What prompts a patient to choose one provider over another? In the past, referrals and recommendations from friends and family used to reign supreme, but now prospective patients are more likely to start their search online. Their criteria for what qualifies a good physician has grown more complex and the way in which they are searching for that criteria has changed.
In fact, in a recent survey by Doctor.com, 80% of patients said they conduct online research about providers they’ve been referred to. More importantly, 90% said they will opt for a different provider entirely if they don’t like what they find. In other words, your online presence and the virtual experience you deliver carries more clout than you may think.
With that in mind, the following are four important criteria to ensure patients choose your practice over the competition.
1. You’re overlooking the importance of reviews
Today, online reviews are akin to a glowing referral from a friend or family member. In many cases, this will be the first thing a prospective patient looks for in evaluating their next physician decision. Moz, one of the most highly regarded resources in online marketing and analytics, found 67% of consumers are influenced by online reviews. And even just one negative review, particularly if it is not responded to, can put you at risk of losing 22% of your online business. The number increases to nearly 60% if there are three negatives.
Now, it’s easy to think no reviews puts you in neutral territory, but this can actually be a negative in the eyes of a patient. It’s critical to not only actively ask your existing patients for reviews, but also respond to all reviews (even the glowing ones). Keep in mind, asking for reviews takes work. Patients will often forget by the time they get home. A way around that is to place a tablet kiosk at the front desk or send reminder emails.
2. Your contact information is hard to find
Have you ever attempted to find a phone number or address for a local business or restaurant only to be met with a link to their website or contact form? It makes for a frustrating experience, and this is exactly how patients feel when they can’t easily track down basic contact information such as your name, address, phone number (or as it’s commonly referred to, your NAP).
They won’t spend time attempting to track this information down, so make it easy to find. It should be at the top of every page on your website, as well as on Google and any other social platforms you use and other review sites. To ensure your information is correctly displayed across all directories, as well as to fix any inaccuracies, run a NAP audit for your business.
3. The online experience is poor
Searching for providers online gives prospective patients a unique opportunity to control their experience. It also affords you with a way to regulate the patient journey from the beginning stages — an undertaking that becomes harder to control once patients take their interactions offline and engage with your front-of-office staff, administrators, or even physician assistants. What makes for a good experience online?
Mobile friendly — make sure your site is optimized for mobile. Visitors should be able to navigate and click through just as easily as if they were on a desktop or laptop.
Be relationship- and value-focused — use your website to build rapport right off the bat. This is your opportunity to sell your value. Show images of your friendly staff and use messaging to convey your approach to patient care. Deliver value by answering common questions they may have or providing a library of content on specific health-related topics. The goal is to become a trusted resource.
Put the power in their hands — many patients want the ability to schedule appointments online and complete patient forms so they don’t have to spend time in the waiting room filling it out. Give them the option and make it easy to find. If you do allow for online appointment scheduling or have a contact form, just be sure to respond in a timely manner. This is one of the biggest pitfalls practices fall into.
4. Your marketing is ineffective
If other area practices are showing up higher in a search, are implementing email marketing, are active on social, and are running digital ads, there’s a very good chance they could be catching prospective patients before they even have the opportunity to discover your practice. Even dedicating a small budget to search engine optimization (SEO), posting to social accounts on at least a weekly basis, and sending out automated (but relevant) email campaigns can put you leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.
And if you are actively marketing, be sure you’re targeting the right crowd. If it’s not delivering the results you want, you may want to revisit the demographics you are targeting and channels you are using to draw their attention.
The modern patient journey has changed significantly. Providers must meet them where they are and begin the relationship-building from that first touch point, which in most cases is online. Do you know what the experience looks like — from start to finish — from your prospective patient’s perspective? If not, it’s worth dedicating the time to figuring it out. It could mean the difference between a thriving practice versus one that’s just surviving.
Sahil Saini is the founder of AKOS, an agile digital agency in Phoenix, and has more than 10 years’ experience working in software development and digital marketing. Sahil leverages his experience and knowledge to build robust marketing solutions. AKOS’s expertise is in launching full-scale digital products and strategic digital marketing for healthcare businesses.
2019-04-06T00:00:00-0400
last updated