With the digital health market expected to reach $657 billion in 2025, healthcare providers must prioritize brand-specific, engaging and memorable websites that both attract and retain patients.
In an industry where trust is paramount and competition is fierce, your website can serve as a digital brochure for your practice or hospital.
It can easily turn into a key driver for conversions that instills credibility, professionalism and expertise, which can make visitors feel more comfortable, welcomed and cared for.
In this post, we’ll examine 15 healthcare website design tips to help you establish industry leadership, attract new patients and create a positive user experience.
15 Healthcare Web Design Tips To Attract Patients
People make over a billion health-related searches every day to look for quick and relevant solutions to their health concerns.
How can your website establish your authority and attract these potential patients?
Below, we’ve compiled a list of 15 medical website best practices to help you turn passing visitors into loyal patients.
1. Include Clear Doctor And Treatment Options
86% of Americans believe that transparency is an important brand attribute for businesses.
When patients visit your healthcare website, they should quickly understand who your doctors are, what treatments you offer and how to schedule an appointment.
Moreover, your website should clearly state your specialties and any unique procedures or services you offer.
What to include:
- Short doctor bios with certifications, education and experience
- Detailed descriptions of treatments and procedures
- Clear navigation to appointment scheduling
For instance, Sutter Health has a separate “Our Doctors” page where visitors can browse physicians by specialty, appointment availability, accepted insurance or language spoken.
The site includes staff names, images, specialties, phone numbers and earliest booking dates to make it easy for patients to find and schedule appointments with their preferred doctors.
2. Update Locations And Office Hours
You can follow the latest design and development trends to create up-to-date location pages and office hour listings.
When patients search for care, they need accurate and accessible information about where and when they can visit.
Outdated details can create confusion, frustration and even drive potential patients to look elsewhere.
You can include the following information on your contact or location page:
- Full address and map of each office or location
- Hours of operation for each day of the week
- Parking availability and instructions
- Public transportation options
- Contact information, such as phone number or email
This way, you manage patient expectations, reduce barriers to accessing care and show patients that you value their time and convenience.
For example, Northwell Health lists all its facilities with operating hours for different departments and offers detailed directions and map integrations for each location.
3. Implement Simple Navigation And Layouts
38% of users focus on the layout and navigation when they first visit a website.
For the healthcare industry, where users may have limited time or be in a state of distress, a straightforward and uncluttered interface can help them find the information they need quickly.
To optimize your website’s layout and main navigation, consider the following tips:
- Avoid excessive text or confusing visuals
- Use clear and concise headings
- Employ intuitive drop-down menus for sub-categories
- Group related information together
- Add useful links or buttons for easy access to frequently used pages
Following these hospital website design tips can reduce the cognitive load on your visitors, simplify user journeys and optimize your healthcare website for conversions.
Bright Now! Dental uses a simplified sticky navigation bar at the top, clear headings and services options and strategic placement of contact information and call-to-action buttons to guide users through the website.
4. Use Visual Storytelling
Visual storytelling involves using images, videos and graphics to convey a narrative.
Since 55% of brand first impressions are visual, you can influence how your audience perceives your healthcare brand by using high-quality and impactful visuals that reinforce your identity.
This approach:
- Humanizes medical services by showcasing real-life patient stories
- Simplifies complex medical information
- Highlights the impact of a particular treatment
- Enhances emotional responses and trust
Moreover, this approach shows patients that they’ll be cared for by real people and not just a faceless institution, which can boost brand loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing.
For example, Profiles Beverly Hills‘ homepage features a gallery link to categorized before-and-after photos for facial plastic surgery procedures to reinforce their expertise and showcase their results.
5. Prioritize Cross-Device Optimization
Smartphones lead the global traffic share with 64.04%, while desktop accounts for nearly half of that with 35.96%.
Cross-device optimization means delivering user-friendly, responsive and easy-to-navigate website experiences across all devices, including desktop, tablet and mobile.
This is critical for healthcare brands as more patients are using their smartphones to search for medical information, book appointments and communicate with healthcare providers.
If your site loads quickly and adapts smoothly to any screen size, you show that your practice values patients’ time and convenience.
You can design a website that converts across all devices by:
- Prioritizing mobile-first design
- Implementing lazy loading techniques
- Optimizing image formats and sizes
- Using flexible grids and layouts
- Adding touch-friendly navigation and buttons
6. Integrate Online Patient Services
72% of Millennials and Gen Z users prefer scheduling doctor’s appointments online or via an app, which highlights the growing demand for digital healthcare services.
