In this blog, we write a lot about how challenging the healthcare space is for DME suppliers and pharmacy owners. There’s so many factors to be aware of – increased competition, changing legislation, and an increased focus on technology.
As a result, we’ve made a great effort to share some of our best “tips” that marketers can use to boost their promotions and meet their sales targets. Social media strategies, trade shows, and sales tips are all examples of advice we’ve provided here.
Today – we’re writing about what is arguably one of the most important aspects of any sales program: patient experience. More specifically, we’re going to review highlight some of the innovations in this area and how they apply to the healthcare industry.
1. More Communication with Patients
Whether it’s through social media, a mobile app, or a web interface – the fact of the matter is there is an increasing focus on how healthcare companies communicate with their patients.
There is now an expectation among patients that they can find all of the answers they seek online – and that includes information from medical professionals. Healthcare businesses that will be successful moving forward will respond to this trend with technology that is simple, responsive, and can directly connect their patient base to the experts they seek.
2. An Individual Experience
Along with communication comes the storage and sharing of medical information with healthcare businesses and professionals. While there are legislative barriers (HIPAA) in place to protect patient information, we can still expect that patients will soon be able to have all of their medical information readily available to access and share with medical professionals who may be able to help.
Getting a second opinion or finding just the right DME solution will never have been so easy.
3. More Consistent Health Knowledge
With data and communication going digital, there emerges a significant opportunity to use these new tools to provide better education to patients. Everyone has had the experience of receiving wildly different information from multiple medical sources – and that will never go away. However, the rise of digital health platforms will allow for patient education that is higher quality, more consistent, and open to peer review and discussion.
In the context of a DME company or pharmacy – this means that patients will have more reliable information about how your product or prescription will help improve their health and quality of life.
4. Build Credibility by Connecting with Healthcare Experts
We recently wrote a post about how important credibility is for your healthcare business, and it is important to the patient experience, too! If you have strong relationships with healthcare experts – use them in your marketing approach. Whether it’s an in-store promotion or on your future mobile app – building credibility is always an important step.
As the shift towards digital health continues, we will see more and more doctors and physicians getting involved with brands as special experts or consultants.
5. Match the Offline with the Online
In the healthcare industry, innovation is so important when it comes to patient experience. Going digital is absolutely the future – but there’s an important lesson to remember: for every improvement you make to the online experience, the offline experience must also be improved.
Trends aside – customer service is still king – and is the number one most important factor to keep in mind when improving the customer experience for your business. Regardless of online, offline, in an app, or face to face, good service will always be crucial for a positive patient experience.