Web & Application Development

Every day, 1,100 units of life-saving donated blood are needed to support the healthcare facilities that Carter BloodCare serves. Unfortunately, most people only consider making a blood donation in times of crisis, so the biggest challenge facing Carter BloodCare is meeting their daily need for donors.

The new Carter BloodCare website is a combination of two specific strategies: a communication strategy and a usability strategy.

The communication strategy. The American Blood Centers provided the results from a comprehensive study on the habits and behaviors of blood donors. Using this information, we conducted a brand workshop with Carter BloodCare’s brand stakeholders to establish an overall brand strategy for their marketing communications. They key strategic insight: blood donors donate blood because it reinforces their identity as a good person. This is opposed to the original view that they donate blood because it helps people. In other words, for the blood donor, donating blood is more about being a lifesaver than it is about saving lives. This insight lead to the campaign tagline, “Be a part of something great.”

The usability strategy. The re-launch of the Carter BloodCare website included a complete redesign of the site’s architecture and content structure. Months before the interface was redesigned — months before the content was developed — Agency Entourage conducted a website evaluation and usability study to determine the current effectiveness of the site’s essential components. This usability study included a complete evaluation of server statistics, which revealed exactly how its users and visitors were utilizing the site. Based on specific traffic data and our trained analytical expertise, we were able to identify the primary purposes of site visits and specific content that was of greatest interest to visitors.

The communication strategy is the foundation of the digital advertising strategy and the new website. We use real donors who are proud of their involvement with Carter BloodCare to deliver our key messages about the daily need and how individuals can be lifesavers when they decide to help. These donors present an aspirational image for others to follow. On the new website, our donors greet each visitor with the message, “Give blood often. Be a part of something great.” Through our usability strategy, our web designers reorganized the structure of the site content. We moved some content to the top-level of navigation, moved some content to the lower level of navigation, eliminated redundant and unnecessary content and created new content where necessary.

• 1100+ blood donations every month for 4 years in a row
• 5% average click through rate for SEM campaign
• 6000+ new site visitors in the 1st quarter of the campaign