Health and wellness Web sites are wildly popular with Internet surfers but the key to holding their fickle attention is innovative personalization. Without it your Web site is destined to a fate of hit-and-run anonymity and short-lived, forgettable visits by your intended users.
When Optum, a health and wellness information provider to health plans, employers and other large groups, tossed its hat in the online fray of health Web sites in 1996, it quickly learned what it would take to achieve a competitive edge - original news content and customized features. Initially Optum's Web site, Health Forums, used outside vendors for news content. By 1998, it overhauled Health Forums with dozens of new personalization features and thousands of original articles, tools and informational resources designed to allow its audience of health plan members and employees to better manage their own health.
This personalization focus has also been a marketing coup for Optum's corporate clients, particularly the 35 United Health Plans that use Health Forums to provide customized information to plan members, updated directories of providers and opportunities for online private labeling, says Andy Lindsay, Optum's business team leader. For employer groups, the Health Forums site helps employees develop better health habits, which reduces absenteeism and employer dissatisfaction and improves time management skills.
In August, Health Forums earned top honors from the World Wide Health Awards in the Health Promotion/Disease & Injury Prevention Information category, beating out other reputable sites like the Mayo Clinic, Aetna and Johns Hopkins' InteliHealth.
Making the Transition
From an editorial standpoint, transforming the site to provide 24-hour access to personalized health and wellness information was an easier-said-than-done exercise, says Melissa Redetzke, editor of Optum's new media department. One of the key challenges was getting Optum's clinicians to understand the daily deadline demands and the need for their increased participation. Health Forums relied on Optum clinicians who were used to print deadlines, which gave them a few weeks lead time for editorial approvals and input. To get them to speed up their participation to a daily timeframe, Redetzke says she had to sell them on the merits of Health Forums by:
- providing them with Web site demos;
- highlighting the site's patient education benefits; and
- discussing how the site could be a time- and money-saver for physicians.
Once a few doctors realized these benefits, they spread the word and other physicians soon became eager to get involved with the site's content.
The site thrives on daily clinical input via live chat events and physician Q&As, with editorial oversight from Optum's medical advisory board of at least 10 physicians. For instance, when the Littleton, Colo., shootings occured, the site was updated immediately with articles and interactive features on how to handle teen violence. The process required significant physician oversight and involvement, says Redetzke.
Editorial/Technical Synergy
In addition to selling clinicians on Health Forums, the editorial team of six full-time staffers had to become Net-savvy. The site's Web producers and software engineers try to strike the right balance of allowing editors to work independently while constantly training them on the new bells and whistles that provide increased customization. Most recently, the editors learned HTML coding and how to use the site's latest authoring interfaces so that they could post online articles and host discussion groups.
To get editors to grasp the online nuances of maintaining and updating the site's editorial content, Redetzke encourages her team to:
- speak up and ask questions - regardless of how silly they may seem;
- maintain a positive attitude for constantly learning new things; and
- be assertive about what kind of technical tools they need to enhance the site.
When the site moves to a more customized and interactive format next year, (called Health Forums 3.0) this editorial/technical synergy will become more critical. The 3.0 objectives are more focused on providing corporate clients the technical ability to individually brand the Health Forums site. For editors, this means that content will have to become more customized with client-specific interactive features and articles. For instance, discussion groups will be developed based on individual health plan needs in various markets and "billboard" features will provide personalized branding opportunities.
(Optum, Cheri Anderson, John Kluchka, Andy Lindsay, Melissa Redetzke 612/797-2896)
Traffic Trends
The Health Forums site is accomplishing one of its chief objectives - consumer education, according to Optum's internal research of its 4,000 users. Thirty-six percent of Health Forums' users have achieved a greater understanding of when to see a healthcare professional, 27% feel the site has improved their health and well being and 11% have contacted an Optum nurse or counselor for additional help after visiting the site. Optum measures the number of unique visits, pages viewed, topics of interest and other demographic information to keep clients updated on user patterns.
User trends like these are key motivators for encouraging and maintaining clinical input. Nurses and counselors who run Optum's Nurseline feel confident in recommending the site to callers and often suggest topics and features based on caller feedback, says Redetzke.
- Source: Optum