Client story - Welbeck

Creating a connected patient journey.

How we transformed Welbeck’s digital estate.

The challenge.

Welbeck's ambitions were outgrowing its existing site. Patients were dropping out between discovery and booking, internal teams were carrying unnecessary admin and phone volume, and the brand lacked a platform that could scale across new locations, systems and services.

The brief covered the entire patient journey (discovery, enquiry, booking, registration, care, billing, follow-up and retention) and needed to unify multiple backend healthcare systems behind one seamless front end.

“As Welbeck is entering a key growth period, both in London and regionally, it was important to us to lay strong digital foundations that enable us to expand on multiple fronts over the next few years. We also saw an opportunity to adapt to digital-first consumer behaviour and bring healthcare up to speed with other service-led industries by enabling user-friendly online booking and developing patient account functionality.”

Charlotte Bowen, Head of Marketing
Welbeck.

Getting the foundations right.

We began with a deep discovery phase: GA4 and Search Console analysis, conversion audits, user surveys, competitor reviews and stakeholder workshops across commercial, marketing, operations and technical teams.

This shaped a complete patient journey map, technical architecture, API strategy and content roadmap before a single screen was designed.

Designed around real patient behaviour.

UX and design centred on the most important audience needs: finding a consultant, understanding symptoms and conditions, and booking a consultation or treatment.

Inspired by booking experiences patients already trust, from OpenTable to airlines to Booking.com and Airbnb, we created a mobile-first, accessible design system with one clear priority: surfacing the next available appointment as early as possible.

Contentful graphic showing AI tools such as Rewrite, Translate, SEO keywords and spelling check.

Built for scale, not just launch.

The platform is powered by Contentful and connected to Welbeck's healthcare systems through a governed API layer. This headless approach meant information could move between systems in real time, with safeguards built in so the platform stayed reliable and stable even under heavy demand.

Contentful also unlocks the ability to improve content strategy and governance through features such as AI Actions, built to solve specific marketers’ challenges.

With extensive information across consultants, treatments, advice and centres, we needed an intuitive search experience. Algolia-powered search aggregates live data across systems, including consultants, symptoms, conditions and real-time appointment availability, letting patients filter, discover and book in one flow.

This was much more than a straightforward website integration. We were connecting Contentful, Algolia and Welbeck's existing healthcare systems through a shared API architecture, balancing the need for a fast, intuitive patient experience with the technical constraints, security requirements and dependencies of business-critical systems.

team insight

Lee, Technical Director

"We worked hand in hand with Welbeck's product, marketing, development and architecture specialists, translating complex business and patient journey requirements into practical technical solutions. That collaboration was essential to making the right architectural decisions, ensuring security was considered throughout and building something that could support Welbeck's longer-term ambitions."

The business outcome.

Easier navigation and stronger patient journeys across discovery, booking and care
Improved online booking conversion, reducing reliance on phone enquiries
Lower administrative burden for Welbeck's teams
Intelligent, real-time search with live appointment availability
Stronger patient retention, with patients kept within the Welbeck ecosystem end-to-end

For a brand built on personalised, expert-led care, the platform gives Welbeck a digital front door that matches the experience patients get once they walk through the physical one.

"The new Welbeck website has sharpened our focus on conversion-optimised customer journeys, and our partnership with Crafted will be instrumental as we expand operations into Oxford, Cambridge, and beyond."

Natalie Brittan, Web & Digital Marketing Manager
Welbeck.

Complex systems. Ambitious goals. One connected platform. Whatever sector you're in, growth often means untangling legacy systems, disconnected data and disjointed customer journeys. If you're planning a major digital transformation and want a partner who can navigate that complexity, get in touch with our team.