# MESSA.org Content Experience Audit
## Full Recommendations Document

**Prepared by thunder::tech · March 2026**

This document accompanies the Content Experience Audit presentation. Each section corresponds to a slide in the deck. Expanded reasoning, UX principles, and specific implementation notes are included for the content team.

---

## How to Read This Document

Every recommendation is tagged by ownership and effort:

**Ownership:** [CONTENT] = content team can handle it. [eSERVICES] = needs platform support. [PRODUCT] = needs a stakeholder decision.

**Effort:** [P1] = quick win, low effort. [P2] = moderate lift. [P3] = needs planning or dev.

---

## 1. The Core Problem

Traffic arrives. Content exists. People leave.

MESSA's content team has built genuinely strong material. The campaigns work. Here For You is top 5-10 in site traffic. The gap is between the click and the answer. Members land on pages that don't connect them to what they came for.

The site is organized around MESSA's internal structure (Plans and Services vs. Health Resources) rather than around what a teacher at 10pm actually needs to do.

---

## 2. Member Journey: Mental Health Support

**Slide:** A teacher looking for mental health support.

**The scenario:** She clicked an Instagram ad. She's stressed, burned out. She lands on Here For You (messa.org/hereforyou/).

**Screenshot:** `hereforyou-desktop.png`, `hereforyou-mobile.png`

**What happens:**
1. She sees three member stories. They're heartfelt. She reads one.
2. She looks for a next step. A link to Teladoc. A button for mental health. Anything.
3. She finds nothing. Three stories, three quotes, then the footer. No links to Teladoc, NurseLine, the mental health hub, or anything she can act on.

**Additional findings on this page:**
- Two H1 tags (should have exactly one)
- Last updated May 2024
- Header is so large members aren't scrolling past it on mobile
- Video has near-zero engagement

**UX Principle (Peak-End Rule):** People judge an experience based on how they felt at the peak and at the end. The peak of this page is emotional (member stories). The end is the footer. There's no positive resolution, no action taken. The experience ends with nothing.

**Recommendations:**

| # | Fix | Tags |
|---|-----|------|
| 1 | Add resource links after every member story. Each mentions a program but never links to it. "Learn about Medical Case Management." "Connect with Teladoc." | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 2 | Add a "What can MESSA do for you?" section with pathways to Teladoc, MCM, NurseLine, the mental health hub, and the member service center. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 3 | All mental health ad campaigns should point to messa.org/mentalhealth, not Here For You. The mental health hub is a stronger landing page. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 4 | Fix the duplicate H1 tags. Keep the more descriptive one, demote the other to H2. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 5 | Reduce the header/hero so content appears in the first screen. | [P2] [CONTENT] |
| 6 | Update the page. Last updated May 2024. | [P1] [CONTENT] |

---

## 3. Member Journey: Medication Lookup

**Slide:** A paraprofessional checking if her medication is covered.

**Screenshot:** `rxplans-desktop.png`, `plans-thumbnails.png`

**What happens:**
1. Goes to Prescriptions. Good so far.
2. Has to know her plan type. ABC? Choices? Balance+? Essentials? She's not sure.
3. Has to know her tier. 3-Tier? 5-Tier? Picks one, hopes for the best.
4. Downloads a 127-page PDF. Opens it. Ctrl+F.
5. Four decision points before the actual task. Wrong plan or tier? Start over.

**Scale of the problem:** The Rx Plans page has **53 PDF links**. Across the entire site: **110 unique PDFs**. These are invisible to search, difficult on phones, and every one is a dead end with no return path to the site.

**The MESSA Card Helper concept:** Members can check the plan tier printed on their physical or digital MESSA card without logging in. A simple "Look at your card. Your plan tier is right here." with a visual showing where the info appears on the card. This eliminates the first decision point at zero effort.

**UX Principle (Hick's Law):** The time to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices. 53 PDF links across five plan types and two tier levels creates decision paralysis. The member who doesn't know her plan type faces a combinatorial explosion of wrong choices before she can even begin.

