Focus on the Family Canada is in the business of changing lives by tackling tough subjects through restorative content. They approach their readers like a good friend, caring for them through the joys and hardships of life.
While the Focus on the Family Canada (FOTF) website was filled with great content, they knew they weren’t quite fulfilling their readers' needs. They approached us looking to create a digital journey that would give readers a more enriching experience.
In the strategy phase, we spent a week with the FOTF leadership to narrow down what exactly was standing in the way and what could be done to set the stage for a bigger experience.
“The design sprint with Glass Canvas was a helpful tool to create solutions for problems on our existing website. The process they used was intense, but very effective in producing results in a very short time.” – Rolf Gobran, VP of Digital Media at Focus on the Family Canada
Creating an experience online meant starting with design. Because Focus on the Family Canada has such an established household name, it meant balancing a modern design within its brand guidelines, all while making sure it accomplished the goals of the project.
"It became our goal to design an experience that lead users into the next right step, custom to their need. We wanted to build trust with the audience, designing for all the needs they may have and the journey that would make them comfortable to continue looking for help.” Pierre de Fleuriot, Creative Director at Glass Canvas
The new website was built with a custom algorithm that automatically curates relevant content, meaning the website anticipates which content to showcase based on the user’s habits. The more interactions, the more the website adapts, and the more personalized the content becomes.
The algorithm also includes weeding out information that is irrelevant to the user, meaning they are not only receiving good content but don’t have to bother with content irrelevant to them. This curated path creates the ideal experience for each individual.
To support the full user experience, article clicks also become the trigger for custom calls to action, leading a reader towards supportive resources based on their actions and interests. For example, an article about mental health can lead a reader to Focus on the Family Canada’s free counselling service.
Focus on the Family Canada has long been a source of strength for families. With the new changes, the website’s bounce rate was reduced by almost 50 per cent. In other words, Focus on the Family Canada is breaking through the digital barrier, moving from two minutes of support to being able to nurture readers through their whole experience.
“Glass Canvas helped us create a new site that was not only well received by our site's users, but also meets our goals.” – Rolf Gobran, VP of Digital Media at Focus on the Family Canada
