Homepage Before
Homepage After
Industry: Mental Health Practitioners (Psychologists, Psychiatrists & Counselors)
Client: Engage Counselling & Therapy
Location: Dublin, Ireland
1. Challenge & Goals
Engage Counselling’s legacy site listed services and contact info but didn’t emotionally connect with visitors or streamline session bookings.
- Primary pain point: Prospective clients couldn’t easily understand therapy offerings or schedule a first appointment online.
- Business goal: Increase online booking requests by 60%, reduce time-to-book, make the homepage more succinct and build trust through clear practitioner profiles.
2. Before
Snapshot description:
The original site featured a calming but static banner, long paragraphs describing counseling modalities, and a simple “Contact Us” form at the bottom. There was no dedicated “Meet the Team,” no client testimonials, and no inline scheduling.
- Design issues:
- Hero section used a generic stock photo without clear messaging or call-to-action
- Dense blocks of text about services (CBT, Couples Therapy, etc.) with minimal headings or visuals
- “Book a Session” buried within the footer contact form—no persistent CTA
- Technical issues:
- Uncompressed hero image and embedded map slowed page load (~5.3 s)
- Limited mobile optimization—text overflow and collapsed menus on phones
- Missing SEO metadata and no structured data for practitioner services
3. After
Key changes made:
The redesigned site is a welcoming, user-centered portal that guides visitors from understanding to booking in three clicks or fewer.
- Warm hero section featuring a soothing illustration, headline (“Your Journey to Well-Being Starts Here”), and a clear “Book Your First Session” button
- Sticky header with logo, streamlined nav (Home • About Us • Services • Team • Book • Contact), and click-to-call link
- Service overview cards for Individual Therapy, Couples & Family Therapy, and Psychiatric Consultations with concise benefit bullets and icons
- Meet the Team section showcasing each practitioner’s photo, qualifications, and a one-sentence approach statement to build rapport
- Client Stories carousel with anonymized testimonials and star ratings to reinforce credibility
- Embedded booking widget on every page so clients can schedule without leaving the site
- Footer with a simplified contact form, Google Map embed, and quick-access FAQ links
4. Key Improvements & Impact
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Page load time | ~5.3 s | ~0.8 s |
| Mobile Lighthouse Performance | 42 / 100 | 94 / 100 |
| Bounce rate (service pages) | ~68 % | ~36 % |
| Online booking click-through rate | 1.3 % | 5.2 % |
5. Client Feedback
“The new site feels genuinely warm and makes it so straightforward for clients to see who we are and book a session. We’ve seen a 4× uplift in booking requests!”
6. How We Did It
- Discovery & Audit: Reviewed user flows to identify where visitors hesitated before booking
- Wireframing: Prioritized emotional connection and clear CTAs in a mobile-first layout
- Design & Development: Built with semantic HTML5, CSS Grid/Flexbox, and minimal JavaScript for smooth interactions
- Performance & SEO: Optimized all images to WebP, enabled gzip, minified assets, added meta titles/descriptions, and implemented JSON-LD for Practitioner schema
- QA & Launch: Conducted cross-device and accessibility testing, integrated HTTPS/SSL, and configured analytics for booking funnels
7. Ready to Support Your Clients’ Well-Being?
If you’re a psychologist, psychiatrist, or counselor wanting a website that connects and converts:
- Email: [email protected]