**UX Principle (Progressive Disclosure):** Show only the information necessary at each step. The pregnancy page already does this well with plan-specific accordions. The Rx page should adopt the same pattern.

**Recommendations:**

| # | Fix | Tags |
|---|-----|------|
| 1 | Add a "Which plan am I on?" helper at the top of the Rx page. Visual showing where to find the plan tier on the MESSA card. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 2 | Add plain-language descriptions above each plan section. One sentence explaining who it's for. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 3 | Convert the formulary drug lists from PDF to searchable web pages. Highest-impact PDF conversion. | [P3] [eSERVICES] |

---

## 4. Member Journey: Teladoc Registration

**Slide:** A bus driver trying to register for Teladoc.

**Screenshot:** `teladoc-desktop.png`, `teladoc-faq.png`

**What happens:**
1. Finds the Teladoc page. Navigation works here.
2. Sees a massive hero image. No register button visible.
3. Reads features. 24/7 Care, Mental Health, Virtual Primary Care. Still no button.
4. Wants to know cost. Has to click open a FAQ accordion.
5. "Go To Teladoc" is at the very bottom. The thing he came to do is the last thing on the page.

**Key detail:** Mental health coaching through Teladoc is free. The word "free" doesn't appear until deep in the page. For a stressed educator, "free" should be the first thing they see.

**UX Principle (Fitts's Law):** The time to reach a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target. The "Go To Teladoc" button is at maximum possible distance from entry (bottom of the page). Moving it to the top reduces acquisition time to near-zero.

**Recommendations:**

| # | Fix | Tags |
|---|-----|------|
| 1 | Move CTA to the top of the page, not the bottom. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 2 | Add a sticky CTA bar on mobile with the Teladoc phone number (800-835-2362) and a "Get Started" button that stays visible as they scroll. Amy has been asking for sticky CTAs; this is ammunition for that internal argument. | [P2] [eSERVICES] |
| 3 | Separate CTA per service section. "Start 24/7 Care" after that section. "Schedule a Therapy Visit" after mental health. Each with its price right there: $10 copay for Balance+, $20 for Choices, etc. | [P2] [CONTENT] |
| 4 | Lead the mental health section with "free." | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 5 | Pull cost info out of the FAQ and into the main body, next to each service. | [P1] [CONTENT] |

---

## 5. Mobile Content Experience

**Slide:** Most of your members are on their phones.

**Screenshot:** `mobile-homepage.png`, `mobile-rxplans.png`, `mobile-teladoc.png`, `hereforyou-mobile.png`

Teachers checking benefits during lunch. Bus drivers looking something up between routes. Paraprofessionals on their phones after a shift. The mobile experience is where the hero-size problem and the PDF problem hit hardest.

**Findings:**
- Homepage on mobile: the entire first screen is the carousel and login. Content is several swipes down.
- Rx Plans on mobile: 53 PDF links are nearly impossible to use. Can't search inside them, can't scan them on a phone screen.
- Teladoc on mobile: hero before CTA. The action button requires scrolling past the entire page.
- Here For You on mobile: the header eats the entire first screen.
- School-issued devices are common. 1366x768 laptops. Older phones. Slower connections.

**UX Principle (Doherty Threshold):** Productivity increases when a system responds in under 400ms. On mobile, heavy hero images load slowly. The "Loading..." text visible in the homepage source means members on slower connections see the site isn't ready for them.

**Recommendations:**

| # | Fix | Tags |
|---|-----|------|
| 1 | Shrink heroes sitewide so content appears in the first mobile screen. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 2 | Add sticky CTA bars on Teladoc and mental health pages (mobile). | [P2] [eSERVICES] |
| 3 | Convert the most-used PDFs to web pages. | [P3] [eSERVICES] |
| 4 | Test all critical member paths on a phone. | [P1] [CONTENT] |

---

## 6. Sitewide Pattern: Headers and H1 Tags

**Slide:** Your headers are hiding your content.

**Screenshot:** `hereforyou-desktop.png`, `welcome-desktop.png` (for comparison)

### The Hero Problem

Nearly every page starts with a large branded hero. Members already know they're on MESSA. Their eyes skip the branding and look for content that isn't there yet because it's below the fold. On a school-issued laptop (1366x768), the entire first screen can be just the hero.

