choose your hosting package carefully. Ask what their typical uptime is and how they deal with unexpected downtime or surges in traffic. Find out what other customers are saying about their service.
Make sure you choose a host who can provide the capacity you need with the ability to scale up your package if need be.
Thorough Testing
From broken menus to incorrect form submissions, healthcare.gov didn't shine on the functionality front.
A good user experience is key to encouraging your visitors to stay on your site and do business with you. Before launch, your website should be thoroughly tested from top to bottom, including menus, links, contact forms and any other dynamic elements.
A good health insurance website needs to provide a lot of information in an accessible and user friendly format.
Build your website around providing your visitors with all they need, including functionality and ease of use as standard.