The Cerner.com website redesign was a monolith project that started by me building a Digital team of 9 associates with various skill sets and expertise. The objective was to bring a billion dollar healthcare IT company into the modern digital age. One major design initiative was developing a best in class web experience that could drive various customer types down a path and into the sales pipeline. There were numerous challenges identified, but one specific challenge that I will discuss below was how to approach and design a main navigation system that aligned with the various strategies for different business units within the company.
Problem Statement
With more than 25 Vice Presidents and C-Suite executives battling for prime real estate on the website and a primary spot on the main nav, how do you create a system that is not only intuitive but can direct various customer types to the solutions and services they are looking for? An alternative problem we were faced included the overwhelming dislike of the website by the sales division, because the outdated technology and site information architecture created a abandonment rate of 90%.
Solution
Cerner literally sells thousands of product and services, but to start a customer down their appropriate journey utilizing a menu system was a exploration of self-reflection. Instead of the industry standard navigation paradigm of forcing the User’s attention on the solution with the most political pull, we instead allowed the User to make a choice as to how they feel comfortable finding the information they needed. During the over 50 stakeholder interviews I conducted with executives and existing customers, I discovered that a User does not want to be overwhelmed by choices, nor held hostage by over-generalized navigation. A multi-tiered and discoverable approach was used to drive a User towards a journey and sales opportunity that met their needs.
Cerner.com homepage with minimal navigation to focus on primary sales initiative
Mega Menu system that allows for self-reflection and discovery
Expanding and multi-tiered approach to the main navigation system
Sub-section landing page focusing on expert insights and sales conversion
Involvement
Hiring & building team of Digital experts, Vendor/Agency Management, Executive & Client Stakeholder interviews, Customer Journey Mapping, Analytics Analysis, UX Strategy, Creative Direction, Digital Strategy, Technical Strategy, Sales & Executive Reporting Strategy
Project Link: https://www.cerner.com