The Spokane Housing Authority came to us with a unique challenge. Their website needed to offer easy-to-access resources and information for 4 distinct audiences.
Serving 4 Unique Audiences
Those who need housing
Those who currently utilize Spokane Housing Authority (SHA) housing
Landlord & Business partners
Potential donors
With the needs of such a diverse mix of website users in mind, and such essential content, we developed a robust plan to serve everyone’s needs.
Our Process
We have identified a simple step-by-step process to make the website build-out as smooth as possible:
Pull the right team together
(We offer suggestions for the 7 key individuals to include)
Receive a vetted project management system to ensure a smooth implementation.
Clarify specific roles and project responsibilities.
Ongoing live meetings and weekly status reports to website completion.
The Launch (Oct 2020)
From the first day the new website was launched, we saw an increase in the number of cases, user time on the site, the number of pages viewed, and a decrease in the bounce rate.
The data was clear, showing immediate improvements!
- From 83.55% to 45.31% bounce rate – a 45.77% improvement.
- From 1.19 to 3.59 pages per session – a 200% increase.
- From 44 seconds to over 3:22 average session duration – a 356.53% improvement.
- From 552 to 49,605 page views – an improvement of 8,886%.
Website Features
More people are visiting SHA’s website, staying longer, and engaging more–because we designed a clear, user-friendly site with their needs in mind.
- We reorganized every SHA property with standardized information and a custom 3D-layout. One click, and you can see everything you need to know about the property at a glance.
- We created a document database where searches always retrieve results.
- Work orders are now online, dynamically tied to each property.
- Landlords can apply to be part of SHA using a secure online application.
The Results
Since the website launch, SHA has been able to provide clear, relevant information to their residents, landlords, and the broader community. They have had fewer walk-in visitors and fewer yet more well-informed callers since information is easy to find and forms are online. They know that any information shared through the website is secure and private.
“After selecting WDW for the new SHA website project, we quickly became excited with their approach. From our first meeting with their team, it was apparent that WDW not only knows what they are doing, they take the extra steps to get to know what their client is looking for in a new site.
When in-person meetings switched to virtual in 2020, WDW always took enough time, never hurrying (or pushing) our team into a decision. WDW was exceptionally good at being flexible with our input and comments throughout site development. If we described a certain functionality in general terms, WDW would either know immediately what we were looking for or would come back to us with options.
The regular communication between team meetings was also easy to follow and track. The end product is a top-notch, user-friendly site while meeting our needs as a public entity. Thank you Well Dressed Walrus!”
Amanda Carpentier – Communications Coordinator, Spokane Housing Authority
Now more families in Spokane have the ability to be in safe, affordable housing where they can thrive.
Visit site: spokanehousing.org
