Key Factors about Patients Consumerism for Pharma and HCP
It’s all about the consumer and customer experience! Nowadays, patients are end-users that look at healthcare as a retail industry. They explore options and resources before choosing providers, products, and treatments.
The new healthcare consumers want to get value from the invested money. So, they engage with content, while doing the research before any contact with healthcare professionals. Their “voice” is louder than ever when it comes to decisions in their journey.
Healthcare providers and pharma companies have to become influencers and partners that offer valuable and relevant digital resources along the path. Entertainment and retail are examples of industries that already use customers’ insights to drive decision-making. The healthcare sector needs to follow this trend.
There are 3 key factors that healthcare providers can’t ignore to succeed:
- Integrate in-person and virtual healthcare solutions, with a focus on digital resources;
- Provide transparent and understandable information to enable consumers to make knowledgeable and better decisions;
- Deliver seamless customer experience across the healthcare journey, with a focus on wellbeing.
What is Healthcare Consumerism?
Healthcare consumerism can be defined as the movement to make the delivery of healthcare services more efficient and cost-effective. With the ultimate goal of enabling patients to be involved in their healthcare decisions.
Patients, as consumers, are looking for the same type of care and service provided to them in other industries. They wish to take responsibility for the management of their health. And, for that, demand more information and resources to do so.
Healthcare vs. Other Industries
In other industries, customers access easily comparisons, benefits, and costs that allow them to make informed decisions. In Healthcare the choices can be confusing. As the information available is oftentimes complex and hard to comprehend.
75% of consumers consider healthcare decisions as the most important and expensive decisions they have to make and 9 out of 10 want a guiding force to help them in those. To make better decisions, patients expect and are demanding valuable content. As well as a partnership when it comes to Healthcare Professionals (HCP) and pharma companies.
Digital Patient Engagement with HCP and Pharma
As patients’ knowledge and empowerment grow, they seek more control over their healthcare and personalized health solutions, tailored to their stage of the journey. Moreover, they want more from HCP and brands to help them access all the needed data in a seamless experience.
Digital patient engagement is defined as the flow of communication between patients and healthcare providers. It has to occur according to the consumers’ preferences in terms of type, frequency, and channel with a consistent and continuing interaction.
Nearly 85% of patients think that they can be responsible for their health while accessing the needed resources online. As a result, healthcare providers have to adopt a customer-centric approach as soon as possible. So as to deliver digital relevant information to the patients.
Which are the major changes across healthcare businesses?
As healthcare becomes simpler, more accessible, and transparent to consumers, the business models change. In fact, the major changes relate to the consumer’s touchpoints, namely:
- Product;
- Price;
- Place;
- People;
- Promotion.
All are important, but the special focus in this digital environment lies in product and promotion. Regarding the product, the patient’s experience needs to be optimized through consistent contact and messaging with physicians. When it comes to promotion, the consumers need trust-building and confidence boost. This can be done through personalized nurturing campaigns that include educational materials and brand-positive messaging.
The bottom line is that providers have to develop a digital connection with patients and implement an experience that is customer-centric and focused on wellbeing. Consumers expect quality and value in the services provided. Perse, they are looking for timely engagement with transparent and easy-to-digest information that will lead to an overall great customer experience.
Providers need to think Omnichannel
This means a unified and strategically tailored brand message throughout channels. Customers’ needs have evolved to on-demand and personalized content within a non-personal and digital engagement landscape.
To create an Omnichannel strategy providers must:
- Know the patient’s behaviours and expectations;
- Acknowledge the preferred channels and formats;
- Share relevant, valuable, and easy-to-digest content according to the patient journey;
- Take into consideration the patients’ feedback along the way.
With a multitude of available data and channels for consumption in a scenario of non-personal engagement, it’s important to provide a more personalized and seamless experience. All in all one where tailored content is consumed and shared at any moment throughout the different channels.
This way providers build trust among the patients and nurture their need for care and knowledge. Creating the sense of a valuable partnership that will impact the overall choices and decision-making.
Media Type preferences of Consumers
In a hyper-connected world, healthcare providers need to make information available on a variety of channels, such as patient portals, provider portals, and social platforms (e.g. YouTube), combining services and products.
For a successful engagement with the content shared, it has to be provided at the right time and place. So, it’s important to check what the numbers tell us about the consumers’ preferences for information consumption.
Did you know that when in need of product information, 66% of consumers are more likely to watch an explainer video than read a text (Wyzowl)? Guarantee engagement with PubExplainer and MedExplainer videos!
Statistics show that no matter the channel you are engaging through, video resources are among the most likely to be consumed. It’s one of the media types that consumers reach out to when in need to understand or learn more about a product or service. Let’s take a look at the numbers:
- 72% of consumers said they would rather learn about a product/service by video. In fact, 84% of people are convinced to buy a product or choose a service by watching a brand’s video (Optinmonster);
- Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in the text (Insivia);
- One-third of all online activity consists of watching videos (WordStream);
- Videos that are up to 2 minutes long get the most engagement. There is a significant drop in engagement for videos longer than 2 minutes (Wistia);
- Videos that are lesser than 90 seconds long have a 50% retention rate (Hubspot);
- 65% of viewers say that YouTube is their favourite channel for consuming video content (Limelight);
- Video is the number one form of media used as a content strategy by marketers (Hubspot);
- 71% of B2B marketers and 66% of B2C marketers use video marketing (Wyzowl);
- 96% of people have watched an explainer video to better understand or learn about a product or service (Wyzowl).
It is important to note, then, that educational and explainer videos are:
- Something that patients need in their healthcare journey;
- Increasingly consumed by the general viewer;
- Shareable through all channels;
- Viewed in the device and moment chosen by the consumer;
So, healthcare providers cannot ignore video as a main resource. Both HCP and pharma companies can help the patients at the right time, through the right channel, according to their consumption preferences.
Did you know that explainer videos are one of the most successful ways to help consumers with content for each step of their journeys? Try PubExplainer and MedExplainer today!
Conclusion
Patients, as consumers, are looking for the same type of care and service provided to them in other industries.
To make better decisions, patients are demanding valuable content and a partnership when comes between Healthcare Professionals (HCP) and pharma companies.
Ultimately, providers have to develop a digital connection to patients and implement an experience that is customer-centric and focused on wellbeing.
It’s important to provide a more personalized and seamless experience with tailored content. This content needs to be consumed and shared at any moment throughout the different channels. This way providers build trust among the patients and nurture their need for care and knowledge. Creating the sense of a valuable partnership that will impact the overall choices and decision-making.
Both HCP and pharma companies can help the patients at the right time, through the right channel. Without neglecting their consumption preferences, by having video content creation within their marketing strategy.
