Cedar & Sage Counseling’s in-person sessions were warm and unhurried. Their website was neither a templated, clinical-looking site that made people second-guess a decision that’s already hard to make. Here’s what changed when we redesigned it around the person visiting, not the org chart.
The Challenge
Cedar & Sage had built a practice people trusted in person but the website undercut it before anyone walked through the door. It ran on a shared template used by hundreds of other practices, filled with generic stock photography and clinical language. Therapist bios, the one thing people actually wanted to see before reaching out, were buried behind menus. And for someone already unsure about seeking help, every extra click was one more chance to close the tab. The redesign wasn’t about looking prettier it was about removing every reason to leave before booking.
Generic template shared with hundreds of other practices.
Built a custom visual identity around the practice’s actual tone not a shared theme.
Site finally looks like nobody else’s.
Clinical, sterile visuals that didn’t match the warmth of a session.
Replaced stock photography and cold color palette with warm, real environment imagery.
Visitors described the site as “finally feeling like us.”
Therapist bios buried three clicks deep, hard to compare.
Built a browsable therapist directory with specialties and photos up front.
Bio page views up 3x.
No clear starting point for someone new to therapy.
Added a simple “not sure where to start?” path into the right specialty.
Homepage bounce rate down 38%.
Booking a first session took six clicks across three pages.
Reduced booking to one clear path from every page on the site.
Consultation requests up 64%.
Site looked fine on desktop, broke down on mobile.
Rebuilt every page mobile-first, since most visits happen quietly, at night, on a phone.
Mobile session length roughly doubled.
Small text and low contrast made the site harder to use under stress.
Redesigned with WCAG-conscious contrast, spacing, and type.
Fewer pages abandoned mid-scroll.
The Approach
Reviewed every existing page and drop-off point, and talked to the therapists about what made the in-person experience different from the templated site.
Built a warm, distinct visual language photography, color, and type instead of the shared template look.
Restructured navigation and content around “which therapist is right for me,” not the practice’s internal org chart.
Rebuilt every page mobile-first, since most visits happen quietly, at night, on a phone.
Trained staff to update bios and content themselves no developer needed for the day-to-day.
The Work
The Results
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consultation requestsfirst-session bookings | baseline | +64% | +64% |
| New client inquiriescontact form + booking combined | baseline | +58% | +58% |
| Homepage bounce ratevisitors leaving without exploring | 61% | 38% | −38% |
| Clicks to book a first sessionhomepage to confirmed booking | 6 clicks | 2 clicks | −67% |
| Therapist bio page viewsvisitors viewing a specific therapist | baseline | 3x | +200% |
| Average page load timeacross all devices | 4.2s | 1.6s | −62% |
| Mobile session lengthtime spent on site, mobile only | baseline | ~2x | +100% |
Built to reflect the same care as the practice itself
In Their Words
“For years our website felt like someone else’s waiting room. Now it feels like walking into our actual practice before you’ve even booked.”Practice Director, Cedar & Sage Counseling
What's Included
Tell us where visitors are hesitating before they ever reach out and we'll tell you honestly whether a redesign is what fixes it.
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