The Ask
CVS is one of the largest health and retail companies in the United States, with over 9,000 locations in every state in the country. The CVS.com homepage is one of the most visited health-related retail websites in the world.
As part of a complete redesign of the CVS.com homepage, I was asked as part of the company’s digital team to develop two distinct copy content strategies. These two approaches would be used to elevate the page from a transactional platform to one that encourages relationship-building between customers and the professionals who provide the company’s services. The first approach would focus more on seasonal storytelling approaches, while the second would provide more empathetic, solution-driven messaging. For both approaches, it was imperative to mirror the everyday language used by the customers themselves, adhere to nested page hierarchies to satisfy call levels of WCAG accessibility, and fit within each page’s chosen design schemes. I worked in close collaboration with designers, creative directors, accessibility specialists, business clients and UX professionals to develop the content in conjunction with the page designs themselves.
Problem-Solving
It’s a common mistake to assume that effective copy stems from clever word choice, or parroting phrasing that in the past has proven to be successful. New goals require new solutions, and empathy for the audience paired with novelty and relevance will lead to success far more often than word choice.
Used correctly, technology can be a great benefit during the planning and development stage of such a project. Relationship-building requires understanding, and so it was my decision to use AI not as a writing tool, but for research and discovery. Specifically, AI research tools were used to get an idea of the emotional landscape of the average American household during the time of year that the redesign was to be launched. Social media accounts, parenting blogs, short-form and long-form video transcripts and articles were read and compared to develop an understanding of what Americans were facing in the fall: events they look forward to, routines they enjoy, challenges they face and anxieties they grapple with. This helped to understand the company’s services from the perspective of the audience, and how the business could support their daily lives. These conclusions informed both seasonal storytelling and solution-driven approaches to the copy.
