Association of Anaesthetists

10,000 Members, One Seamless Experience: Digital Transformation for the Association of Anaesthetists

The Association of Anaesthetists is a greater than 10,000 member-strong organisation representing the life-changing, life-saving profession of anaesthesia through supporting and inspiring their global community. The Association represents anaesthetists in the UK, Ireland and worldwide both medically and politically, promoting the academic and clinical advancement of anaesthesia and the welfare of anaesthetists.

DNN Website Awards: Service Industry

Read The Article

memcom: Best Website 2020 (Highly Commended)

Read The Article

The Partnership

For the past eight years, the Association entrusted Cantarus with the key elements of their member-facing and publicly available digital estate. Initial work to integrate their MS Dynamics CRM with website progressed to being the organisation’s primary web supplier inclusive of digital strategy and design services. Cantarus partnership on the web estate included an overhaul of the CRM-hosted member portal’s key membership purchase interfaces. Building on these strengths, in 2022 Cantarus delivered the organisation’s online community and community-integrated member benefits app; new member benefits central to the member value proposition.

The Challenge of Digital Transformation

When Cantarus first engaged with the Association, they didn't have a clear digital strategy in place. On the web side, the Association knew they needed to do better. The organisation was not putting its best foot forward; organic web traffic was viewed as low, and web experiences were not optimised. Member journeys were particularly challenging as content was sporadic and search functionality was limited. A multiple website strategy added further complications. As a result, the members found it difficult to navigate to key areas of the site or even to find the resources they relied on. These challenges were presented to staff in the context of a dated content management system (CMS) that significantly challenged non-technical content owners and web editors.

The website was seen as only the most visible part of the problem. The complete digital transformation included concurrent replacement of their CRM system and a comprehensive rebrand away from the legacy name/acronym “the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI)”, to the Association of Anaesthetists.

As such, the Association sought a digital partner fluent in best practices in the membership sector. The right web partner would need to have the technical and design skills to completely re-platform their site to an enhanced CMS, fulfil the promise of robust CRM and other platform integrations, and create a more modern and simplified online experience. The Association chose Cantarus to meet these goals.

From Strategy, Through Requirements, To Delivery

Cantarus helped the organisation tackle individual issues within the context of an education-rich implementation project. With the support of Cantarus, the organisation understood the benefit – in terms of organic search and user experience – of condensing multiple websites within the context of a single primary website. The new primary web presence benefited from richer integration with CRM and a more fully realised SEO strategy, inclusive of best practices and optimisation of site architecture, responsive design, and taxonomy. Staff considerations were key elements of the success of the website project. Trust only grew as the adoption of a more modern content management system progressed, with a clear explanation of best practices. Licensing of full support services ensured they had the initial training to perform routine web editing tasks, with ongoing support to back them up. After launch, more complex tasks and additional training would be available through Cantarus' technical teams.

Onboarding Experience Enhancements

As with all membership organisations, the Association revolved around its members. As such, optimising the join journey inclusive of payment the was centrally important. The previous membership application process was manual and paper-based. As the Association had many different types of membership, they needed to create and implement a user-friendly method of directing potential members to the correct application forms. For instance, students, trainees and consultants all required different application forms with varying fees, depending on which country they originated from.

Cantarus built a completely customisable membership onboarding experience to effortlessly guide users to the correct application form and facilitate offering the correct price at handover to the purchasing provider. This optimised journey resulted in more membership purchases while significantly reducing the manual effort required by the Association staff teams.

Navigation that Makes Sense

Providing intuitive navigation for users was a key requirement. Cantarus responded by building a new menu with heightened usability and accessibility following consultation with stakeholders. Discovering member benefits was significantly eased, and accessing the Anaesthesia journal was painless. The Cantarus’ Central Resource Centre (CRC) module made it simpler to find resources. Members could search for any resource or guidelines they needed using the various filtering options provided. Consistent taxonomies across all web content ensured information was surfaced through the in-site search functionality, as well as maximising SEO. Events were also much more accessible and searchable by topic.

The website that has been delivered exceeded our expectations in functionality and ease of use, providing us with an excellent platform for future growth. Added to this, Cantarus are a great all-round team to work alongside, who simplified what was a complex project and were always happy to help.

Gemma Campbell Director, Business Support and Deputy CEO, Association of Anaesthetists

Award-winning Results

Success of the project was evident in significant uplift in key metrics:

178% increase in number of pageviews

83% increase in number of new users on the website

52% increase in number of sessions

One of the first conferences supported by the platform, Winter Scientific Meeting 2020, saw an increase in online registrations of 11% from the previous year despite a challenging global health climate. For the first time in its history, the Association could track online income directly to the marketing channel which secured the booking or purchase. This significantly contributed to staff efficiency and marketing effectiveness.

The new web presence delighted members, staff and other key stakeholders while garnering broader accolades. These included the 2020 DNN Website Award in the Service Industry category as well as 2020 Memcom Awards Highly Commended acknowledgement for Best Website.

Online Community and Mobile App

While the website proved its value, the pandemic highlighted further needs. These included more robust communications among the broader membership and the empowerment of staff to understand and facilitate services around emerging areas of professional interest. Building on past successes, Cantarus was asked to deliver an online community and a community-enriched member benefits app in 2022.

The online community was built on the Discourse Forums platform with proprietary Cantarus extensions. It benefited from UK-served data residency and robust integration to CRM, which determined segment access and contribution rights. The Cantarus product and design teams delivered a beautiful web presence for the community, reflecting the unique community strategy developed together. The design interpreted the Association’s brand guidelines without additional design expense, with responsiveness for great experiences on any sized device assured. The admin environments were robust and easy to use, including layout widgets and dozens of graphics-rich reports.

Organised into categories, members could create and join conversations effortlessly in the community. The search tool made surfacing answers to existing questions easy. Posts could be liked, bookmarked, flagged and shared into other areas of the community with a single click. Other features included generating polls, tagging others, embedding links and adding images and videos to enhance discussions. Personal messages could also be sent between users. Including members in different groups provided the option to restrict or open parts of the community allowing for completely private areas. Community summaries were sent via email to provide members with an overview of conversation. The frequency of these was also adjustable to user preference. Metrics and reports (accessed by admin members) outlined the health of the community and suggested areas for improvement.

The app, powered by Cantarus’ member engagement platform, MemConnect, enhanced the member experience in multiple ways, consolidating legacy apps to ensure members could use a single app for access to core member benefits. This included the key guidelines content; the patient safety and care best practices guidance for the profession. Through the app, the key content was made available both online and offline with robust bookmarking to ensure content access when internet connection isn’t available. Other exciting app features included the ability to search through educational events, access all the latest industry insights, and connect and engage with other members via Community, the online network and forum.

We were thrilled with the Association app and online community platform! Cantarus was a fantastic digital partner, and we knew they were well-placed to help us with our app and community goals. Our members were looking for a more user-friendly platform to connect, learn, and engage with each other.

Brian Bartlett Senior Digital Content Manager, Association of Anaesthetists

Prefer to speak to someone?

Our Consultancy team are always happy to chat about your digital transformation goals and how we can help you leverage the right technology stack for your organisation.

Get In Touch