Your Client Experience Starts on Your Website
In this solo episode of the Elevate Your Practice Summit, Samantha Mabe discusses why a well-crafted website is crucial for private practices, providing the essential first step in client experience. She explains how a practice’s website goes beyond marketing by creating an engaging and informative online presence where clients feel connected to the brand. Samantha shares essential advice on defining a practice’s design style, using authentic copy, and avoiding common website mistakes that could drive clients away. For practice owners on a budget, she outlines three key priorities for creating a strong website foundation that resonates with clients, drives consultations, and aligns with the in-person experience.
Key Takeaways
View your website as a part of the client experience: It should feel like a welcoming, digital version of your office.
Define your brand’s identity: Choose 5-10 words that reflect your practice’s values, style, and the experience you provide.
Avoid jargon: Use client-centered language that speaks directly to what your clients need.
Stay visually consistent: Design elements like colors and image styles should reflect the experience you want clients to have.
Prioritize mobile design: Make sure your website looks and works well on mobile devices.
Answer client questions directly: Use an FAQ section to address common concerns about services, pricing, and location.
Use clear calls to action (CTAs): Prompt clients to schedule a consultation or call, making it easy to take the next step.
For DIY or budget-conscious websites, focus on clarity, SEO foundations, and a design that aligns with your practice’s in-person experience.
Meet the Speaker: Samantha Mabe
Samantha Mabe of Lemon and the Sea designs strategic websites for health & wellness pros so they can show up in front of the right leads and get more patients into their practice. When she’s not digging into design and strategy, Samantha loves reading (her goal is to read 200 books this year) and adventures with her very talkative kiddo.
Transcript
Timestamps
[00:00:37] Introduction to client experience on your website
[00:03:57] Why a website is essential for private practices
[00:08:57] Crafting a consistent client journey online
[00:09:31] Key questions to ask when creating your website
[00:12:42] Defining brand words and design style
[00:15:06] DIY vs. hiring a website designer
[00:20:11] The importance of client-centered language
[00:21:26] Common website mistakes to avoid
[00:24:15] Using strong calls to action (CTAs)
[00:25:45] Top three priorities for updating your website
Full Transcript
[00:00:00] Samantha Mabe: You are listening to the next session of the Elevate Your Practice Summit. Make sure to listen along and then go to the Elevate Your practice.co website to follow up with the speakers and get access to the amazing resources they have shared. And don't forget, you can save 30% on your first three months of practice, better@practicebetter.io, and use the discount code LATS 30. I hope you enjoy this session.
Introduction to Client Experience on Your Website
[00:00:37] Samantha Mabe: On this episode of the Elevate Your Practice Summit, I am going to be sharing with you why your client experience starts on your website. In case we haven't met as you're listening along with this summit, my name is Samantha Mabe, and I am the website designer at Lemon and the Sea, where I design strategic sites for health and wellness practices so that they can show up on Google and get more patients into their office. When I'm not digging into design and strategy, I love reading. My goal is to read 200 books this year and adventures with my very talkative kiddo.
[00:01:13] You can connect with me about website design Anytime at Lemon and the Sea. com or on social media, you can find me at Lemon and the Sea. Let's dive right into today's topic and let me share something with you before we get too far in.
[00:01:29] Originally, I had a hard time figuring out how websites connect with client experience and client management. It doesn't really matter on the back end of your site what your website looks like because that's managed by your staff and your EHR. But what I realized from having all of these conversations with people is that client experience actually starts from the very first interaction that somebody has with you. And while, yes, your website is a piece of your marketing, it's actually more of a part of your experience a second employee and a storefront for you in the online space.
[00:02:12] Here's what I mean: the marketing pieces that happen in your business are where you're going out and you are trying to say, Hey, I have this practice and I have spots for clients. I would really like to see if we're a good fit. That might be social media, that might be in person networking, that might be SEO. But the website itself is not a marketing tactic. There are pieces that lead back there. The website is where people are going to land once they've found you, and they want to know more.
