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In continuation of our research into medical topics, we will focus on an important aspect - the convenience of the interfaces that medical clinics offer to their visitors. In this article we will look at how the websites of clinics in St. Petersburg meet the requirements of user friendliness, given the high competition in the medical services market.
The medical services market is a highly competitive environment where clinics not only provide medical care, but also compete for the attention and trust of users visiting their websites. Websites of medical clinics in St. Petersburg can be divided into several categories:
· Official websites of medical clinics and centers,
· Information portals and directories,
· Aggregators of clinics and doctors,
· Online pharmacy sites,
· And others.
In a highly competitive environment, it is important not only to provide quality content, but also to ensure that the user can easily and quickly find the information they need, make an appointment or contact the clinic. In this part of the study, we will evaluate three main aspects: the website interface, appointment forms and methods of contacting the clinic.
The first important element is the site interface. It should be intuitive, convenient and simple. Navigation should be logical, and buttons and links should be clear. Our task is to assess how well the interface of clinic websites meets these requirements.
According to Yandex.Radar data, the share of users accessing websites from mobile devices has significantly exceeded the share of users from PCs, which makes adaptive layout mandatory for all modern websites. Based on the collected statistics, we found that more than 60% of users use smartphones to search for information on the Internet, and this number continues to grow. Therefore, the lack of adaptive design on the site is a serious disadvantage.
We haven't come across any sites that weren't adapted for mobile devices. However, not all clinics implement a clear and understandable structure and transparent navigation. In such cases, the search bar becomes an indispensable tool. At the same time, on 10% of sites the search does not work correctly, being limited only to news and information materials.
In addition, a version for the visually impaired was found on 62% of clinic websites, making the site easier for people with visual impairments to use.
The next important element for user convenience is appointment forms. On many clinic sites, the appointment form is the main tool for making an appointment, but not all sites offer this functionality. In our sample, 23% of clinics do not have an appointment form, offering to register only through the “Call Back” form or by phone.
Those sites where there is a registration form demonstrate different functionality. For example, on 6% of sites users cannot make an appointment without registering in a personal account, on 9% it is impossible to select the desired doctor’s specialization, on 15% it is impossible to specify a convenient appointment date. On 27% of sites it is not possible to select a specific doctor, and on 27% there is no option to select an appointment time.
Some clinics offer simplified registration forms, which can be useful for users who do not want to fill out lengthy forms. Callback forms serve as an auxiliary tool for making an appointment, giving the user the opportunity to contact the operator.
Finally, it is important to consider ways to communicate with the clinic. All sites in our sample provide telephone contact, but not all clinics offer additional methods of contact. 67% of clinics use the “Call Back” form, but only 37% work with instant messengers (WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram), which is currently a current trend. Live chat is present on less than half of sites, and its functionality is often limited to general information rather than advice on making an appointment.
It is important to note that the absence of instant messengers and online chats does not have a significant impact on the position of clinics in search results, which is also confirmed by the results of our study.
As a result of the analysis, we came to the conclusion that clinics that provide convenient registration forms, adapted websites and many ways to communicate with users have an advantage in converting visitors into patients. However, it is also worth remembering that the quality of content and functionality of the site play an important role in ranking in search engines.
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