People in need who land on our site are usually in tough circumstances. Sometimes, they’re going through the hardest moment of their lives. Our team has thought very hard about how to make their search experience as simple, fast, and relevant as possible.
When someone accepts that he/she needs help and takes the steps to do something about it, that’s a transformative moment. Our responsibility at Aunt Bertha is to build on that momentum by providing pathways to help, and ultimately, to empowerment. It’s important that the journey is direct, without frustration or hindrances. The last thing someone needs, after taking the important step to get help, is the feeling that the path is too hard or that help isn’t there.
Each program listed in our network is a pathway to help, displaying useful information that helps someone in need determine very quickly whether to take the next steps. The way that this information is displayed can mean the difference between whether someone in need moves forward or not.
We recently redesigned our program cards, where information such as location, hours of operation, services provided, and more, are available. The goal of the redesign was to make it even easier for our users to evaluate a program and connect within seconds. Here are some of the improved features:
• The user path progresses from left to right, consuming program information and ending with taking a next step;
• The teal call-to-action button is persistent and always visible no matter what section of the program card you’re in;
• Smart organization displays the most important program information in one view;
• A simple description of the program provider and services offered is surfaced prominently at the top of the card so that you know right away what the program is about;
• The full breadth of a program’s offering is listed in both Main Services and Other Services tags so that a program is not passed over;
• Program capacity and eligibility details are immediately visible upon expanding the card; and
• Additional tools to get more details, save programs, send to a friend, record notes, and update program information are all in one place.
We also consider the preferred contact method specified by program providers with a customized call-to-action button in each program card. This way, we only send over referrals in the way that’s most convenient to the receiver. With our program card redesign, we hope that taking the next steps to getting help will be even easier, faster, and simpler.