[00:02:45] And so we need that journey from Finding you on social media to landing on your website, booking a consultation, showing up to that consultation, deciding to work together, and then coming into the office to all feel really consistent for our clients so that they're confident that they know who they're working with.
[00:03:09] We have so much choice when it comes to who we want our health care provider to be and so it's critical that we stand out based on who we are and the experience that we can provide to clients and not just because we happen to be the closest person or the cheapest person.
[00:03:32] And your website is a really great place to start working that client experience thoughtfulness into everything you do, because it is generally going to be, if not the first interaction somebody has with you, it's going to be where they make the decision about whether or not to get in touch with you about potentially working together.
The Importance of a Website for Private Practices
[00:03:57] Samantha Mabe: Why is a website so important for private practices other than we're providing them with that first hint of the client experience. And that is a big piece. But the other things that a website does for you is it is a place online that you can control what people see and how you are represented.
[00:04:22] You have no control over social media and whether your reels get shown to people. Even email, people may not open. But when somebody comes to your website, that means they have already said one of those micro yeses to being interested in what you have to say because they have taken the step to click or to type your URL into their browser.
[00:04:46] Your website is key here because it tells people a couple of things. One, It tells people that you are in fact a real business and that you are trustworthy and that you are still in business. This cannot be understated in a world where we're never quite sure if that office down the street that no one ever seems to go into is some kind of weird front.
[00:05:15] The second thing that it tells people, or that it should tell people, is exactly what you do and who you work with. I made a post on Threads stating that if I cannot figure out what you do within 10 seconds of landing on your website, I am going to leave and find somebody else. Even if I am searching for the exact thing that you do, if I cannot see that you offer what I need from that very first impression, I am not going to stick around to try to dig into your site to find out what More.
[00:06:00] What that means for us as practitioners who are putting this online, is that we have to be very clear in our own minds exactly who we work with and exactly what we help them with, and then we have to learn to translate that into language that people are going to understand. We've talked in some of the other sessions about how important it is to get rid of the jargon and focus on the transformation your clients are actually looking for.
[00:06:35] An example, for me, When I was really struggling with fatigue, I had the idea that I wanted to work with a naturopathic doctor. I had been exposed enough to the industry that I knew that would probably be a good next step to go deeper than what my PCP could do, wasn't so overwhelming as some of these programs that you had to buy into. I wanted to work with somebody one on one to figure out what was at the root of this issue for me. And so I typed in to Google naturopathic doctor near me. And what came up were a lot of different sites, but the one that hooked me was a practice that specifically stated that they worked with women who were experiencing fatigue and wanted to enjoy their time with their families without feeling like they had to take a nap every two hours. They got to the heart of what I was dealing with and it was really easy for me to then stay on their website, learn more about them, and schedule that first appointment.
[00:07:50] Another reason that your website is so important is because it is the place everybody is going to check out. I know that when you ask people how they found you, they probably say a referral, they found you on social media, maybe they were driving past your office, but the truth is that even if that is the first place they encountered you, they almost always went to your website before they reached out to you.
[00:08:21] In fact, they went to your website to see if you're a good fit, to see if you're consistent in what you're talking about, and to figure out whether or not they wanted to talk with you. They were looking at things like pricing, availability. They were looking at your different package options. And it's also where they figured out, how do I get in contact with this person? Do I book a consultation online? Do I have to call their office? Can I send them an email? And even if they don't mention website in the form what they're telling you, they found you on, I can bet that they visited your site.
Crafting a Consistent Client Experience
[00:08:57] Samantha Mabe: So how do we take this really important piece of our business and make sure that it aligns with the client experience we are providing to people in person? I always start by asking my clients two questions before we dive into any kind of updates to their websites. I ask them, number one, what do you want your clients to say about working with you? And number two, how do you want them to feel about their experience?
