Using Audience Differentiation to Improve Public Health Website Effectiveness: An Innovative Methodology to Inform Public Health Communications Efforts

An effective public health website is one of the key indicators of how successful an organization will be at getting their messages to the right audiences and effectively communicating their mission. How well do you know your audiences and how well do they know your brand?

Whether your website is addressing multicultural health needs, a specific health issue, a research audience, healthcare providers, or public health clients, building audience measurement into the website development process ultimately determines whether or not the website's objectives have been accomplished.  Quantifying website audiences and success of the site will be especially important in the future when site schemas and taxonomies become more sophisticated, including such features as ICD codes, and are linked to apps and health information systems.

Audience differentiation is a methodology that includes both quantitative and qualitative processes.  Adapted from commercial marketing theory, it is based on developing an understanding of website objectives, identifying website visitors and their end actions, analyzing engagement characteristics, and comparing quantitative results with self-identified audience needs and objectives. The methodology applies to both existing and newly developed websites.  Consideration is given to websites where there is a lack of data, or where there may be policies or requirements that prevent the gathering of certain types of data.  Once a website audience has been determined, it can be periodically optimized and monitored using the same methodology.  Finally, sustainability will be addressed. When the website audience has been determined, the site can be periodically optimized and monitored using the same methodology to ensure that audience fluctuations are addressed.