Wayfinding on a 15,000-Page Site

A site with 15,000 live pages creates real orientation challenges. Users browsing hopkinsmedicine.org through menus, in-page text links, and callouts can move between sections without realizing it — ending up somewhere they didn't expect with no clear sense of how they got there or how to get back. Site survey data confirmed this was happening at scale and affecting overall satisfaction scores.

The Problem Too many site visitors were leaving negative comments about orientation. Navigation scores on the ForeSee site survey were low, and based on ForeSee's predictive modeling, navigation was a high-priority area — improving it would have an outsized impact on overall satisfaction. A goal of the Hopkins Medicine strategic plan was simply to make Hopkins Medicine easy. This project was about making that real.

Key Performance Indicators A reduction in survey comments related to orientation, an increase in high navigation scores, and an overall increase in satisfaction scores from ForeSee survey participants.

Research Method Over one month, site survey data, recorded site sessions, and previous/next page analytics were used to identify where orientation problems were occurring. Comments were counted and categorized by orientation type. Low navigation score sections were identified and sessions within those sections were reviewed for observable patterns.

Two root causes emerged: no persistent sub-site markers on page, and menu structures showing only two levels at a time despite allowing much deeper access.

Prototype and Testing A series of testing tasks were designed to determine whether users knew where they were on the site, could navigate to a predetermined location, and could describe how they would solve an orientation problem when it arose. Testing used the Vision Critical platform with current and former Hopkins Medicine patients as participants. Unmonitored task completion testing captured first click behavior, back button use, and time on task.

Outcome To give visitors persistent orientation, a site header was developed that represented sub-sites containing an optional parent institution title, sub-site title, and sub-site menu. Any site nested under the main domain became a sub-site with its own header, including a link back to the parent.

To address deep menu structures, sub-sites received their own menus limited to pages within that section. Page-level callouts were recommended as the primary access point for key content, deeper pages, and sections that don't appear in the main menu. The solution gave users a persistent sense of place without adding visual complexity to the page.