FREEVA · VIOLENCE AND ABUSE CHARITY
Website & Support Journeys
A proposed website redesign to help visitors find information and support.
ROLE
Website audit, analytics review, UX/UI design and copywriting
CHALLENGE
Make support easier to find for different audiences, particularly on mobile
CHANNELS
Website redesign proposal and working prototype
01 · SUMMARY
Project overview
FreeVA supports people affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence. Someone arriving on its website may be unsure what is happening to them or what help they need.
I reviewed the website and its analytics, then developed a proposed redesign. The aim was to help visitors recognise their situation, find useful information and contact FreeVA when they were ready.
The work covered the messaging, navigation, content hierarchy and interface, brought together in a working website prototype.
02 · CONTEXT
Finding the right support
The website serves people seeking help, people worried about someone else, professionals making referrals and people who want to change their behaviour.
It already offered a helpline, quick exit, browsing-safety information and live chat during working hours. But its service-based navigation could make it harder for visitors to identify which support applied to them. Support, donation, referral and involvement prompts also competed for attention on the homepage.
GA4 showed that most visitors used mobile, where engagement was weaker than on desktop. Search Console showed that broad informational content attracted visitors beyond FreeVA’s local service area. I also used Microsoft Clarity to review visitor behaviour and how people navigated around the website.
These findings led to a focus on the mobile journey, content hierarchy and local relevance.
Existing homepage, showing service categories and competing calls to action.
03 · ROLE
My role
01
Website strategy
Set the redesign priorities using the website audit, GA4, Search Console and Microsoft Clarity behaviour analysis.
02
Content strategy and copywriting
Defined audience segmentation, messaging and content hierarchy, and wrote page introductions and calls to action.
03
UX/UI design
Designed the navigation, user journeys and interface, giving support and safety priority.
04
Web prototyping
Developed a working website prototype to demonstrate the proposed design.
04 · APPROACH
Start with the visitor’s situation
Make the opening choice easier to understand
The existing homepage used “Services for Those Affected”. For someone unsure whether their experience counted as abuse, that label still required interpretation.
In the proposed homepage, I changed this starting point to “I’m being hurt, controlled or frightened.” The wording describes an experience someone might recognise before they know which service they need.
Four audience pathways sit together on the homepage:
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“I’m being hurt, controlled or frightened”
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“I’m worried about someone else”
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“I want to change my own behaviour”
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“I’m a professional”
Each offers a short explanation, related reading and a next action. Direct contact remains available outside these pathways.
Proposed audience pathways, with relevant reading and contact options.
Simplify navigation
A possible journey was mapped for someone asking whether their experience could be abuse and where to find help. This informed the order of information and the links between pages.
The proposed navigation uses Get Help, Get Informed, Get Involved and About, with Donate kept visible. More detailed service choices sit within the relevant pages, reducing the number of choices visitors face at the start.
The current and proposed flow diagrams illustrate available journeys rather than observed visitor behaviour.
Current and proposed user flows, showing the change from service categories to situation-based routes into information and support. These illustrate available journeys rather than observed visitor behaviour.
Put contact before service detail
On the proposed Get Help page, call and text options appear before longer service descriptions. Someone ready to speak can find those options quickly; someone who needs more information can keep reading.
The helpline remains prominent on the homepage, with quick exit and browsing-safety information visible in the design.
Call and text options placed before detailed service information.
Give people room to read first
The support and self-help pages use shorter introductions, clearer headings and grouped information. Detailed content stays available, with contact options alongside it.
The content strategy also addresses local relevance. Recommendations included making FreeVA’s service area clear and linking useful information to the support available in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Grouped resources for visitors who want to read before making contact.
05 · RESULTS
A proposed website redesign
The proposal brings the revised messaging, navigation and content hierarchy into a working website prototype. Its effect on enquiries, referrals and mobile engagement would need to be measured after implementation.
Evaluation would assess whether mobile visitors could find an appropriate contact option more easily, tracking helpline taps and referral actions alongside engagement on support pages and locally relevant search traffic.
Proposed Freeva website redesign.