Affected pages: Here For You, Health Resources, Plans and Services, Teladoc, Menopause, Wellness Conference.

**Benchmark:** The first piece of actionable content should be visible without scrolling. The Welcome page already does this. Aim for heroes at 30-40% of screen height, not 80-100%.

### The H1 Problem

Every page needs a main heading that tells browsers, screen readers, and search engines what the page is about. Think of it like a chapter title in a book.

Right now, **11 of your 12 pages are missing theirs.** Only Here For You has one (and it has two).

| Page | H1 Count |
|------|----------|
| Homepage | 0 |
| Here For You | 2 (should be 1) |
| Health Resources | 0 |
| Rx Plans | 0 |
| Plans and Services | 0 |
| Teladoc | 0 |
| Welcome | 0 |
| About | 0 |
| Contact | 0 |
| Pregnancy | 0 |
| Hinge Health | 0 |
| Menopause | 0 |

This is almost certainly a theme-level issue. The Avada slider/hero component is replacing what should be the H1 on every page. One fix at the template level improves every page at once.

**Impact:** Screen readers can't announce what page the member is on. Search engines can't determine the topic. The site's own internal search gets confused. The broken H1 structure contributes directly to the poor search results documented in this audit.

**UX Principle (Jakob's Law):** Users spend most of their time on other sites. They expect heading structure to work. Violating this universal expectation degrades trust even for sighted users who can't articulate why the page feels wrong.

**Recommendations:**

| # | Fix | Tags |
|---|-----|------|
| 1 | Add an H1 to every page. If it's an Avada theme issue, a single template change resolves it sitewide. | [P1] [eSERVICES for template, CONTENT for manual] |
| 2 | Reduce hero sizes so content starts in the first viewport. | [P1] [CONTENT] |

---

## 7. Search Results

**Slide:** We typed what your members would type.

**Screenshot:** `search-breastpump.png`, `search-therapy.png`

| Query | Top Result | Verdict |
|-------|-----------|---------|
| "therapy" | Hinge Health, 3-Tier Rx | MISS: no mental health page |
| "breast pump" | Pumpkin chicken chili (#2) | MISS: recipe in results |
| "mental health" | Mental Health page | OK |
| "does messa cover therapy" | 3-Tier Rx, Supplemental Plans | MISS: irrelevant |
| "deductible" | Blog posts about resets | MISS: no plans page |
| "find a doctor" | Vaccination article | MISS: Find Care is #2 |
| "copay" | Rx plan pages | OK |

Search works when members already know the exact keyword. It falls apart the moment they ask a real question. The broken H1 structure contributes to this. A lot of the best content lives in PDFs that search can't index at all.

**Recommendations:**

| # | Fix | Tags |
|---|-----|------|
| 1 | Improve page headings using member language. "Does MESSA cover therapy?" should be a heading on the mental health page. | [P2] [CONTENT] |
| 2 | Install a better search plugin (Relevanssi or SearchWP). | [P3] [eSERVICES] |

---

## 8. Hidden Content and Cross-Linking

**Slide:** Your best pages are invisible.

**Screenshot:** `mentalhealth-desktop.png`, `nav-healthresources.png`, `nav-about.png`

Some of the strongest content on the site isn't linked from the navigation:

- **Mental Health hub** (messa.org/mentalhealth/) — Multiple pathways, 988 crisis line, covers in-person and virtual. **Not in the nav.**
- **Menopause page** (messa.org/menopause/) — Clear structure, Hinge Health and Ovia links. **Not in the nav.**
- **Hinge Health** (messa.org/hingehealth/) — $0 cost, menopause care, pelvic health. **Not in the Health Resources dropdown.**
- **Discover You** — Lifestyle and wellness content buried under About, next to board of trustees.

