New BHG Website Drives Record-Breaking Traffic, New Patients
By Nancy Buttyan, Chief Marketing Officer
What a difference a year makes! Last June, I had just started working here, in the middle of a pandemic that was driving a notable increase in our patient census. As I assessed gaps in our marketing, it was clear that in order to move BHG’s mission forward, we needed to overhaul how we tell our story by updating our messaging, visual brand and digital presence. Since launching the new website on June 16, not only are we dramatically increasing brand awareness and seeing record-breaking call center and website traffic, more people are booking appointments and arriving as walk-ins at our treatment centers.
How did we get there?
Drawing inspiration from our unique clinical model, we landed on a new message framework and tagline, “this is real recovery,” which set the stage for Christian Torres, Graphic Designer, and Bryan Scott, Digital Marketing Manager, to bring those messages to life through an updated logo, colors, imagery and a robust, user-friendly website.
There’s a psychology behind how colors make people feel. Christian put a lot of thought into balancing the serious nature of our work with how we want people to feel about our brand, which is that we’re approachable, authentic and we can meet them where they are.
“To help with contrast and sharpness, I chose the color charcoal, not a true black, so that it wouldn’t be off-putting or crass,” said Christian. “We didn’t want to establish too serious of a tone, but still wanted to have impact. We need to stay bright, but not shy away from having serious conversation about a serious matter. We chose a medium sky blue because it evokes trust. That’s why a lot of brands use this blue, like AT&T and Blue Cross Blue Shield. That’s why we opted to have the arches on the logo blue.”
As for the photos on the website, Christian added his artistic magic to lower-cost stock photos to create ‘real faces’ of our patients reflecting a range of emotions throughout a recovery journey.
Website 101
These statistics highlight why investing in our brand and website is a top priority.
- 72% of US users typically search online for illness, treatment, and medical procedure advice.
- 75% of people base the credibility of a business on how their website looks.
- 94% of people say web design is the reason they mistrust a website.
- It takes about 50 milliseconds for visitors to form an opinion on your website (and therefore, your brand). That’s .05 seconds.
- 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual.
When our patients are in crisis, the last thing they need is to land on a webpage to nowhere or go down a rabbit hole. They want help now. Their search could change the course of their recovery journey.
According to Bryan, there’s a lot that goes into the process of planning our digital presence, most importantly, achieving these four goals:
- Goal: Drive business growth.
Objectives: Search engine optimization, well-organized content, user-friendly site, effective calls to action, increase conversion rate. - Goal: Becoming an authoritative resource.
Objectives: Providing quality content on the website, regularly adding new information, establishing trust, marketing our site on other websites and social media. - Goal: Improve interaction with existing and potential customers.
Objectives: E-mail marketing lists, online support (live chat), webinars, and content designed to appeal to our ideal visitors, convince them we are worthy of their time, and make it easy for them to take the next step. - Goal: Build the brand.
Objectives: Active social media program, promotions, reputation management.
Two-phased approach
Phase one. We’re taking a two-phased approach in launching our website. The first phase included having our home page, location function, DEI and career pages up and running so that people could easily find a location near them as they searched for clinics or job opportunities. This also allowed us to start collecting data and providing cost-effective advertising support for every location.
Phase two. Behind the scenes, we’re busy making pages live as they become available. During the first week of August, you’ll see our new “About Us” and “Communities” pages as well as a revitalized blog which will be a good platform for stories we want to share on our social media.
Post-launch results
All this planning and work is already paying off. We saw immediate performance improvement and had one of our best, single weeks with a 101% increase in website visits.
| June 2020 | June 2021 |
| – 26,010 unique website visits – 163 website conversions – 8,352 calls into call center – 946 appointments through call center | – 47,047 unique website visits – 556 website conversions – 10,148 calls into call center – 1,324 appointments through call center – 323 walk-in appointments (Say Yes) |
“Christian was the champion. Yes, our vendor, Salted Stone, played a big role in bringing the website to life, but getting into all of the details, that was Christian. All I did was take his feedback and creative vision and harness it,” said Bryan.
“When people land on our website, I want them to know and feel that real help is there for them,” said Christian. “Through our brand, I also want staff to have a sense of pride when it comes to working with BHG. Having the right logo, uniforms and business cards can really do a lot for the staff. You look good. You feel good. The company walks the talk. Genuine, authentic voice, representation…all these things accumulate.”
I’m so proud of our team for their beautiful work and the impact it’s making for our patients. Now, when you see our brand and visit our website, you’ll know the clever and creative minds behind it and know that we are all on the same mission: to bring more people into treatment and life-long recovery.