[00:09:31] These questions are key because It helps you to get into the minds of your clients and what you want them to get out of working with you. Do you want those clients to say that you were really professional, you always showed up on time, you were very educated? Maybe you want them to lean more towards, oh, she was so friendly, she was really understanding, she was flexible in the plans that we made, or maybe you want somebody who's To say, she was so bright and fun and it just felt wonderful to go into her office and I came away really excited to get started on my next step. Those are all valid, but they are very different. And that experience of you, In your office, in your course, in your group program should also be the experience of you that they are getting from that first interaction.
[00:10:30] How do we do that? Those questions then lead into figuring out the design style that's going to most resonate with your clients and that reflects you. You never want to choose something that feels just off or that you dislike because it's not going to be comfortable. But where those things meet in the middle is really important.
Defining Your Brand and Design Style
[00:10:56] Samantha Mabe: Start by asking yourself what kind of experience you want to create for your clients and your patients. Think about the words you want them to use when you're describing your business. Now, these are two different things in some cases. Words to describe your brand or business, things that people are going to say, are going to be more concise than those longer statements, so these might be things like, they are really likable, they are really minimalist In what they do, they're balanced. Maybe everything feels very natural. It's very clean. They're gentle. And these can be words that both reflect you as the practitioner that they're coming to see and the rest of your team if that's the way that you're building your business, but they can also describe the experience they have of your space.
[00:11:54] You want to find five to ten words that describe your brand. And if you're wondering, I actually have a blog post over at Lemon and the Sea that can help you with this, with over 500 words that can help describe your brand. Once you have those words, those are the things you want to embody as a practice and as a practitioner. I want you to write them down, because these are going to guide the rest of the decisions that you make, both visually on your website, in your office space, in the platforms that you choose, but also in the way that you show up for people because you want that client experience to be consistent throughout their journey with you.
[00:12:42] So you have those words, and then you are going to look for a brand style. This may feel super overwhelming, and for most of my clients, this is the part where they are not sure what their brand style is. So there are two different methods to doing this. Number one, you can take a look at some mood boards For specific styles. I also have a blog post about this with 25 design styles for your private practice. And these are going to be much more specific. Maybe it's a bohemian style, a botanical style. Maybe you want to create something dark and moody and it falls in that dark academia style. Maybe you want something that's more modern and minimalist.
[00:13:35] You can take a look at what that is and remember here, you want this to reflect you and your business and resonate with your clients. So if you work in a practice where you cater to families or children, you're going to want a more playful and bright and upbeat style than somebody who works with people who are single or even moms who are coming in to get away from their families, which might be more of a chic, zen style. So you can take a look at mood boards to see what does this look and feel like? What kind of elements do I want to have in my office, on my website?
[00:14:20] The other option is to go to Pinterest and actually curate: these are color palettes that I really like that fit with any existing logos that I already have. These are websites that I like the look of. It has nothing to do with what I do, but I really like the look of this website because it's really clean and simple. Or I like the look of this one because it's bright and playful and there are lots of fun graphics on it.
[00:14:50] You can do either of those two things, but that is going to help you pinpoint your design style for the way you show up visually that then represents those brand words that you want to embody.
DIY vs. Hiring a Website Designer
[00:15:06] Samantha Mabe: The thing is, once you have those brand words and you have your design style, we have to actually translate that into a website that looks good, shows up on Google and converts our leads into clients.
[00:15:20] And this is where I think so many people can feel overwhelmed because We might be able to design a website that looks good, or we might be able to put something online that at least includes our services. But how do we do all of those pieces, especially when you might not be particularly familiar with a website platform, you might not feel particularly tech savvy, or you just might be really busy doing the other parts of running a business and working with patients?
[00:15:56] Here is the advice that I can give you as a designer. You need to make a decision about what kind of investment you want to make into your website. That can be either an investment of time and effort on your part or an investment of money to hire somebody to help you. Either way, you are going to be investing something and you need to decide what works best for your practice in this moment and looking to the future.
