Rehabs.com Directory

ClientReach, a SaaS product under American Addiction Centers, powers directories across seven addiction-focused websites, including Rehabs.com and DrugAbuse.com. These directories list thousands of treatment centers nationwide, functioning like Yelp for addiction care.

Each center has a listing tier: Free, Claimed, Standard, Promoted, and VIP. Paid tiers start at Standard and offer advantages like enhanced visibility, more editable content, and a sleeker presentation.

In early 2024, leadership rolled out subscription price increases across all paid tiers. That didn’t go over smoothly with clients, many of whom had been with us for years. But the real issue wasn’t the price change; it was the stagnation. The product hadn’t evolved meaningfully in years, so paying more for the same experience felt unjustified.

My challenge was clear: improve the directory experience in a way that made our paid tiers feel not just worth it, but essential. I focused my efforts on the highest-traffic site in the network, Rehabs.com.

Understanding Both Sides of the Platform

The first step was gaining empathy for both sides of our platform: the treatment centers (our clients), and the individuals using the site to find care (their clients and ours, too, indirectly).

Learning from Clients

To understand client frustrations, I collaborated with our ClientReach liaison to develop a feedback survey. We asked treatment centers what features they valued most in their listing, what was frustrating or confusing, and what might actually convince them to upgrade tiers. Responses ranged from practical (“I need to know where my money is going”) to emotional (“I feel like we’re being asked to pay more without being heard”).

Alongside the survey, I dug into analytics, looking at call clicks, page views, and scroll depth-broken down by listing tier. Patterns emerged that confirmed what clients had been saying: performance differences between tiers weren’t always clear, and there was no compelling visual or content-based reason to upgrade.

Learning from Users

Users, meanwhile, had their own problems. I ran a second survey targeting site visitors actively browsing for treatment. They told us the filters were clunky, listings felt repetitive, and comparing options was frustrating. Many noted they couldn’t tell what made one center better than another, and trust indicators (like reviews or staff info) were either missing or buried.

Using data from both audiences, I created updated personas to keep the team aligned around our dual-user model. Our redesign had to serve both groups: users needed to find the right treatment faster, and clients needed to feel their investment was paying off.

Shaping the Right Problem

After reviewing survey results and behavioral data, the core problems came into focus.

First, clients weren’t seeing meaningful improvements in performance, even after upgrading their listing tiers. There was a disconnect between what they were paying for and what users were actually seeing or interacting with.

Second, users weren’t having a smooth experience either. Searching was unintuitive, filters weren’t helpful, and listing content lacked the human touch that builds trust.

Rather than centering the project on justifying price hikes, I reframed our goals into two experience-led questions:

• How might we increase the perceived and actual value of paid listings?
• How might we make it easier for people to find and trust the right treatment center?

These became our guiding principles throughout the redesign.

A Collaborative Search for Value

To brainstorm solutions, I led a structured ideation workshop with teammates from product, content, SEO, and engineering.

We began by reviewing personas and real user pain points. From there, we split ideation into two tracks: one focused on treatment centers, the other on site visitors. Participants worked individually to generate ideas in FigJam, then we came together to cluster and prioritize them using affinity mapping and dot voting.

For Clients

Ideas centered around creating a premium experience for paid listings. There was a clear call to better differentiate each tier visually and functionally, while also giving treatment centers more control over their story – whether through editable content blocks or clearer metadata.

For Users

The focus was on surfacing better information, faster. That meant better filters, more compelling visuals, and trust-building signals like photos, staff bios, and verified reviews.

Out of this, we developed a shortlist of high-impact design opportunities to prototype and test.

Competitor Analysis: Learning from the Best

To ensure our redesign would meet modern user expectations, I conducted a thorough competitor analysis focused on other directory and listing platforms like Airbnb, Yelp, Recovery.org, and even Amazon’s marketplace. Each of these platforms excels in specific areas that directly influenced our approach.

Listing Cards: Airbnb’s use of large, engaging photos and concise yet rich metadata inspired the visual emphasis on VIP listings. Yelp’s clear categorization and tag system helped shape our approach to making services, insurance, and treatment philosophies easily scannable on listing cards.

Search & Filters: Amazon’s powerful yet user-friendly filtering system influenced our decision to prioritize key filters with quick-access chips and add a distance slider to make searching more intuitive and relevant, especially on mobile devices. The goal was to reduce friction and empower users to narrow down results quickly.

Reviews & Trust Signals: Recovery.org’s transparent, well-structured reviews highlighted the importance of detailed metadata such as length of stay and relationship to the facility, which we incorporated to build credibility and trust. Yelp’s ability to filter and sort reviews by rating and date also informed our redesign of the reviews section, allowing users to easily access the most relevant feedback.

By synthesizing these insights, I was able to tailor our solution to not only fix pain points but also elevate the overall directory experience to a level users expect from top-tier platforms.

Designing for Clarity, Trust, and Conversion

With ideas prioritized, I began prototyping new layouts and UI patterns in Figma, starting low-fidelity and gradually adding fidelity as we moved into testing and handoff. Key areas of focus included listing pages, results filters, and summary cards.