**Cross-linking is almost nonexistent:**
- Hinge Health has a full menopause section but doesn't link to the menopause page. The menopause page doesn't link back.
- The pregnancy page mentions postpartum mental health 6 times but never links to the mental health hub or Teladoc therapy.
- The field rep finder (messa.org/field/) is linked from exactly 2 pages sitewide (Teladoc and Pregnancy). Not from Contact. Not from Here For You. Not from the mental health page. Not from Welcome.

**Miscategorized items:** Blue 365 is an external link to a discount program. It doesn't belong in Health Resources. The Ambassador Program is a member recruitment initiative. That belongs under About or Community.

**UX Principle (Serial Position Effect):** Users remember the first and last items they encounter. Pages that end with a footer instead of "related resources" waste the recency position. The pregnancy page's closing section ("we just shared a lot of information") gets this right.

**UX Principle (Recognition Over Recall):** Users should recognize what they need in the navigation rather than recall where to find it. Mental health, menopause, and Hinge Health should be visible in the nav, not require members to already know the URL.

**Recommendations:**

| # | Fix | Tags |
|---|-----|------|
| 1 | Add mental health, menopause, and Hinge Health to the Health Resources nav dropdown. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 2 | Move Discover You out of About. | [P2] [CONTENT] |
| 3 | Move Blue 365 to the footer. Move Ambassador Program to About. | [P2] [CONTENT] |
| 4 | Build cross-links between related pages. Every resource page should connect to at least 3 others. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 5 | Add field rep finder to Contact, Here For You, mental health, menopause, and Welcome pages. | [P1] [CONTENT] |

---

## 9. Copy Consistency

**Slide:** The small things that shape how the site feels.

**CTA text has no system.** "LEARN MORE" in all caps on the homepage. "Learn more" in sentence case on Plans and Services. "CONTACT US" and "Contact Us" on the same About page. "Get Started" in title case on Hinge Health.

**Tonal whiplash on the homepage.** Functional all-caps insurance admin blocks (LOG IN NOW, ELECTRONIC PRIOR AUTHORIZATION, RX HOME DELIVERY) sit directly above warm, personal member testimonials. Neither tone is wrong on its own. The jump between them is jarring.

**Stale content mixed with live content.** Wellness Wednesdays lists November 2025 sessions alongside March 2026 with no distinction.

**UX Principle (Aesthetic-Usability Effect):** Users perceive aesthetically consistent interfaces as more usable. Random shifts between ALL CAPS and sentence case, between insurance jargon and heartfelt storytelling, contribute to the site feeling assembled from parts rather than designed as a whole.

**Note from meeting:** There is a backend reason for the phone number dots vs. dashes formatting. That's understood and not flagged as a fix. The CTA inconsistencies are fair game.

**Recommendations:**

| # | Fix | Tags |
|---|-----|------|
| 1 | Copy editing pass: pick one CTA format (sentence case) and apply sitewide. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 2 | Remove stale Wellness Wednesday dates. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 3 | Remove or update the 1095-B tax form callout. | [P1] [CONTENT] |
| 4 | Build a content expiration calendar for seasonal items. | [P2] [CONTENT] |

---

## 10. Navigation Restructure: One Option

**Slide:** If we could restructure the navigation.

The current split between "Plans and Services" (12 items) and "Health Resources" (12 items) doesn't match how members think. Teladoc is under Health Resources. Prescription coverage is under Plans and Services. A member looking for "help with my prescriptions" could end up in either bucket.

