Nearly a million people across the United States live with multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic disease that targets the central nervous system. While MS symptoms vary from person to person, they can include fatigue, mobility challenges, cognitive changes, and vision issues. 

Despite the growing number of MS diagnoses, the disease still holds many unknowns, with scientists unable to identify a direct cause or cure. However, to date, more than 20 disease-modifying therapies have been approved to treat MS—all of which were supported through funding or research fueled by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (the Society).

Founded in 1946, the Society is the largest MS organization in the world, working tirelessly to fulfill its mission to cure MS while empowering people affected by MS to live their best lives.  Through cutting-edge research, advocacy, and support programs, the Society is dedicated to creating a world free of MS.

Over 8.6 million people engage with the Society every year, making the organization a gathering spot for anyone affected by MS. From people living with MS to care partners and healthcare professionals, people across the MS community turn to the Society’s website to learn more about the disease and find resources, support, and connection. 

Yet, as the resources on the Society’s website grew, the experience became harder to navigate, making it difficult for users to find the most relevant information. Additionally, the site wasn’t mobile-friendly, which created friction for the 60% of users who accessed it via a mobile device. 

“The way the world is now, digital experience is ubiquitous. It is often the main way people engage with organizations, and you only get one chance at a first impression,” says Lindsey Read, vice president of digital experience and analytics at the Society. “We needed to meet our constituents where they are, making it easy to access information and resources that empower them to live their best lives.”

Given the crucial role of its online presence, the Society wanted to create a more seamless, frictionless digital experience for its constituents while enabling cross-functional collaboration internally. To do so, the Society engaged Slalom to reimagine its website.

“Slalom had a connection to our mission. They took a lot of care and effort to showcase that they understood exactly what we needed,” Read explains. “Slalom’s passion and skills across a full suite of solutions, combined with that true depth of expertise, is what ultimately led us to select them as our partner.” 

We immediately assembled a team of 40 Slalom experts and Salesforce consultants to bring the Society’s vision of an accessible, mobile-first, constituent-centric website to life, which would also lay the foundation for personalization and omni-channel experiences.

The Society already had a significant Salesforce footprint, utilizing Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Service Cloud. Given this strong existing infrastructure, the decision was made to leverage Salesforce Experience Cloud to build and host the Society’s new website, specifically utilizing the Lightning Web Runtime framework (LWR) to ensure a faster and more modern web experience.

From there, we embarked on a 10-week discovery period, diving deep into the Society’s user flows and their work to shift from a persona-based approach to a “jobs to be done“ model, focusing on the specific “jobs“ users aimed to accomplish on the website. Throughout the research process, constituents continuously provided feedback, shaping the site’s structure based on the path and experience they desired.

“Just because we’re a nonprofit doesn’t mean that people don’t have the same expectations from their digital experience,” points out Ronda Krier, executive vice president of technology at the Society. “We have to meet those expectations in order to be a trusted source of information for people who are living with MS.”

Slalom performed a comprehensive audit, working with the Society to review over 6,000 pieces of content and remove any outdated information. These pieces were then transferred to Sanity, a content management system that leverages reusable content block templates, making it easy for the Society to update its resources on an ongoing basis.

The seamless integration between Sanity, Salesforce Experience Cloud, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud Personalization created a robust personalization engine for the Society. Visitors to the website will now be greeted with a drop-down box asking, “What brings you here today?” This feature retrieves the most relevant content based on their answer, offering an accelerated path to the vital information constituents need to access.

Next, our team integrated the website with Google Analytics 4, developing a KPI framework with clearly defined business metrics to monitor ongoing performance and quantify success. This work will help the Society understand constituent behavior in a detailed and meaningful way, laying the groundwork for more personalization opportunities in the future.

To ensure people can easily find the Society’s website, we worked closely with the Society to incorporate SEO best practices into every element of the site, from the tagging codes in Salesforce to the keywords weaved throughout the content.

In addition to optimizing for search engines, the website was also designed to be mobile-first, multilingual, and—most importantly—accessible to all users. 

Since accessibility is paramount for those who live with MS, we performed a website accessibility overhaul. The entire site—from the design to the content—was meticulously crafted to meet WCAG AA-rated accessibility standards and, wherever possible, AAA standards. For example, our team ensured the website had easy-to-read color palettes, screen reader compatibility, simple visuals and videos, and straightforward language to replace complex medical jargon. We then conducted feedback sessions so people living with MS could comfortably navigate and use the website.

“Accessibility isn’t just in design. It’s in the way that we code. It’s in the way that we implement content. It’s in the way that SEO works. In everything we did, we always took an accessibility-first approach,” says Tori Pesaturo, senior delivery principal at Slalom. “We built a website that truly meets the needs of constituents by keeping them in mind every step of the way.”

Together with Slalom, the Society has now launched the largest Salesforce Experience Cloud website in production today. At a core level, this site impacts everyone who interacts with the Society. Internally, the website touches every team, streamlining processes and enhancing collaboration. Externally, the website offers a personalized, intuitive experience, providing constituents with a platform where they feel seen and heard while accessing the information they need to move their lives forward. 

“This has been one of the best partnerships I’ve had in my career. Slalom made all the difference because they were just as committed to our success as we are,” confirms Read. “They went above and beyond and made sure that we crossed the finish line and launched a website that we would be proud of, and we did.”  

Slalom was honored to receive a 2024 Salesforce Partner Innovation Award for this work. Learn more about our Salesforce partnership.