[00:16:30] I always recommend to people, when you are first starting your practice, if you are unsure of exactly who you want to work with and exactly the services you want to offer, You will probably be best served to create a website on your own. Choose a platform like Wix or Squarespace or WordPress. Maybe start with a template that somebody else has designed that fits your design style. And then put your content into that.
[00:17:07] Your website is going to grow and change. And so getting something online to start is more important than having the most amazing website that ever existed, that you've been putting off for two years. If you need to DIY a website in order to get your business online and showing up in front of people on Google, Go ahead and do that.
[00:17:32] But once you have had the time to work with clients, to figure out what you love to do, maybe to refine your services. Or maybe you're just so busy with clients that handling another thing just gives you the ick, then it's time to hire a website designer. And that person will help you to hone that design style, create a color palette, choose fonts, get it all online. Something that looks and feels like walking into your office would and that is set up to rock your SEO and convert the leads that find you into paying clients. So you want a website designer who's going to do all of those things and it helps if they are familiar with the health and wellness space.
[00:18:31] Either route you choose to go, hiring a designer or DIYing, you want to make sure that the colors you have chosen, The images you have chosen, the graphics you have chosen, the way that you are using white space on your website, all feels like that brand you are trying to achieve.
[00:18:56] And what can be really helpful here is to go to something like Pinterest and look up those Brand words and that design style and see what other people have done. You're never copying another website, but it gives you inspiration for, okay, I really want a bohemian style and that means that I need images that have lots of plants, that have lots of natural elements. It's going to be fairly clean and simple, but I can add a little bit of fun in there. Maybe I have a couple overlapping elements or rounded edges to my images. Things like that. It's going to give you the inspiration for the design, and then you can take that onto your website platform and put it to use. And as you add your content, you can keep those things in mind.
[00:19:47] A couple tips here. Number one, stay consistent in the design elements that you do choose. So if you use rounded edges for your images, make sure you use them throughout your site. If you have really bright colors on one page of your site, make sure that's consistent throughout.
[00:20:11] The other thing you want to remember here is that no website is going to work if the copy, the words on that website, are not working for you. This is where you have to go back to what do my patients, my clients, What are they actually coming to me for? And what is the transformation that I give them? We don't want to get caught up in jargon. We don't need to list out every lab that we do. We don't even need to explain all of the modalities that we work in. What we want to do is highlight, this is what you're struggling with, This is what, how, where we can get you to, and this is the overview of how that works.
[00:20:58] We're not hiding the fact that you're a naturopathic doctor or a therapist. That needs to be on there. But we're putting it in terms that your client can understand and that they would use and not what you would use in your peer to peer relationships. That is key. You need to work on your copy in order for your website to show up on Google and convert those leads because you're giving them the information that they need.
Common Website Mistakes to Avoid
[00:21:26] Samantha Mabe: What are some mistakes that I see practitioners making that can turn potential clients off? And I think this piece is going to help you if you've already got a website and you're trying to update it. One of the number one mistakes that I see is using your practice name. As the headline of your homepage, people land on your homepage. They don't care what your practice name is. They want to know what you do and what they can get out of it.
[00:21:54] Number two, not checking the mobile design of your website. At least 75%, but potentially almost a hundred percent of your potential of your website visitors are seeing your website on a mobile device. And so it is absolutely necessary that your website is optimized for mobile.
[00:22:18] Number three. Not answering the questions people actually have. When I asked people what will turn them away from a website, those things included not being able to find pricing, not knowing whether appointments were virtual or in person, not being able to schedule online. Some of those mistakes could be not showcasing your location, whether that be in person or in a particular area, so that they know you can actually work with them, not highlighting whether or not you take insurance, and then which insurers you work with. Those things are key to people, especially who have worked in with health care providers before, because they know that these are things they need to look out for, and so we want to make it really easy to find those answers on your website.
