Optimising information architecture and more with Dementia UK

About our client

Every three minutes, someone in the UK develops dementia – it’s one of the biggest health challenges of our time. Dementia UK is the specialist dementia nursing charity that provides free, life-changing support and advice to anyone affected by dementia. With the support of an Admiral Nurse and Dementia UK – whether it’s on our helpline, through our virtual or face-to-face clinics, or in the community – the families we support know they’re not alone.

What our client wanted

Dementia UK partnered with Bunnyfoot to identify areas for improvement on their website in areas such as navigation, information architecture, content design, and usability. The charity aimed to:

Provide a better user experience to those in search of support and advice.
Increase the number of users committing to donation and fundraising activities.

What we delivered

Phase 1

Bunnyfoot did an expert evaluation of the charity’s website. The Dementia UK website was inspected by three usability experts for compliance with usability ‘heuristics’ and UX industry conventions of good user experience like consistent UI and UX, error prevention and natural mapping, visibility and predictability of interactions etc.

We also assessed the Dementia UK site against established principles of persuasion and emotion and included some accessibility findings. Evaluating the Dementia UK website both on desktop and mobile.

We produced a comprehensive report that categorised various issues encountered in our analysis, ranging from quick fixes to more complex challenges in usability, information architecture (IA), search functionality, graphic design, and accessibility. Wherever applicable, we included recommendations for resolving current issues and suggested next steps to enhance overall user experience and website effectiveness.

Phase 2

Based on recommendations from the expert evaluation, Dementia UK asked us to review their current IA and suggest improvements.

To achieve this, we conducted a research technique known as card sorting. We prepared 80 cards representing content from three main sections, moderated 10 open card sort sessions with users, analysed the findings, and created a new IA for the charity.

The results

15% increase in donations between August 2023 and September 2023 (before vs after launch).

Increase in calls and form conversions to the helpline by 16% since launch.

Increase by 22% of time spent on the donations page since launch.

“Organic search is now our main traffic source – this was a key aim of the new website, as we wanted to improve on our organic traffic to the site by improving usability, accessibility and SEO.”

Kylie Petitt, Digital Engagement Lead at Dementia UK

Here you can see visually the before and after of our Information architecture work.

Before:

After:

It was a pleasure to collaborate with Mila and Bunnyfoot on enhancing the Dementia UK website.

We recognised the need to upgrade our charity site, but we were unsure where to begin. Their thorough evaluation was exceptional in identifying quick fixes and long-term initiatives.

One of these was enhancing our information architecture (IA), and a few months later, we conducted a card-sorting exercise with them.

This uncovered several areas for improvement, and we have implemented these to improve our website users’ journeys. We will definitely be collaborating with them again in the future.
Kylie Petitt,
Digital Engagement Lead at Dementia UK

Need some advice?

Bunnyfoot has always prioritised evidence capture and valid, bespoke study designs to truly understand the nature of user engagement, interactions and behaviours, in a holistic way.

If you would like to talk about how we can support you with gaining a deeper understanding of your audience so you can make evidence-driven design decisions, we’d love to talk! Contact us.