How LifeScape created a welcoming digital ‘front door’ with its new website

This paid piece is sponsored by LifeScape.

Accessibility, seamless translation and interactive chat.

LifeScape is breaking barriers with its latest website refresh, led by marketing manager Tori Christensen.

Improving user experience was the primary motivation behind the need to update the site.

“Our website is now completely mobile friendly,” Christensen said. “Being mobile friendly in today’s world is a key to keeping people on your website and having them want to return. Pulling numbers to see how users got to our website in the past 30 days, over 60 percent of the users were using a mobile device.”

She has been with LifeScape for almost three years and has been involved in website development for eight years, creating several sites from scratch, including LifeScapeJourneyofHope.org.

The redesign of the LifeScape website marked her most extensive end-to-end project to date.

One major motivation for the change was to achieve complete control over the backend of LifeScape’s website.

This newfound control allows for adding, removing or adjusting any element of the website — a capability that previously was unavailable to the team.

Another significant enhancement in the website update is the reduction of the number of clicks required.

“We have cut the total number of pages we have on our website by almost two-thirds, which has reduced the number of clicks for our users to find what they are looking for, creating a better user experience,” Christensen said.

Some notable features on their new website include:

Accessibility: This innovative feature ensures the website is accessible to all users. It accommodates those with visual impairments, provides ADHD-friendly features, offers options to reduce colors for individuals prone to seizures and allows text-size adjustments — all enhancing the overall user experience.

Translation: The website’s translation feature supports 10 languages, varying in accuracy but enabling families of those supported and employees to access information more easily. While language barriers persist, this feature aims to mitigate them for all users.

Chat: The website also features a chat function where users can submit their name, email address and questions. Although it doesn’t provide live employee chat, submissions are directed to the appropriate personnel for prompt assistance.

Working with websites is a passion Christensen said she cherishes in her marketing career.

“I enjoy how websites are ever-evolving, extremely customizable to fit any brand and to see a brand come to life through moving parts of a website,” she said.

To check out the new website, visit LifeScapeSD.org.