From information maze to lean content strategy
In 2010, Sensoa decided to invest in their digital communication. Apart from their corporate website, they had 5 other ‘target group websites’, for adolescents, adults, gay men, teachers, and everyone who wanted to know more about HIV or AIDS.
This caused a lot of unnecessary duplicate content.
And after 6 years, all of this content became increasingly harder to manage. A challenge that many government organizations will recognize.
What were the pain points?
- It cost too much time and money to keep their 15,000 pages on 6 websites up to date
- These 6 websites competed with each other for a ranking in the search results, so users had a hard time clicking the right link as well
To get the right information in the right place, Sensoa asked us for our expertise in information architecture and content strategy.
The goal of this lean content strategy?
- Find a sustainable solution to manage all of this content
- Improve the online information, based on what people are looking for
Facts-based thanks to content analysis and user research
First of all, we inventoried all of their content and performed user research.
Through top task research, exit surveys, target group surveys, heatmaps, Google Analytics, a content audit, screen recordings, and interviews with Sensoa employees, we gathered quite some data.
This way, we found the answers to these questions:
- Who visits which website?
- What are they looking for?
- And finally: does every website reach its target group and does it do what it should do?
Most important insight: target group approach doesn’t work
Sensoa had 6 websites, for 6 target audiences. But that approach didn’t work.
A few examples:
- The site for adolescents also attracted a lot of adults
- On the HIV information site, there were a lot of non-infected people
- LGBT people visited all sites, not specifically the LGBT information website
Most visitors didn’t specifically choose a website. They googled a topic and landed on ‘a page’, regardless of the website it was on.
New lean content strategy in a nutshell
Our proposal: get rid of the target group strategy, and show your content in topics.
This way, the content slims down from 6 to 2 websites:
- Corporate website, including education
- Information website with info on sexual health for all target groups
In-house workshop writing for the web empowered Sensoa employees
After the content audit and the development of the lean content strategy, it was time for writing and rewriting the content.
To help the Sensoa employees, we gave them an in-company workshop on writing for the web. So they would have the knowledge and confidence to write successful online copy themselves.
Lean content strategy benefits Sensoa
The results of this lean content strategy for Sensoa?
- Fewer websites, so lower maintenance costs
- More time for other tasks, such as improving current content and writing new content
- More efficient way of working: only 2 teams, instead of 6
- More motivated employees
“An extra benefit of our new content strategy? The common goal motivates our employees to the max”
Kenny Hendrickx, Communication Coordinator at Sensoa
Lean content strategy benefits visitors
Who benefits the most of this new content strategy? The websites’ visitors.
They are no longer confused because of the overwhelming offer. And they can find all the information in 1 place. Very user-friendly:
- No more overlap in info for different target audiences
- No more confusion in choosing the right site
- Information is now quickly and easily found
New content strategy off to a great start
Of course, Sensoa’s new lean content strategy is an ongoing process. Boiling down 15,000 pages to 2 websites: it takes time and effort.
And they’re off to a great start, as we can see in Google Analytics. Compared to the same time last year, their information site now has 10% more visitors. This increase is mostly due to Google, because their findability has improved.
We’re constantly monitoring the performance of their new strategy, through Google Analytics, user research and A/B testing. We adjust, check results and fine-tune. To make sure their websites stay successful.
“AGConsult helps us stay alert through regular user research and testing. To keep that focus, we assigned them as our long-term consultant.”
Kenny Hendrickx, Communication Coordinator at Sensoa