MESSA's team has expressed interest in restructuring the nav but is worried Health Resources could become an overwhelming mega-menu. Here is one option that organizes around member needs so no dropdown has more than 8 items:

### Proposed Structure

**My Benefits** (what am I covered for)
- Medical Plans
- Dental
- Vision
- Prescriptions
- Life & Disability
- Supplemental Plans
- FSA
- Plan Comparison Tool

**Get Care** (I need help right now)
- Teladoc Health
- Find a Doctor
- NurseLine
- Medical Case Management
- 2nd.MD
- Hinge Health

**Wellness** (I want to take care of myself)
- Mental Health
- Menopause
- Pregnancy & Childbirth
- MESSA Wellness (worksite program)
- Preventive Care & Immunizations
- Discover You

**My Account**
- MyMESSA Login
- MESSA App
- Member Forms

### Page Consolidation Opportunities

- **NurseLine + Free Preventive Care + Immunizations** → one "Preventive Care" page. These are currently three separate items covering overlapping content.
- **Blue 365** → move to footer. It's an external link to a discount program, not a health resource.
- **Ambassador Program** → move to About. It's a member recruitment program.
- **Free MESSA Posters** → move to the MESSA Wellness worksite page. It's a worksite wellness tool, not a standalone resource.

This needs a card sort or tree test with real members before implementation. Presented as one option, not a mandate.

---

## 11. What's Already Working

**Slide:** The template for everything else.

**Screenshot:** `welcome-desktop.png`, `mentalhealth-desktop.png`, `menopause-desktop.png`

These pages get the structure right. They should be the model for restructuring other pages:

**Welcome / MESSA 101** (messa.org/welcome/) — Content starts immediately. Clear CTAs. Surfaces the app, Teladoc, Hinge Health, and key programs. The hero is compact. The member's question ("where do I start?") is answered above the fold.

**Mental Health hub** (messa.org/mentalhealth/) — Acknowledges burnout in public education. Multiple pathways, 988 crisis line, in-person and virtual options. Just needs to be in the nav.

**Menopause page** (messa.org/menopause/) — Clear structure, Hinge Health and Ovia links, popular webinar series. Not in the nav.

**Pregnancy page** (messa.org/ohbaby/) — Anchor links at the top. Plan-specific accordions (the pattern the Rx page should adopt). Closing section that links to the service center, field rep, and app. The closing acknowledges cognitive load: "We just shared a lot of information with you."

Even these pages could benefit from tighter heroes. But the content approach is the target.

**The pattern:** Acknowledge the member's situation → show them options → explain cost → link to the thing.

---

## 12. The Strategic Question

Is this a website about health? Or a website about health insurance?

The homepage is a portal launcher. Health Resources is a wellness hub. Plans and Services is an insurance desk. The site is doing three jobs. The answer to this question shapes what gets prioritized next.

---

## Quick Wins: Hyperlinked List

Content team scope. No platform changes needed.

1. [Add resource links to Here For You](#2-member-journey-mental-health-support) (Teladoc, MCM, NurseLine, mental health hub)
2. [Point mental health ads to messa.org/mentalhealth](#2-member-journey-mental-health-support)
3. [Move Teladoc CTA + price to top of page](#4-member-journey-teladoc-registration)
4. [Lead Teladoc mental health section with "free"](#4-member-journey-teladoc-registration)
5. [Fix H1 sitewide](#6-sitewide-pattern-headers-and-h1-tags) (11 of 12 pages missing)
6. [Link mental health from Health Resources nav](#8-hidden-content-and-cross-linking)
7. [Link menopause from Health Resources nav](#8-hidden-content-and-cross-linking)
8. [Link Hinge Health from Health Resources nav](#8-hidden-content-and-cross-linking)
9. [Remove stale Wellness Wednesday dates](#9-copy-consistency)
10. [Remove or update 1095-B callout](#9-copy-consistency)
11. [Shrink Wellness hero on Health Resources](#6-sitewide-pattern-headers-and-h1-tags)
12. [Clarify Wellness is a worksite program](#8-hidden-content-and-cross-linking)
13. [Reduce "What We Offer" hero on Plans and Services](#6-sitewide-pattern-headers-and-h1-tags)
14. [Make Welcome page permanent in nav](#8-hidden-content-and-cross-linking)
15. [Cross-link Hinge Health ↔ menopause page](#8-hidden-content-and-cross-linking)
16. [Cross-link pregnancy page → mental health hub](#8-hidden-content-and-cross-linking)
17. [Add field rep finder to Contact, Here For You, Welcome](#8-hidden-content-and-cross-linking)
18. [Copy editing pass: standardize CTAs to sentence case](#9-copy-consistency)
19. [Move Blue 365 + Ambassador Program out of Health Resources](#8-hidden-content-and-cross-linking)
20. [Add MESSA card plan-tier helper to Rx page](#3-member-journey-medication-lookup)

