According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 1,500 patients, patient experience quality comprises five different categories. The better your practice is at fulfilling each category, the more likely you are to have satisfied patients. This experience could be what sets you apart from competing practices in your area.
Many healthcare providers mistakenly believe that the patient experience begins when the patient first walks through the door. However, like any other customer experience for a business, the patient experience actually begins much earlier.
Knowing where the experience starts can help you connect with your target audience through your healthcare marketing strategy.
Where does the patient experience start?
The patient experience truly starts when prospective patients first encounter your practice online. This is why you must optimize your website, which is the “digital doorstep” that needs to give a great first impression. If your website isn’t appealing enough to visitors, it likely won’t help convert those visitors into patients.
Your website should be aesthetically pleasing, but it also needs to be functional enough to convert visitors into leads and leads into patients. Your website can perform “double-duty” by serving as both a digital doorstep and a resource to improve the patient experience.
For example, your website could provide plenty of information about relevant issues prospective patients may research. This would get them through the door, while other resources on your website provide more details about potential solutions and your practice.
Over time, you would be able to build trust and nurture that visitor into a patient.
Before you can work on improving the patient experience, it’s important to learn about the specific aspects that factor into it.
What are the five ways to improve patient experience?
The PricewaterhouseCoopers survey identified five main categories in which patients want to see improvement. By understanding each category, you can decide how to appeal to them through your services and marketing efforts. DoctorLogic can help meet the needs of each with our innovative healthcare digital marketing solution.
The different categories are as follows:
1. Convenience
You must ensure potential patients benefit from ample convenience when they first encounter your practice. Patients want to get appointments sooner. They also want more convenient appointment scheduling and hours. Additionally, the check-in process should generally be painless throughout.
When it comes to your website, online bill payment, registration, and other tasks must remain efficient and simple. Patients also want 24/7 access to someone who can answer basic questions.
If you want to meet these demands, DoctorLogic can help. Our patient acquisition platform features integrations for live appointment scheduling and online bill payment.
In addition, DoctorLogic offers 24/7 managed chat with trained agents to help convert visitors into patients and answer basic questions
2. Quality
The overall quality of your practice and services needs to be consistently great to build relationships with prospects.
You need to build and maintain a strong reputation for your healthcare organization. This will entail providing patients with and advertising a state-of-the-art facility and the most modern technology. You should also establish that you only conduct tests, prescribe medications, and perform procedures when necessary.
The drugs that your practice prescribes should come with proof of good outcomes and few side effects. Another factor to consider is research—are your clinicians using the latest research? Answering this and other questions prospects are likely to have will help illustrate the quality of your offerings.
DoctorLogic can demonstrate the quality of your patient experience. Using our patient acquisition platform, you’ll have access to reputation management tools to improve your online reputation.
3. Support
Today’s patients seek reliable support from their healthcare providers. They may need help with various aspects of healthcare, including assistance navigating the healthcare system and resolving insurance claim issues.
More patients are also searching for lower-cost care options, particularly when facing high health insurance costs. Online, you should offer social support via your social media platforms, along with self-service for patients to navigate the healthcare system.
Integrating DoctorLogic will enable you to provide your new and existing patients with the support they need. Specifically, we offer healthcare content marketing services to empower and support your patients.
4. Personalization
Modern healthcare consumers expect to see personalization across all healthcare services. Not every patient is the same, nor do they have the same wants and needs regarding care. They want access to staff who are attentive to individual needs and preferences. As such, they will want to see communication that’s tailored to their preferences.
Practices can personalize the patient experience in a few critical ways. For example, they can send medication refill reminders through email and text notifications. Another potential means of personalization is to make accurate predictions about services patients may need, depending on their specific needs and history.
To facilitate personalization, DoctorLogic provides HIPAA-compliant email marketing with automated notifications. You can also use the platform to send personalized text reminders before an appointment. As a result, you’ll add a personal touch to your services that sets you apart from your impersonal competitors.
5. Communication
Good communication is more critical than ever in the healthcare industry. Patients should be able to decide on different treatment options with their doctors. They want to know precisely what to expect with every appointment and procedure. They don’t want any surprises with their treatment plan, either.
When determining cost, give your patients an upfront explanation about any out-of-pocket costs, which will make them more understanding. Otherwise, patients might be wary about the ethics of the practice if out-of-pocket costs seem too steep.
Also, patients shouldn’t have to repeat themselves when communicating with your staff. Make sure you have reliable systems that can accurately collect and store patient information the first time.
Taking these and other measures will go a long way in maintaining patient engagement and loyalty. You’ll show that you value your patients with effective communication that never leaves them in the dark.
For help with this patient experience category, turn to DoctorLogic. When you integrate our solution, you’ll be able to close the gap in patient-to-physician communication. You can achieve this through a combination of content marketing, email notifications, and text reminders.
How to Market Your Improved Patient Experience
It’s not enough to improve the patient experience for your practice—you also need to market it effectively. When patient experience becomes a competitive advantage for you, advertise it to your prospects with the right messaging.
Marketing plans that promote a positive patient experience should use a variety of channels. These may range from social media posts to blogs and landing pages, with a mix of on-site and off-site content. You may also produce videos and other media to help bring your patients on board.
In any case, you need to use the right marketing solutions to get the desired results. A reliable marketing tool could mean the difference between a successful and stagnating practice.
If you want to supercharge the rate at which you attract new patients, you should invest in DoctorLogic’s patient acquisition platform.
Apart from improving your patient experience, our platform will help grow your practice through search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO). Using DoctorLogic to optimize your marketing efforts will help you promote your patient experience. Subsequently, you’ll have a better chance of appealing to more patients and maintaining a competitive advantage.
To see how we’ve helped thousands of physicians across the country grow their practice, request a free demo.