Introduction

The Alberta College of Dental Hygienists (ACDH) is a regulatory body in Alberta, Canada, responsible for overseeing and regulating the practice of dental hygiene in the province. Its primary role is to protect the public by ensuring that dental hygienists in Alberta meet established standards of competence and ethics. The ACDH sets and enforces standards for dental hygiene education, registration, and practice, and it also addresses complaints and disciplinary matters related to the profession. By doing so, the ACDH plays a critical role in maintaining the quality of dental hygiene services and the safety of patients in Alberta.

The ACDH needed to modernize its website to enhance communication, service delivery, regulatory functions and clearly establish user journeys to ensure target user groups can access vital, relevant information, all while also providing a user-friendly experience.

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Research

The ACDH has been integral in the progression of the Dental Hygiene practice but has consistently had a problem with coming across as an authoritative body. They also expressed that they found users were having a hard time finding relevant information and resorted to calling their office causing long wait times and ultimately resulting in a lot of uninformed, frustrated users.

To address these challenges voiced by the ACDH, we identified target audiences through an analysis of successful regulatory bodies with similar objectives. To gain deeper insights into the pain points and needs of these users, we developed user personas. Subsequently, we conducted usability testing on the existing ACDH website, setting specific goals for each target group. This involved engaging three test groups to assess their experiences, with a keen focus on identifying pain points along the way.

Target Audiences:

• Dental Hygienists

• Registrants/Potential Dental Hygienists

• General Public

Main Pain Points:

• Navigating to user-specific, pertinent information

• Trouble ensuring information is up to date

• Lack of clear and compelling calls to action on the homepage, leading to elevated bounce rates

• Difficulty in locating accurate contact details

• A rudimentary navigation system resulting in trial-and-error during information searches

Goals

In response to these newly identified pain points, we created a comprehensive set of objectives for the new website and created wireframes to visualize their effectiveness. These goals were designed to ensure an exceptional user experience for each target audience:

• Craft distinct user journeys from the homepage to create an immediate positive experience and reduce bounce rates.

• Enhance the visual hierarchy across the site to render content more digestible for users of all levels.

• Create a flexible and intuitive navigation system to alleviate user frustration.

• Establish a robust online presence that conveys trustworthiness, credibility, and authoritative leadership within the regulatory realm.

• Provide clear and straightforward contact options for reaching the ACDH.

• Streamline user interactions by offering direct access to high-traffic areas of the website directly from the homepage.

Solution

The homepage underwent a deliberate redesign with a focus on providing streamlined access to information while ensuring distinct and customized user experiences for each target audience. For the primary audience, Dental Hygienists, the hero section of the homepage was crafted to offer quick access to high-traffic sections of the website. Additionally, a featured news post was incorporated to allow for Dental Hygienists to be confident in knowing they are accessing up-to-date information at all times .To enhance the overall navigational experience, we introduced a sub-menu labeled "I want to..." that simplifies access to commonly visited pages for all user groups.

Moreover, we created dedicated landing page templates for each top-level page, enhancing the clarity of section content and making navigation effortless.

To further enrich the user experience, we designed a custom verification tool. This tool serves to verify Dental Hygienists in the province efficiently, thereby addressing frequently requested information and, as a result, reducing the amount of incoming phone calls to the ACDH. This innovative approach ensures a more user-friendly and resource-efficient website experience. To decrease the likelihood of users calling the ACDH, an easily accessible form field was incorporated to the footer of the website to create a centralized funnel for common questions or concerns.

In addition to meeting these user-centric objectives, we crafted a modern and engaging design that not only mirrors the ACDH's authoritative leadership but also creates a warm and welcoming aura. This was achieved through design elements like rounded corners and the incorporation of positive imagery.

Conclusion

The redesign of the ACDH's website is certain to enhance communication, service delivery, and regulatory functions while ensuring that users can easily access vital and relevant information. With these improvements, the ACDH is better equipped to fulfill its mission of informing the public and maintaining the quality of dental hygiene services in Alberta.

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