Smiths Medical, a global leader in clinically essential medical devices, needed a responsive website navigation. This was part of a larger project to make their website fully responsive, ensuring accessibility for everyone, regardless of device. The company was acquired by ICU Medical in 2022 with the website now offline.
Capturing feedback from users through a website survey
The website survey helped identify the reasons for users visiting the website and the barriers encountered while using it. After analysing the feedback, some key findings were discovered, which informed the design decisions.
Key Findings
The main priority for users visiting the website was to find product information.
39% of users who answered the survey found it difficult to identify product lines within a category often requiring too many clicks and a disjointed user journey.
Users found it difficult to define where to start their journey with Product, Area of Care and Brand menus all pointing to the same place.
The website was only partially responsive making it difficult to read on some devices.
High bounce rate, short session times and excessive clicks were all identified through Analytics.
Old website navigation
Designing a responsive menu to make the website easier to navigate
The navigation was incorporated into the website header to enhance its readability.
The "Area of care" menu was removed to simplify the navigation and user journey.
The product menu was updated to include product imagery to aid in identifying the different product categories.
The layouts were designed to provide good usability across desktop, tablet, and mobile devices. This ensured a consistent user experience for all users.
New website navigation
Validating design decisions with users
The designs were shared with 60 users for feedback. Once iterations had been made to ensure the needs had been met, I collaborated with an external development agency to ensure successful deployment.
Successfully launched in 2021
The updated website navigation was well received by customers and internal stakeholders. Analytics showed an overall improvement in website engagement.
