Creating a digital platform to support multiple user needs

The Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) is the professional body responsible for the specialty throughout the UK. With a combined membership of 23,000 fellows and members, RCoA engaged Manifesto to help understand its internal and external audience needs, and make their online journeys simpler with a digital platform that provides them with the tools and resources required to learn and engage.

Understanding the complexity of RCoA’s relationships, dynamics and breadth of work

The RCoA needed a platform that encompassed its faculties and various partner organisations, whilst providing a range of services for its varying audiences; from event registrations to public awareness pages, and learning resources for trainees, to online portals for multi organisation, joint healthcare initiatives. 

The new site also needed to offer a more holistic approach to patient wellbeing and raise the profile of the profession to attract new members and safeguard standards.

Personalising user experiences

Putting the users at the centre of the project, the team at Manifesto undertook extensive user research, and carried out a series of workshops with members of the public and internal stakeholders, including interviews with external stakeholders to uncover areas for improvement, current frustrations, and hopes for the new website.

Following the team’s research, Manifesto created eight user personas representing the different audience members, including web administrators and trainee anaesthetist, organisational leaders, and members of the public. These were then used as references for designing new user journeys to create an improved and more personal user experience for those visiting the new website. 

To support the design direction of the new platform, Manifesto produced five principles to guide the RCoA through site recommendations, and clearly communicate these into a high level project vision that spanned user experience, content and technology.

Centralising resources

The Manifesto team provided the RCoA with in-depth tools for conducting content audits, made recommendations for structuring and managing content, and provided a map of a new systems architecture to enable the college to deliver tailored content based on each users’ behaviour going forward. The college was also equipped with a rich backlog of features for the second phase of the project.

“This was a wide ranging and complex project, ranging from the very technical through to organisational process change and a new approach to content creation. Manifesto did a great job in helping us design and then deliver an engaging new set of digital platforms as well as gently guiding us on the cultural changes needed to move them into operation.” Aaron Wood, Director of Technology and Business Development, Royal College of Anaesthetists

How this helps us on your project

Manifesto’s experienced researchers and strategists put an organisations’ audience at the heart of its strategy. By collecting and analysing data from a wide variety of stakeholders and users, we determine insights which drive strategic decision making, and recommendations which deliver immediate and long-lasting value.