Why updating the CiviCRM website is Critical

Who is the most important person navigating the CiviCRM website?  Without a doubt, it is the person looking to explore CiviCRM as a possibility for their organization. Making a good impression when this “uninformed user” first navigates to the website is critical.

 

Until recently it was difficult for the uninformed user to navigate the CiviCRM website. The website simply had too many options and it was unclear how best to proceed.   Too often this meant people getting lost in the site and not navigating to helpful pages.

 

In today's world people navigate websites faster than ever and expect to get the information they need immediately. No longer can a website expect the uninformed user to explore, they simply will not do it, they will get frustrated, and they will leave the site.  Websites need to be constructed in a way that drives user behavior.  All of CiviCRM’s competitor websites drive user behavior. 

 

Although we still have a lot of work to do, we've made some major strides in improving the website. First we've updated the homepage’s focus almost completely to the uninformed user.  The menus have been simplified and the top section is crisp, clear, and inviting.  Looking at the analytics, these changes have been successful because people are now primarily navigating to the CiviCRM-101 page and secondarily to the find an expert page. The find an expert page has 50% more user traffic than before.  Driving traffic to these pages ensures that the uninformed user will quickly find key information about CiviCRM and will encourage the user to engage with partners/experts.

 

Over the next several months we plan to implement several other revisions to the website.  These improvements should include items such as significant changes to the expert section, features section, and events.

 

Hopefully you see these updates as significant improvements.  We look forward to making CiviCRM’s website the best non-profit CRM website just like the software itself.