Paid Listings: Visual Hierarchy That Reflects Value

To highlight the value of paid tiers (especially VIP), I focused on creating a bold, visually engaging layout that immediately captures attention. The VIP listing features a larger hero image inspired by Airbnb’s use of professional photography, making visuals a central marketing asset. This approach helps listings stand out and instantly communicate quality.

The top section prioritizes what makes each facility unique by giving clients full control over customizable areas like the “About” and “Facility Highlights” sections, letting them tell their story. The facility’s location is also prominently displayed, providing a clear geographic anchor and natural call to action.

Core information is organized into three main subsections: “Treatment,” “Experience,” and “Who We Treat” to offer users a quick, structured overview. Payment options, crucial for many patients, are highlighted separately in a distinctive callout area to ensure visibility. Additional details are tucked into expandable accordions to keep the interface clean but comprehensive.

Finally, I brought “Meet The Staff” into its own dedicated section to humanize the listings, while the “Treatment Center Details” were streamlined into an interactive table, allowing users to tap on terms for easy-to-understand definitions. This overhaul improved clarity, usability, and trust, reinforcing the premium feel of paid listings.

Reviews: From Placeholder to Powerful

The reviews section needed a fresh update to better reflect patient experiences and build user trust. Instead of just showing an average rating, I redesigned it to display the full distribution of star ratings, giving users a clearer, more detailed picture of each listing’s reputation. The “Leave a Review” button was moved below this to optimize space and improve responsiveness on desktop.

I introduced filters to sort reviews by date and rating, a feature inspired by competitors, helping users quickly find the most relevant feedback. The original generic photo placeholders were removed since reviewers don’t submit photos, which avoided misleading users and kept focus on the actual ratings and written content. To add more context, I included new data points like review date, relationship to the facility, and length of stay.

The report button was made more subtle to reduce clutter, and the reply button was removed from the frontend since facility responses are handled through the backend system. This simplified the interface and avoided user confusion. Lastly, the “Leave a Review” form was simplified with clearer copy and added fields to capture richer reviewer details, helping future users make more informed decisions.

Filters: Rebuilt for Mobile

Most users browse Rehabs.com on mobile, and yet the original filters were nearly unusable on smaller screens.

I restructured the filter experience to prioritize the highest-impact fields like care type, payment options, and distance. A new default distance filter started at 15 miles but allowed expansion up to 120. High-frequency options were surfaced as tappable “chips” for quick filtering.

Hierarchy and sticky behavior were carefully tuned to stay usable on long result pages, especially on mobile devices.

Listing Cards: Richer Info, Faster Decisions

Listing cards in the old experience offered minimal info – usually just name, location, and rating. To make comparing options easier, I expanded cards to include key tags for services, accepted insurance, population focus, and treatment philosophy.

Where possible, we dynamically adjusted the amount of detail shown by tier: VIP listings displayed full info, Promoted had partial tags, and Standard showed a minimal set.

These changes gave users meaningful content to compare, while visually reinforcing the value of upgrading.

Launch Outcomes and Performance

Once designs were handed off to engineering, we launched improvements across the Rehabs.com directory. Our goals were simple: increase engagement with paid listings and improve the search experience for users.

What Worked

After launching the updates, we saw clear improvements in how users engaged with paid listings. Pageviews increased by 20% for VIP listings, 23% for Promoted, and 10% for Standard, while Free listings dropped by 13%, a sign that users were more effectively guided toward higher-value options.

User engagement also deepened: average scroll depth increased by 28% and time on page rose by 15% for paid listings, indicating that users were exploring more content and spending longer evaluating treatment centers.

Filter usage jumped by 18%, with the new distance filter becoming the most-used option, frequently expanded beyond the 15-mile default, suggesting stronger intent and user confidence in refining their search.

Most importantly, call conversions, a key business metric, rose for VIP and Promoted listings, demonstrating that the enhanced design helped drive real user actions and client value. These results suggest the redesign successfully increased both visibility and effectiveness for higher-tier packages.

What Could Be Improved

This project successfully increased the perceived value of paid listings, both in visual polish and functional utility. It brought long-overdue updates to a stale product experience, gave treatment centers more control over their presence, and made it easier for users to find and evaluate their options.

But not everything worked perfectly. Our metrics showed stronger engagement, but not stronger conversion. And while our listings looked better and worked better, they still needed a more persuasive path to action.

Moving forward, we’re testing new CTAs and lead generation patterns to better convert interest into calls. We’re also exploring sticky footers and contextual action prompts to keep help within reach as users browse.

On the visual side, we’re continuing to refine listing cards on results pages, especially how we surface credibility cues like recent reviews and accreditations.

Ultimately, this project proved that UX can do more than just modernize a product. It can rebuild trust, clarify value, and create new momentum – even in a domain as complex and high-stakes as addiction treatment. The following are some takeaways that I had coming out of this project.

• Data-driven empathy is key to solving complex user and client challenges effectively.
• Clear problem framing with “How Might We” questions drives focused and actionable design solutions.
• Collaborative workshops unlock diverse insights and help prioritize impactful ideas.
• Thoughtful visual hierarchy and content organization elevate perceived value and user trust.
• Continuous testing and iteration are essential to balance engagement gains with conversion goals.