Are you using social media, online marketing for an exceptional healthcare experience?

In the new world of healthcare where price, quality and a consumer paying more out-of-pocket costs for healthcare, social media and online marketing represents an opportunity that can be used advantageously to meet healthcare consumers demands for a better experience.

Social and online represents a great opportunity for patient/consumer/business directed healthcare organizations to break from the pack, by creating a social/online healthcare experience that is memorable, exceeding an individual, business or families experience and expectations.

Most healthcare organizations are still stumbling with using social media and the online experience to drive differentiation, meaningful information and experience.

In any case, when you look at your social media strategy and online presence, does it:

• Delight your customer?
• Create sustainable differentiation?
• Is adaptable to new opportunities?
• Leverages your investment?
• Deliver in every situation?

Or, is it just pushing out information that is that you have deemed valuable to you, but carries no meaning for the information seeking consumer, or business? Does it meet the needs of those looking for solutions to challenges? Do you focus on features and benefits, not solutions or value?

This is the lens that you need to look through to objectively evaluate your efforts. If it's not doing these things, then chances are you are not delivering an exceptional social or online experience. But for that matter, neither are your competitors.

In the world of healthcare which is too much "me too", the social and online healthcare experience is pretty boring.

Make your social and online presence not just "good enough" but exceptional.

  

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 4,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide. He is founder of the michael J group, a healthcare marketing consultancy dedicated to creating value through strategic marketing for hospitals and health system regardless of payment mechanism, either fee-for-service or value-based to increase market-share, revenue , brand and demonstrate actual return on marketing investment. Michael is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association.

>>> Are you using social media, online marketing for an exceptional healthcare experience? >>>

Have You Listened to Your Automated Voice Answering Attendant Recently?

How often do you call in from an outside landline or cell phone, to your organization too experience what a customer does when calling? This isn't such a strange question. We all go through the evaluation process, seek the system we believe will reduce our cost, improve response and service, which will hopefully result in less dropped calls, increase customer or patient satisfaction and revenue.

But you know, sometimes we make the system so complicated, that we forget why someone calls us.

For this I have coined Mike's Law: "The smaller the organization, easier to use is the automated answering solution. The larger the organization, the more complex and harder the automated answering solution is to navigate." Use is very different than navigate. One implies simplicity, the other complexity.

Let me give you a couple of examples.

In calling a local hospital when a family member was hospitalized, it was really very straight forward. Dial in, hear the message, dial the extension or room number if you know it, or wait for an attendant to come on the line and assist.

I have found that most of the time you can short circuit the whole thing and just dial 0, get to the live person, and to where you need to be.

Then there is the most complicated system, integrating your existing customer data into the call, because you are a current customer. Then it plays what seems the game of 20 questions, tries to push you entirely to an automated solution to solve your problem, that could be resolved in less than 60 seconds if you could get to a live person.

When you keep trying to get to a live person, that systems automated response, keeps attempting to push you to an automated solution. Even when, I indicated every way that I could, three times (yes three separate calls), that I wanted to talk to a service representative before hanging up. The best part of the encounters was the "voice" telling me, "I can't help you, goodbye".

It was like being in a Monty Python episode.

From a marketing standpoint, your automated answering attendant is an integral touch-point in the customer experience chain. It may even be the first experience that someone has with your organization. But, how many times has marketing been included in selecting the automated answering attendant, beyond, writing the copy for the greeting, options menu and submenus?

Marketing should be involved in nearly every decision you make that effects your customers and patients from an customer/patient experience standpoint.

It's seemingly the rare organization that considers the experience and needs of customers in selecting the system. Its more based on what the needs of the organization and solutions to cost and headcount issues, than what will make the customer experience exceptional.

The moral of the story.

Consider the customer experience and the impact both positive and negative, that your automated answering system will have on a caller. You have a clear choice. You can make a customer evangelist with a great experience, or create a customer with a negative experience and view of your company, no matter what good you have done, simply because, you couldn't answer the phone.

After all, that old land-line technology, which even cell phone users will access is get to you, usually is the start of a positive or negative customer/patient experience.

Which one do you want?

>>> Have You Listened to Your Automated Voice Answering Attendant Recently? >>>