[00:23:20] These things are perfect for an FAQ section. Of your site, where you could list off what that question is. Do you take insurance? And then you have an answer. How long is the first appointment? And then you have an answer. How long should I expect this experience to take? And then you have an answer. And if you're wondering, I would put that FAQ section in two places: on your contact page and on your services page. The one on your services page is going to be, is going to include questions that are relevant to that specific service, but the one on your contact page is going to include anything that you get when people call in. How do I know this is the right service? Do you take insurance? How much are appointments? How long is my first appointment? What should I expect at my first appointment? Answer all of those questions in an FAQ section.
[00:24:15] The other mistake that I see is not having clear and compelling calls to action in order to drive people who have landed on your website to actually booking with you. The two best calls to action that you can have are call now if you want people to call into your office or book a consultation. This is the one I prefer and I think we're seeing this more and more where you have a button that says book a consultation. It sends them to a link where they can book a time without ever having to get on the phone or send an email. If you work with an older population, or if you are in a place where you still need to talk with people on the phone, You can have something that says call now.
[00:25:06] The other option that you have here and I've done this for some of my clients is they want you to fill out a form and then they are going to call you. So you could say request an appointment, get some of that information, and then they are going to call you to get the rest of that information. The key, if you're doing that, is to have people who can call them back very quickly, so that you don't lose people in the time between when they filled it out and when you called, because they found somebody else, or it's no longer a priority, or they got distracted.
Top Priorities for Updating Your Website
[00:25:45] Samantha Mabe: As we wrap up, I'm going to share the top three priorities that you need to focus on when you are updating your website, whether you're doing it yourself because you are on a budget, whether you're hiring a designer like me for a quick refresh session, or maybe you're working on a big overhaul, and you just want to know what the most important things are.
[00:26:08] Number one, Make it super clear and easy for people to figure out what you do, who you work with, and where you are.
[00:26:19] Number two, have a really strong foundation for your SEO. This isn't something we talked a lot about in this session, But, people are searching for your help on Google and in other search engines, and so we want to make sure that the foundation that we have is really solid, using keywords, making sure we've got all those SEO fields filled in, making sure our site runs quickly. Those are all things that you can do or have your designer do. And there are different places where you can run reports to give you an idea of what you might need to fix.
[00:26:59] And number three, make sure that the design of your site, what it looks like, the tone you're using in your copy and how you are directing people towards the next step are consistent with the experience that they are going to get when they walk to the front desk to check in, when they sit down with you in your office to work with you, and even beyond. This summit is all about client experience. And so we are starting at the very beginning of that, when they first encounter us and making sure the experience starts there and it's consistent throughout.
[00:27:42] And the good news is, once you've got your website set up so that it looks and feels like your brand, you just have to maintain it. You don't have to revamp it all of the time. You just need to Make sure that it is working, that as you're growing and changing, those things are reflected, and it can stay with you for years to come. So even if you've made that investment of money instead of time, it is for a long time instead of something that you are going to be changing all the time.
Connect with Samantha
[00:28:20] Samantha Mabe: If you are feeling overwhelmed and thinking, I don't know if my website is consistent with my client experience, and I have no idea where I need to make updates, I have One of my absolute favorite things to do, a free website review. In this review, I look at your website for 15 minutes, and I record a video with my feedback and recommendations for improving your SEO, improving conversions into clients, updating your design style, all kinds of things. Whatever question it is that you have, I walk through your site and answer it for you with very concrete suggestions. You can submit your website for a review at lemonandthesea. com slash review and it will land in your inbox with a video from me in just a few days.
[00:29:17] You can also always reach out and ask me website questions on Instagram and TikTok at Lemon in the Sea and I'm on LinkedIn you can find me at Samantha Mabe.
[00:29:34] Samantha Mabe: Thank you so much for joining me for this session of the Elevate Your Practice Summit. If you enjoyed it, make sure to go to the elevateyourpractice. co website in order to connect with the speaker and get access to the free resources they mentioned in their session. You can also share the summit with any of your friends in the health and wellness space and send them to the website elevate your practice dot co. You can get 30 percent off your first three months of practice better at practice better. io and use the code L A T S 30.