While older generations may still prefer making appointments over the phone, offering online scheduling, bill payment options and other patient services can future-proof your practice for the tech-conscious generations to come.
Patients appreciate clarity and simplicity when booking appointments or settling bills.
A well-designed digital system allows them to:
- Quickly check availability,
- Receive timely reminders
- Manage payments in a secure environment
For example, MyWellSpan includes a dedicated patient portal for easy access to medical records, test results and appointment scheduling.
7. Showcase Insurance And Pricing Details
75% of patients look for doctors, dentists and other healthcare providers online.
You can significantly minimize any doubts or uncertainties visitors have about your practice by being upfront about your insurance policies and pricing.
This way, users can feel like they’re dealing with a straightforward practice that respects their time and financial concerns.
Some healthcare UX design best practices for displaying insurance and pricing details include:
- Using plain language to explain core pricing and insurance policies
- Displaying pricing comparisons for various services and procedures
- Providing links to insurance providers or offering in-house financing information
- Clearly outlining cancellation and rescheduling policies
Take PlushCare as an example — the platform clearly states its insurance partners underneath its hero section to give visitors a clear overview of what to expect in terms of payments.
8. Highlight Clear Calls-To-Action
Clear and actionable calls-to-action (CTAs) can bridge the gap between visitors’ initial interest and their decision to engage with your healthcare services.
CTAs act as signposts that direct patients toward essential actions like scheduling appointments or accessing patient portals.
This reduces confusion, improves user experience and ultimately boosts conversions.
Since personalized CTAs yield a 202% better performance than basic ones, you can implement the following patient conversion optimization strategies:
- Use action-oriented language: Add verbs that encourage immediate action, such as “Book Your Appointment Today” or “Access Your Health Records.”
- Ensure visibility: Place CTAs in prominent locations — like the header, footer or as sticky elements — so users can easily notice and interact with them.
- Maintain consistent design: Use contrasting colors and readable fonts to contrast the CTAs with the background while ensuring they align with your brand guidelines.
- Highlight immediate benefits: Clearly communicate the advantages of taking the proposed action, such as “Schedule Now for a Free Consultation”.
For example, Henry Ford Health prominently features its “Make an appointment” CTA across its homepage hero section, along with a few others on doctors, locations and care options below the fold.
9. Add Trust Signals And Social Proof
80% of visitors inspect five or more reviews of healthcare providers before labelling them as trustworthy.
If your website clearly displays endorsements, patient testimonials, professional awards and accreditations, you instantly appear more credible and trustworthy to potential patients.
Testimonials and case studies, in particular, act like friendly nods from satisfied patients to newcomers — they help dispel uncertainty and establish positive brand associations.
Take PrimeCare Orthotics & Prosthetics as an example — its homepage features an interactive testimonials section where users can browse through real patient stories and see its products in action through relevant patient photos.
10. Optimize For Voice Search
The sooner you adapt your healthcare website to voice search trends, the better your chances of securing higher rankings and reaching more patients.
With 20% of all Google searches made through voice, optimizing conversational, long-tail keywords and creating FAQ pages is more important than ever.
When a potential patient uses voice search, they’re often looking for immediate, concise answers.
Queries like “Where’s the nearest dermatologist?” or “What are the symptoms of a sinus infection?” may lead them straight to your website if you include relevant information and optimize for featured snippets.
11. Ensure Secure Hosting And Data Protection
81% of consumers believe that how brands treat and handle their data is a direct indication of how they view and respect their customers.
For healthcare websites, establishing secure and reliable hosting and data protection is more than just a technical requirement — it’s a fundamental element to building and maintaining patient trust.
Visitors are more willing to engage and reach out if they see familiar symbols of security, like the HTTPS padlock in the browser’s address bar.
This small icon can be the difference between a patient taking the next step to book an appointment or abandoning the site out of worry about their information being at risk.
Similarly, your practice should be open about cookie collection and data tracking policies and ensure compliance with HIPAA and GDPR regulations.
You should be transparent about how you use cookies and data tracking and give patients the option to opt out if they choose.
Additionally, regularly conducting security audits, installing SSL certificates and updating outdated plugins and software can also reduce the risk of data breaches that can harm your facility’s reputation.
For example, UCSF Health prominently features a cookie consent pop-up on its website so users can make an informed decision about their data privacy.
12. Add Live Chat Support
92% of users say that convenience is a deciding factor when choosing a primary healthcare provider.
