Introducing the “New” LifeWorks Online. An Interview with Hal Morgan, LifeWorks
In December 2012, LifeWorks will launch a redesigned website to its Canadian clients. Judging by the positive response from LifeWorks’ U.S. customers who already enjoy access to the new site, this initiative will make a significant difference to participants. In this issue of your Advisor e-newsletter, we talk with Hal Morgan, Director, LifeWorks Participant Content & Communications in the U.S., to learn more about what to expect from the all-new www.lifeworks.com.
LA: Tell us about the new site, Hal. How is it different from the current program website, and how excited should we be?
HM: You should be very excited! We migrated LifeWorks’ U.S. customers to this new platform between January and July 2012, and they love the new site. In fact, usage has increased by 40% over the same period last year! The new design is a huge leap forward for LifeWorks, and I’m sure Canadian customers will be delighted when they see it.
Our Customer Advisory Board identified the website as our most important opportunity for improvement. We were told that we had wonderful content, but that it was difficult to find in the website. We were also told that the site was not visually appealing, resulting in low repeat visitation, and that there wasn’t a strong enough connection between the site and the services we provide. Overall, our goals in redesigning were three-fold:
- To create a clear portal into our services: Do our customers’ employees truly understand the scope of services available to them? Do they understand that they can call or email for help? Do they know how consultants can help? When they can call? Are they aware that they can request face-to-face counselling (if applicable)? That they have access to financial or legal services? The new site presents the phone number very prominently on every page, plus clear service descriptions. A simple but complete program description available through a prominent link on the homepage and more focused descriptions of specific areas of support appear as a user navigates through the site. For our clients with customized agreements or exclusions, we customized the service descriptions to describe only the services available to their participants. As a clear portal to our services, the new site now serves as an important part of our communications strategy to build program awareness and use.
- To simplify the navigation: The current Canadian site content is divided into 13 categories; the new site’s navigation has five: health, work, life, money and family. This is how users search for information so it only makes sense to categorize it that way. We displayed these five categories in a very visible bar across the top of the site – another improvement. And, we improved search functionality to make it easy to do a keyword search and even narrow by material type (for example, to look for audio recordings on a particular issue or need).
- To unveil a more visually-appealing site: The site has a much cleaner and more open design, with brighter colours and more photos. It’s much more attractive with a friendly, welcoming feel that better uses the space on the screen. Overall, it’s much more inviting, which encourages repeat visits.
I would honestly say that we have more than achieved our objectives.
LA: You mentioned “responsiveness” as a desirable website characteristic. Would you say the all-new lifeworks.com is responsive?
HM: Definitely. We have five “homepage feature carousels” that we can change out as often as we like with refreshed content. This is an area at the top of the homepage with large photographs (it cycles through five images as you watch), and it’s the first thing you notice when you open the site. After Hurricane Sandy passed through, we decided to feature resources and content on dealing with the aftermath of the storm. We had posted content on preparing for the storm in a “Timely Help” feature box lower on the homepage in the week prior to the hurricane. However, when we saw how widespread the damage was after the storm, we created a new feature on recovering from the storm and posted it to the “carousel” area at the top of the homepage. We decided to do that at 2 PM, and one hour later, that new feature was up on the site. The new site lets us respond quickly and flexibly to what is affecting our users in the here-and-now. That is the beauty of the online medium – we can address current issues and post information that matters to people in a fluid way – the new site’s structure enables this to happen quickly.
LA: I heard a rumour that a mobile app is also on its way?
HM: That is correct. The app will be ready for launch early Q1 2013. Right now, our customers can log in to the site using a mobile device, but the site isn’t optimized to be viewed that way. The app will make it much easier to access the site and our services. This initiative is driven by customer input in the same way as the site redesign. In a survey of LifeWorks-eligible employees in Canada, 70% said they would use a LifeWorks app, and 61% said they would use LifeWorks services more often if they could access through an app. That’s among a random selection of employees. We didn’t seek out employees with smartphones. Those are very high numbers, and they show just how rapidly smartphone use has grown. So watch for the new LifeWorks app coming soon!