What you need to know

• Beyond Blue pulled off a full digital platform overhaul in just six months, migrating from an aging and soon to be unsupported Sitefinity setup to Sitecore XM Cloud
• The old platform came with poor mobile access, critical content hard to find, and systems close to breaking point.
• New strategy prioritised early intervention over crisis response, with a sharp content reduction—from 1,700 pages to 100—to streamline user journeys and boost access to tools for anxiety, depression, and mental wellbeing.
• Mobile traffic now exceeds 50%, while Lighthouse performance scores jumped from 32 to 97, marking a dramatic improvement in speed, accessibility and usability.
• Results include a 35% rise in primary content traffic, 50% boost in tool usage, and near double enrolments in a mental health coaching program, with measurable impact on fundraising and staff recruitment.
• Agile governance and community-first design underpinned delivery, with executive board backing, lived-experience input, and close collaboration with Luminary and Sitecore—including direct CEO involvement.
•  The next phase focuses on optimisation, including personalisation, AI-powered content creation, and better integration across Beyond Blue’s service ecosystem.

When the call for help could mean the difference between life and death, sluggish web pages and broken user journeys aren’t just UX fails, they’re serious health risks. That was the blunt reality facing Beyond Blue in early 2023. Its decade-old Sitefinity platform was creaking at the seams, mobile accessibility was terrible, and content sprawl had rendered critical mental health resources hard to find and harder to act on.

So the not-for-profit launched a top-to-bottom digital rebuild on a ticking clock and delivered a full migration to Sitecore XM Cloud in just six months.

People turned to Beyond Blue for help at critical times, said Susan Kelso, the organisation’s chief digital officer. “I can’t tell you how many people have said, ‘That tool on your website—I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t used it.’”​

Critical platform, critical risk

Beyond Blue’s legacy Sitefinity setup was described by Kelso as “incredibly aged,” missing patches, weighed down by custom code no one could trace, and teetering on the brink of catastrophic failure. “We were probably in a six-month window of being at serious risk for stability with no rollback,” said Jim Nelson, head of digital. The sense of urgency? Existential.

But this wasn’t just a technical refresh. It was an orchestrated digital evolution, driven by a fundamental shift in mental health strategy—from reactive crisis response to proactive early intervention. According to Beyond Blue’s data, people typically wait more than 10 years before seeking mental health support. The digital overhaul was aimed at changing that timeline.

“Instead of trying to be all things to all people,” explained Kelso, “we recognised the need to help people start their mental wellness journey much earlier.” That required cutting through clutter—digital, linguistic and procedural.

The transformation included back-end muscle and front-end finesse.

With content rationalised from 1,700 pages to just 100, the information architecture was rebuilt to reflect actual user journeys. “We identified the segment that represented the smallest amount of work with the largest impact to the community,” said Nelson. Top-of-funnel topics like anxiety and depression—common entry points—were prioritised and optimised for speed, clarity, and mobile access​.

Mobile usage jumped to over 50 per cent of site traffic, up from a suboptimal minority. Lighthouse scores, a proxy for load speed, responsiveness, and accessibility, rocketed from a woeful 32 to 97. 

Agile, yes. But also human.

While tech platforms grabbed the headlines—Sitecore XM Cloud for the digital experience layer; Databricks for analytics—what also made this rebuild work was a rare blend of agile execution and community-first governance.

Yes, there were the all too familiar agile scrums. But Beyond Blue also used service blueprints built with lived experience. Yes, it stood up SaaS infrastructure. But the NFP also met with story contributors to explain why their page might not make the first cut.

And there was board buy-in. “It was a single-focus, backs-against-the-wall kind of approach,” said Kelso, who chaired a governance team with all execs in the tent. Weekly war rooms with Luminary and Sitecore kept priorities sharp, blockers cleared, and timelines sacred.

Sitecore even threw in its then CEO Steve Tzikakis, who personally assured the organisation of his support. “We had access to their subject matter experts and devs,” said Nelson. “It was all hands on deck.”

As to the business impact, the new platform delivered a range of improvements including:

• 35% increase in traffic to primary content pages
• 50% surge in use of Beyond Blue’s wellbeing tool
• near doubling of enrolments in its small business mental health coaching program
• 15% uplift in fundraising starts—a nice-to-have in a mission-led redesign.​

And beneath those stats? The harder metrics of accessibility, retention and staff engagement. With a modern stack now in play, Beyond Blue also reversed its recruitment woes, slashed turnover, and has seen engagement skyrocket. “We used to struggle to attract talent,” said Kelso. “Now, people are coming to work with us because we’re using good kit and doing meaningful work.”

What’s next?

Twelve months post-launch, Beyond Blue has worked through its MVP backlog and is moving into the optimisation phase, targeting deeper personalisation, smarter content creation driven by natural language processing, and tighter integration across its digital and non-digital touchpoints as key priorities.

“We kind of liken it to driving through life with the handbrake on,” said Kelso. “If we can get people to seek support five years earlier instead of 10, imagine what that could do—not just for the individual, but for society.”​