Improving our website

19 October 2011

We recently asked you what you thought of our website and you told us about who you are, what your interests and concerns are and what you want from the Health.vic.gov.au website. This is a summary of what you told us.

About the survey

The survey was available on Health.vic.gov.au for two weeks in late August 2011.  

Who responded?

Over 2000 people responded, across a broad spectrum of users and sectors. People completing the survey included

• Nurses (23%)
• General public (18%)
• Allied health professionals (12%)
• Administrators (8%)
• Government employees (not including DH employees) (8%)
• Business operator or employee (6%) and
• “other” people (4%).

Respondents were involved in/interested in the following health sectors:

• primary and community health (18%)
• acute care (14%)
• mental health (13%)
• education (10%)
• aged care (9%) and
• government (7%), among other sectors.

Visitors came mostly from metropolitan Melbourne (over 60%), 25% from regional Victoria, 12% interstate and 3% were located internationally.

How did visitors arrive at the site?

Almost half (48%) came to the site from a search engine, 12% via word of mouth, and 11% came from another website link.

How frequently do visitors visit the site?

From this survey:

• 39% were first time visitors
• About a quarter were frequent users of the site – using it weekly, daily or several times a day
• 16% of users visit monthly
• 16% visit less frequently than monthly
• 4% did not indicate how often they visit.

What were people looking for?

These types of information were the most popular information or services among regular site users:

• Factsheets (15%)
• Policies & guidelines (10%)
• Disease information (10%)
• Other publications (6%)
• Contact information (5%)
• Legislation & regulations (5%).

What about satisfaction with finding content and content quality?

More than 60% of regular users agreed or strongly agreed with these statements:

• I can usually find what I want on this website
• The content on this website is easy to read
• The language used is easy to understand
• The information on this website is accurate and up to date
• The services on this website are easy to use
• The colours and layout are appealing
• The tools and functionality are easy to use
• The tools are relevant and useful to me
• I know where I am on the website.

What else did we learn from our site users?

Several questions were asked about adding features such as collaboration and Web 2.0 tools to the Health.Vic site; people were most interested in online consultations, collaboration tools, sharing content, email/SMS alerts and online forums.

Comments about lack of content freshness and poor site navigation were made, as were a number of useful suggestions about enhancements to presentation of information – for example, simplifying the home page or providing alternative search term suggestions.

Overall there was a message about a need to simplify the site, and making it clear that Health.Vic is mainly intended for the health sector, while consumers are served by the Better Health Channel.

What’s next?

Based on this and other research we'll be working to improve the website over the next few months. We will be introducing improved navigation, a common site look and feel and enhancements to the services and tools available.

If you spot anything you like on the site, or see anything that could be improved, don't hesitate to use the Feedback page or email us healthweb@health.vic.gov.au.