Central Iowa Shelter & Services (CISS)

Central Iowa Shelter & Services (CISS) is a low-barrier emergency shelter open 24/7/365. They serve both men and women aged 18 and older who are experiencing homelessness, aiding them with programs and services that will help them secure permanent housing.

The Challenge

Central Iowa Shelter & Services faced multiple challenges with their online presence. From an outdated website to an antiquated content management system (CMS), it was difficult for users to find relevant information quickly and for site maintenance to be kept up. Additionally, their volunteer sign-up process – a crucial aspect of their organization – required manual and time-consuming work which left room for data entry errors and inefficiencies. The content on the website lacked personality and innovation, two values reflected in the dynamic nature of their programs and services. CISS needed to more adequately showcase the broad scope of services they offer in an engaging way. That’s where we came in.

Industry

The Work

Our Approach

To address these issues, we embraced an audience-centric strategy aimed at delivering the most important information quickly and efficiently. We ensured that key information was prioritized on the site, and displayed on the home page for easy access. Programs and services were categorized and organized to help users find what they needed with less clicks, getting the pertinent details in front of them without searching through multiple layers in the site. We also highlighted and featured CISS’s major fundraising efforts on the homepage in order to boost donations and engagement through events and volunteer opportunities.

The Work

Our website design approach was simplistic yet effective, drawing attention to the content and navigation. Our team provided compelling copy that showcased CISS’s mission and the innovative ways it serves the central Iowa community. By focusing on clear calls to action and engaging content, our goal was to enhance user experience and drive more interactions with the site.

The Results

Our digital strategist observed a mixed bag of metrics. While the average views per user decreased from 2.38 to 2.12 and the average session duration dropped from 3:48 to 2:39, this can be interpreted positively. The streamlined navigation made it easier for users to find the info they needed, evidenced by the 10.9% decrease in average pages visited per user and the 30.3% decrease in average session duration. How we see it, users didn’t need to spend as much time on the site because what they needed was right in front of them, with just a click of a button. Another positive note, the average number of actions— also referred to as events—per user saw a significant increase of 173.5%, rising to 7.11 events per user. This surge indicates higher engagement and more effective calls-to-action on the new site.

These data points suggest that our redesign successfully enhanced user experience and engagement on the CISS website.