In recent years, the health insurance sector has increasingly reached out to consumers through mobile and social channels. However, despite this proliferation of online services, the health sector has been slow to optimize their brand pages for mobile through responsive web design.
Responsive Web Design is a design approach that optimizes websites for mobile, allowing pages to “respond” to the device that accesses it (smartphone/tablet/pc).
- A responsive website will deliver the correct output to devices of any size, making the site fit well and look good.
- Rather than designing multiple sites for different-sized devices, this approach allows a single site to function well for many devices.
Mobile traffic is on the rise
A 2012 Pew Report indicates that mobile optimization may be crucial for business’ success, with 55% of cell-phone owning adults using their phones to go online, and 31% citing their phone as their primary device to access the internet. If you’re in the health sector, this year’s health legislation may make mobile optimization even more important. In 2014, millions of new, uninsured patients will be seeking coverage and mobile health advocates maintain that the easiest way for providers to communicate with new enrollees will be “via mobile technology.” Streamlined, responsive websites (optimized for multiple channels) will be key in this changing healthcare landscape.
1. Pediatric Specialty Services for Kids
http://www.pss4kids.com/
2. Altru Health System
http://www.altru.org/
3. Open Medical Device Research Laboratory
http://www.omdrl.org/
4. Medicare
http://medicare.gov/
5. London Cardiovascular Clinic
http://www.londoncardiovascularclinic.co.uk/
Redesigning your entire website to be responsive can take a fair amount of time and budget, which could make alternative considerations more viable (such as optimizing content for mobile, rather than redesigning an entire site). However, if a site-redesign is scheduled in your future, a responsive approach may be well worth the investment.
Do you have a good example of a mobile-optimized healthcare site? Drop us a line in the comments below!