---

## Bigger Lifts: Moderate Effort

- Add "Not sure which plan?" option to the homepage carousel
- Surface app download near the portal login
- Add a persistent "New to MESSA?" nav link
- Move Discover You out of About
- Add plain-language summaries above plan thumbnails on Plans and Services
- Surface the Plan Comparison Tool prominently (currently behind portal login)
- Add a step-by-step flow for disability claims
- Write short descriptions for the most-downloaded PDFs
- Redirect old blog posts that compete with newer hub pages
- Build a content expiration calendar for seasonal items
- Improve search headings and metadata using member language
- Consolidate NurseLine + preventive care + immunizations into one page

## Bigger Lifts: Requires Planning or Platform Support

- Sticky CTA bar on Teladoc and mental health pages (mobile)
- Separate CTAs per Teladoc service section with price per section
- Convert formulary drug lists to searchable web pages
- Break Plans and Services into separate child pages
- Simplify the poster order form (currently over-collects: name, email, phone, employer, address for a free PDF)
- Install a search plugin (Relevanssi or SearchWP)
- Add breadcrumbs on subpages (schema-backed)
- Card sort or tree test on navigation labels with real members
- Navigation restructure (see proposed option in section 10)
- Comprehensive accessibility audit
- Add XML sitemap (may be a plugin toggle depending on current setup)

---

## UX Principles Reference

For internal thunder::tech use. Lead with member impact in presentations, reference these in documentation.

**Hick's Law** (Rx Plans page): Decision time increases with the number and complexity of choices. 53 PDF links is decision paralysis.

**Fitts's Law** (Teladoc CTA): Time to reach a target is a function of distance and size. CTA at the bottom = maximum distance from entry.

**Jakob's Law** (H1 tags, portal confusion): Users expect sites to work like other sites they use. Missing H1s and unmarked portal transitions break expectations.

**Miller's Law** (hero-to-content ratio): Working memory holds 7±2 items. When the first screen is branding, the member must hold their question in memory while scrolling. Cognitive load increases before the task begins.

**Aesthetic-Usability Effect** (CTA inconsistency): Users perceive visually consistent interfaces as more usable. Random shifts between ALL CAPS and sentence case contribute to the site feeling "off."

**Peak-End Rule** (Here For You): People judge an experience by its peak and its end. Here For You's peak is emotional (stories). Its end is the footer. No resolution.

**Serial Position Effect** (cross-linking): Users remember the first and last items. Pages ending with a footer instead of "related resources" waste the recency position.

**Recognition Over Recall** (navigation labels): Users should recognize what they need rather than recall where to find it. "Plans and Services" vs "Health Resources" requires recall of MESSA's taxonomy.

**Progressive Disclosure** (Plans and Services): Show only what's needed at each step. The Plans and Services megapage dumps medical, dental, vision, disability, forms, and retired plan booklets onto one scroll.

**Doherty Threshold** (mobile performance): Systems should respond in under 400ms. Heavy hero images on mobile and visible "Loading..." text signal the page isn't ready.

---

## Next Steps

1. **This document** is the detailed plain-text version of the presentation with mobile content experience notes, hyperlinked quick fixes, and all screenshot references.
2. **Quick wins** can start immediately. The 20 items listed above need no platform changes.
3. **Data share** from MESSA: heatmaps, GA4 access, call center top reasons, existing personas, field rep feedback. The more data we see, the sharper the next round of recommendations.
4. **Broader presentation** to the full MESSA team, arranged by Anthony. thunder::tech presents for third-party credibility.

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*thunder::tech · March 2026*