It’s no secret that the healthcare industry is behind-the-times in regards to digital marketing. A recent study by Greystone.Net shows healthcare organizations have much room for digital improvement. Yet when it comes to healthcare websites, things seem to looking up. So much that 95% of healthcare organizations are now using their website for marketing.

Today, a website is one of the most prevalent ways to represent your brand online. So it only makes sense to invest time, energy and budget in making their most visible face to the world.

It appears that the healthcare industry is finally understanding the importance of their website. Find out what the 2015 Healthcare Digital Marketing Study revealed below.

Open to open source

Let’s be real, we’re no stranger to the WordPress world. We talk about it, we build websites on it and we even spend time with the community as much as we can. That said, we also know how weary healthcare organizations become when “WordPress” gets mentioned. And that’s even after showing them the successful hospital sites we’ve completed on WordPress!

So it was a pleasant surprise to see open source tools come in as the most used Content Management System. And by a pretty decent margin at that. Of the 12 CMS software options, the top three used by healthcare organizations came in at:

  • 27% use open source
  • 18% use Sitecore
  • 11% use Sharepoint

Plans for improvement

When asked about any plans for platform or design changes, 51% plan to change and/or update their CMS. Even more exciting is the 45% planning to redesign their healthcare website.

The study shows the top 3 KPI’s as: number of unique visitors, number of page views, and growth in web visitors. This is all the reason to have a flexible and secure CMS that is easy to use and attractive to the user.

Functionality is essential

It seems the healthcare industry finally understands how powerful their website can be. Of all the digital efforts used, 79% feel website functionality is essential. This is great news for the 71% of American adults searching online for healthcare-related information and even more for the 40% who take action on their own with the information they find.

With so much weight placed on a website’s functionality, healthcare websites are also innovating. New and emerging functionality features available on healthcare websites include:

  • Online class/event registration
  • Online bill pay
  • Online class/event payment
  • EMR integration

50% of American adults say they have used online platforms such as ZocDoc and Healthgrades to research providers and schedule visits. Imagine the positive patient experience your website visitors would feel if they were able to do that research right on your website.

Responding to the standards

Whether due to Google’s Mobilegeddon update or one-too-many frustrated users, an impressive 57% of healthcare websites are now fully responsive.

With 19% partially responsive and 11% having a separate mobile site, the small 10% of non-responsive sites show hope for future improvements.