While telemedicine and virtual consultations are taking center stage in the healthcare industry, they may not always be readily available to answer common questions and concerns.
Integrating a live chat feature has a lot of benefits, including:
- Real-time support for appointment scheduling and inquiries
- Immediate answers to common questions
- Gathering actionable feedback for continuous improvement
For instance, Virtua Health integrates live chat support into its homepage to help users schedule appointments, find a relevant doctor or ask questions regarding their medical bills.
13. Follow Accessibility And ADA Compliance
Optimizing website accessibility means adhering to standard WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) to ensure your website is accessible to people with disabilities.
These disabilities can include vision, hearing, motor or cognitive impairments.
The goal is to make every visitor feel welcome and supported, regardless of their abilities.
Some accessibility healthcare website design tips include:
- Adding adjustable font size and color contrast options
- Providing alt text for images for visually impaired users
- Enabling keyboard navigation and alternative input methods
- Using clear and concise language for easy comprehension by all visitors
- Including captions or transcripts for video content
A notable example is Baptist Health South Florida, which includes an accessibility pop-up on the left side of the screen so users can adjust contrast or text size, pause animations and hide images or enable screen readers or dyslexia-compatible tools.
14. Include Educational Patient Resources
Informed patients are satisfied and loyal patients.
You can add educational patient resources to your website to offer clear, research-backed and engaging health information so patients understand complex medical conditions, treatments and healthy living tips.
This way, visitors can feel empowered and more involved in their wellness and healthcare journeys, which fosters stronger patient-provider relationships and improves long-term ROI.
In fact, businesses that run a dedicated blog section see a 55% uptick in average website visits than those who don’t.
This can be your chance to address common patient questions and concerns, share industry updates and showcase your expertise in the healthcare field.
Mayo Clinic pulls this off masterfully by providing detailed and easy-to-understand information about common health conditions, treatments and healthy living tips.
15. Offer Multilingual Support
Prioritizing multilingual support goes beyond simple translations — it creates immersive, mutually accepting and welcoming experiences for users of all backgrounds and cultures.
This is particularly important if your practice operates in a diverse community or serves patients from different countries.
Language-coordant care reduces misunderstandings, supports better adherence to treatment plans and improves patient-doctor relationships.
When patients see their language represented, it bridges the communication gap and signals respect for their cultural identity, which fosters trust and leads to better health outcomes.
For example, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center offers language-based resources and services for patients who speak languages other than English, including Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian and others.
Digital Silk’s Healthcare Website Examples
Digital Silk follows the latest medical website best practices to create informative, user-friendly and conversion-optimized websites for healthcare providers. Some of our projects include:
1. IVE Mental Health
Our team designed IVE Mental Health‘s website to reflect its accessible and affordable services.
Digital Silk established a signature brand identity and colors to increase recognition, simplified the navigation and added useful patient resources.
The platform’s clean, intuitive and responsive design creates a warm and welcoming digital space for mental health conversations, while the transparent and straightforward therapy options encourage visitors to book an appointment.
2. Assisted Living District
Digital Silk simplified Assisted Living District‘s website to help patients find care facilities in Maryland.
Our team used strategic UX and UI enhancements to organize detailed medical information in an easy-to-navigate format and added clear CTAs for booking a tour or requesting more information.
The website’s scalable architecture supports future growth and expansion while providing a seamless user experience for patients seeking assisted living options.
3. Mezocare
Digital Silk created a scalable and patient-centered platform for Mezocare‘s healthcare tourism services.
The website’s vibrant and modern design showcases the brand’s all-inclusive medical travel packages and specialized procedures in Mexico while providing comprehensive information and resources for patients to make informed decisions.
Our team used data-driven SEO strategies and detailed taxonomies to streamline the website’s functionality and improve its search engine rankings.
Design A Healthcare Website With Digital Silk
The healthcare industry is a fast-paced, competitive and change-oriented field, with patient preferences and medical technology shaping existing trends and developments.
You can offer empathetic support, unwavering expertise and personalized treatments to your patients through an on-brand, informative and user-friendly website.
Digital Silk‘s award-winning designers collaborate closely with our web developers, branding and digital strategists and content and marketing specialists to deliver scalable, secure and conversion-focused healthcare websites for practices of all backgrounds.
As a professional web design agency, our services include:
For each project, our team ensures transparent and proactive communication, timely updates and measurable results.
Want to design a website for your healthcare practice?
Contact our team, call us at (800) 206-9413 or fill in the Request a Quote form below to schedule a consultation.
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