Patients are evaluating their healthcare providers based on the experiences they deliver online and guess what…
The prognosis isn’t good.
According to a survey by NTT DATA Services of more than 1,100 US healthcare consumers, 78% of consumers say the healthcare digital customer experience needs improvement.
And 50% said they would leave their current physician if it meant getting a better digital experience with another doctor.
What does it all mean?
It means patients want a healthcare experience that mirrors the retail experience!
Nearly 60% (59%) of consumers expect their digital healthcare customer experience to be similar to the experience they’d receive in retail—they want more options, speed, and convenience.
With that in mind, here are Five Ways Healthcare Providers Can Optimize the Digital Experience for Patients.
1. Launch a mobile-friendly website
With mobile now accounting for 70% of the time people spend online, healthcare consumers have come to expect a smooth digital experience on their smartphones and tablets—that means your organization needs a mobile-friendly website.
Make sure your site uses responsive design (meaning it’s designed to adjust to the size of a mobile screen) in building your website, and optimize your content for mobile-first indexing.
2. Create a robust patient portal
Some of your patients’ greatest online frustrations have to do with completing tasks related to their care—things like…
Searching for a physician or specialist (81%)
Accessing a family member’s health records (80%)
Changing or making an appointment (79%)
Accessing test results (76%)
Paying bills (75%)
Filling a prescription (74%)
This is why it’s so important to have a robust patient portal on your website—one that’s easy to use and equipped with the full range of capabilities modern-day patients have come to expect.
3. Build a strong online search presence.
According to Google, 1 in every 20 searches is for health-related information.
Therefore, you need to make it easy for prospective patients to find your healthcare services by building your visibility in online search. You can do this by investing in paid search ads (the sponsored results at the top of the results page), and doing search engine optimization (SEO) to improve your organic (or natural) rankings.
Create ads and content that anticipate patients’ needs at various stages of their healthcare search journey. For example, questions about symptoms to doctor searches during open enrollment season.
4. Invest in video marketing.
Video is the future of the Internet—it’s expected to make up 82% of all Internet traffic by 2021, and right now, 72% of consumers prefer video content over text content.
So, video marketing is a must for any competitive healthcare marketing plan today. Create high-quality videos that capture patients’ attention and make information about your facilities and care easy to digest.
5. Keep your patients’ information private.
Patients want to know they’re visiting a safe website where their sensitive information will not be compromised. That’s why it’s important to ensure your site is built in accordance with the most up-to-date website security standards—which includes having a website that uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS).
An HTTPS website helps ensure the patient’s data is securely transmitted through an encrypted connection, therefore protecting the user's privacy.
To learn more about how you can give patients a better experience and attract more patients, call (888) 375-7259.
