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Our previous website was outdated and wasn’t as accessible as it could be, making it harder to find resources, raise awareness, and support more people affected by ME.
With 250,000 visits in the past year and people reporting issues in finding information and resources, alongside our ME Friends Online forum not meeting users’ needs, an upgrade was essential.
Over 300 members, supporters, and service users shaped this project through surveys, a Steering Group, and user testing. Their feedback ensured the new site truly meets the needs of people with ME.
We know there’s still more to do, and we remain committed to working collaboratively to create the greatest impact.
We redesigned key resources, updated our resource library, and introduced new accessibility features to make our website easier to find and use.
A full review of specific resources, including our ‘Step-by-step pacing guide’, is also underway. We will be seeking input from people with lived experience, and we will be sharing more on this soon.
As with any investments, we thought long and hard about the decision to complete this work. Ultimately, we concluded that updating our website, to provide the benefits listed above to people affected by ME, was an essential use of funds
Our mission is to improve the lives of people affected by ME; better meeting their needs today, while taking action to secure change for tomorrow.
Our new website provides us with greater opportunities to provide support to even more people affected by ME and to create more impact through our research and campaigning work.
We know we still have more to do; but we are committed to working with you to help us achieve this.
The world, and our organisation, has changed dramatically since our previous website was created, over a decade ago.
As such, our previous website was no longer fit for today's digital audiences, limiting our growth and opportunities to raise vital awareness and funds to support even more people affected by ME.
Furthermore, it did not meet modern accessibility standards and best practices and as an organisation that directly supports people living with ME, we knew this needed to change.
In the past 12 months, our website has been visited almost 250,000 times, with our resources being accessed and downloaded hundreds of times per week.
People have reported issues in being able to easily find resources and information they are searching for, alongside a number of links and pages that no longer work.
Our ME Friends Online forum also urgently needed updating to meet the needs of its users.
We want our information, Services, and wider work to be accessible to as many people as possible, ensuring that people affected by ME can receive the understanding and support they deserve, when they need it most.
That's why, over the past year, we have been working alongside our key stakeholders to redevelop our website, and we are pleased to now be able to share it with you.
We knew that in order for this work to have the greatest benefit it can for people affected by ME, the views and experiences of the ME community had to remain a constant throughout this process.
Over the past year, over 300 of our members, supporters, service users, and other key stakeholders have helped shape this work. They have fed directly into the process and key decision-making.
We have conducted various surveys and established a project Steering Group, comprising of Action for ME staff, Trustees, and people with direct lived experience to ensure that people with ME were directly involved.
Our new website was user-tested by over 30 individuals, all with differing relationships to our organisation. We have listened to and acted on their constructive feedback.
We know there is still more to do, and we look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with you to ensure that our work carries the greatest impact it can for everyone affected by ME.
As a charity that provides an array of Services, offering personalised support and care to those who need it, and are working to secure positive change for the future through our research and campaigning work - we have to communicate with a variety of people, groups, and organisations.
We know that if we are to have the greatest impact we can, we must ensure that our brand and website are accessible to all.
In support of this, we have rewritten and redesigned many of our key resources, booklets, factsheets, and materials. We have also redesigned our resource library, both ensuring that people affected by ME can access the information they need more easily.
We have agreed that, in collaboration with a group of people with lived experience, we will undertake a complete review and rewrite a number of our key resources, such as our 'Step-by-step pacing guide' to ensure they more accurately reflect the views and experiences of people living with ME.
Our website also now includes an array of accessibility features, enabling users to interact with the site and access the support and/or information they need, in the way that best suits their personal needs.
We remain committed to improving the accessibility of all our Services, information, and resources, and will continue to provide updates on future work taking place to achieve this.
As with any investments, we thought long and hard about the decision to complete this work. Ultimately, we concluded that updating our website, to provide the benefits listed above to people affected by ME, was essential.
Working with a specialist website design and branding agency, we spent £43,000 to complete this work which includes the refresh of our brand, stakeholder engagement, our new ME Friends Online forum, and new website.
We endeavoured to make it as cost effective as possible and feel confident that this work will provide significant benefits in terms of improved service for people with ME, alongside an improved ability to fundraise and increase awareness.
Our mission is to improve the lives of people affected by ME; better meeting their needs today, while taking action to secure change for tomorrow.
Our new website provides us with greater opportunities to provide support to even more people affected by ME and to create more impact through our research and campaigning work.
We know we still have more to do; but we are committed to working with you to help us achieve this.
