Back in 2015, Bronson invested in creating a better online user experience and started that journey by migrating their website into Geonetric’s VitalSite. A branded microsite, Bronson Positivity, was also launched, highlighting inspiring patient stories.

The bronsonhealth.com website included a powerful, versatile find-a-doctor tool that enabled patients to easily find and choose a doctor from over 1,000 options, by specialty, availability and across 70 locations in southwest Michigan. The VitalSite Provider Directory made it easier for prospective patients to quickly access provider information – shortening search times and increasing traffic to and time visiting individual provider profiles.

In addition, the VitalSite platform allows flexibility to extend and customize provider profiles – enabling the Bronson team to showcase skill, expertise, and the unique personality of their care teams. Profiles include dynamically-controlled lists of accepted insurance plans by location and calls-to-action that drive visitors to MyChart to communicate online with their provider.

The directory also integrates seamlessly with news, events, location and service pages on Bronson’s site, allowing their team to dynamically promote providers on related pages, within high traffic sections and directly in search results. Patient stories are also dynamically displayed from the Bronson Positivity microsite due to a thoughtful strategy between Geonetric’s digital marketing and design teams.

Meet Your Doctors in a Whole New Way

In 2016, Bronson added a helpful way for patients to be even more informed when choosing a doctor by posting short “get to know” videos in the provider directory. These showcase each provider’s personality, special interests, and commitment to their patients, community, and work. The effort has resulted in increased engagement and time spent on the site.

With a strong foundation in place, the Bronson marketing team took providers’ profiles to another level in 2017. Observing the emerging consumer need for transparency, Bronson partnered with Geonetric to dynamically integrate patient ratings and reviews data from another vendor partner, National Research Corporation (NRC), into each provider profile.

All of these elements exemplify a patient-centered strategy for choosing doctors using qualification and selection criteria.

Enhanced Results in Search

Bronson wanted to ensure all the hard work that went into improving the provider profile user experience was easily accessible to organic search users, who make up a bulk of healthcare traffic across the web. Geonetric added schema to the provider profiles, making it easier for search engines to connect user queries to specific profile pages.

The digital marketing team at Geonetric also developed a keyword portfolio, which guided the development of more robust and search-friendly HTML page titles and page descriptions for all Bronson providers and locations.

After the metadata was live, provider profiles saw a double-digit increase in organic search entrances, which helps solidify the profiles with Google indexing and ranking, since Google and other search engines do factor click-through rate in ranking a page’s value.

In addition, many other measures helped to demonstrate success and a worthwhile ROI for the many enhancements made to provider profiles. Bounce rates decreased, session duration went up and user engagement increased. In particular on smartphones and tablets.

A Partner to Keep an Eye on Analytics

Analytics and insights are a major component for tracking success, identifying opportunities, evaluating user engagement, optimization and more. Bronson Healthcare and Geonetric’s digital marketing teams have worked closely together to leverage the best and most cost-effective tools and practices.

Together, they have continued to create new and improve existing reporting, conversion tracking, and data processing solutions. All of these pieces enable them to continue evolving and delivering the best online healthcare experience to the consumers of today and those of tomorrow.

After redesigning their main site, Bronson wanted to take the next step in their digital strategy. Bronson had been collecting testimonials, but needed a way to present them in a unique environment under the Bronson Positivity brand. In addition, Bronson wanted to develop a simple way for new and returning patients to submit their stories.

Collaboration Creates an Engaging Microsite

We collaborated with Bronson’s team and their agency, Periscope, to create a microsite called Bronson Positivity. Periscope created the design comps, and we translated them into design templates for WordPress. The result: a responsive site that engages site visitors and showcases patient stories.

Visitors can filter testimonials by location and service, thanks to the tagging features in WordPress. A card-based design supports an intuitive filtering experience. The site also allows visitors to search by keyword to easily find stories that speak to them.

Functionality Enables Strategic Integrations

Bronson promotes the testimonials on their main site by using a custom API our team developed. The API connects Bronson’s main CMS, VitalSite, and WordPress, allowing for testimonials to be dynamically integrated with existing provider, location, and service line pages. Prospective patients value and enjoy learning more about what their experience at Bronson will be like based on the authentic stories of other patients.

On the Bronson Positivity microsite, testimonials include links to related doctors, services, locations, and classes and events on the main site when applicable. For example, visitors reading a testimonial from a surgery patient can easily learn more about Bronson’s expert surgeons and related services.

Testimonials Offer a Multimedia Experience

The website includes a custom form for patients to easily add their testimonials and include images and videos. Calls-to-action on the home page and at the end of each testimonial encourage visitors to submit their story.

Conclusion

The microsite has successfully integrated patient testimonials into Bronson’s digital strategy. By empowering patients to share their own stories, Bronson’s team is able to present a genuine and timely view of the patient experience. In the 18 months after launch, Bronson received 280 form submissions of testimonials. It’s such a streamlined process that Bronson’s team now has a little more time to pursue the next big thing.