Must have tech integrations for healthcare marketing in 2022

With the advancement of technology in the last decade, there are a number of innovations that have happened in the healthcare domain. In the last two decades, the market was heavily driven only by word of mouth, referrals and brand recall. Hospitals that were well established and had built a brand recall used to benefit the most. With increasing internet penetration, changing customer behaviour, and the aftermath of covid-19, marketing professionals are now relying on new ways to reach out to the audience.

Digital marketing has opened a lot of discovery options for patients and there have been a lot of aspiring brands in the market this decade that are challenging the traditional ways of marketing. The entire focus here is to build a long-term association with the customers. To do this, let’s understand the patient’s psychology and some of the problems that they face:

1. Too many options to choose from: There are multiple hospitals and healthcare facilities providing quality care, which leaves patients with a number of options to choose from. Unless a brand is able to establish a strong differential communication in the market, it is very likely that it will end up being just another healthcare provider.
2. Time and attention from the doctors: As per Statista, there are 1.25 million doctors in India registered with the Indian Medical Council which has a doctor: patient (D:P) ratio of 0.91:1000 whereas WHO recommends a ratio of 1:1000. Needless to say, HCPs are very busy and it becomes difficult to cater to the requirements of each patient. But, if the patient feels that they are getting enough time and attention, they can become your brand loyalists and promoters.
3. Meeting the doctors frequently: In a developing country like India, where quality healthcare is accessible in top-tier cities only, there are thousands of people who travel for hours just to see doctors for a few minutes. It becomes extremely difficult and frustrating for patients/caregivers to wait for a long time to meet the doctors, especially for chronic disease treatment.
4. Understanding the medications and further processes: When it comes to health, patients try their best to make informed decisions. Without proper intervention, it can become difficult and overwhelming to understand the medications and medical process for a layman. Thus, establishing communication with the patient even after their visit becomes important. This can be in the form of follow-ups or a basic q&a.

Apart from these problems, most of the patients also face other problems like financial issues, time management, etc. The entire health care process can put a certain physical and emotional strain on the patient and the caregiver. Using tech integrations, a brand can tackle a lot of these problems in an automated and effective manner. Some of the tools and features are discussed below:

1. CRM:

   CRM (customer relationship management) tools can be very handy when it comes to managing your leads. A typical CRM can help you with assigning leads to the sales team, creating segments, scheduling regular follow ups, lead tracking, lead scoring and lead analytics. Some of the top CRM that can be used are Hubspot, Zoho, Salesforce, Kylas, etc. We are certified Hubspot and Kylas CRM partners and can help our customers with end-to-end setup and integrations.

2. Telemedicine:

   When the world experienced its first lockdown due to Covid, a lot of business processes had to be shifted online. Just as businesses got used to Zoom meetings, HCPs and patients soon adapted to the telemedicine approach. Using a telemedicine platform can open up new business opportunities like virtually connecting with patients from other geographies, reducing patient wait time, better time management and increasing the efficiency of the doctors. Some of the basic features that are expected from a telemedicine platform are e-meetings, document submission, prescription sharing and patient history management. Some of the top tools here are Teladoc, Doxy.me, SimplePractice, Nextgen Healthcare EHR. Amura can also help you develop a customised solution that suits your business requirement.

3. Scheduling a check-up:

   This is a fairly common feature but goes a long way in the digital space. People can visit the website/app and schedule appointments easily as per the doctor's calendar. This process is very convenient for the doctors and the patients as it gives visibility on the available slots for the doctor and appointments can be booked in advance to reduce the wait time. We have built a customised solution for Skin and Hair Academy where patients can book an appointment online with a dermatologist from 200 cities across India.

4. Chatbot on the website:

   Chatbot software such as Chatgen, Tidio and Zendesk on the websites are again relatively common and they can be used to serve a dual purpose. Firstly, these automated chatbots can be useful to improve the user experience and help them with the information that they are looking for. Secondly, chatbots can help us generate more leads that can further be engaged through a nurturing setup.

5. WhatsApp automation:

   WhatsApp is one of the most popular chatting platforms in India. The platform has one of the best message open rates which can be handy for us to broadcast our message to the target audience. At the same time, the platform also demands hyper-personalisation from the brand. Tools like Gupshup, Yellow.ai, and Verloop can help us create an automated WhatsApp Chatbot and drive people from the ads and the website to the WhatsApp chat to start the conversation. Ayuvi, one of our clients in the field of Ayurveda, has seen a significant increase in traction and customer satisfaction post introducing Whatsapp in the customer journey.

6. CRO and analytics tools:

   Brands are starting to realise the power of data and data analytics. There are multiple analytics tools that can be applied across the funnel to help us understand customer behaviour and their response to our marketing efforts. We recommend that brands can start with implementing some of the popular web analytics tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar, user analytics tools like Mixpanel and Kissmetrics and Business analytics tools like PowerBI, Tableau and Google Data Studio. Using Mixpanel, we were able to hyperpersonalize the user journey across the app and the website. Also, using a BI tool like Data Studio, we have integrated data from various dashboards in a single place to get a more holistic view of the marketing funnel.

By implementing the above-mentioned tools along with other tech innovations, the business can be impacted in the following ways:

• Increase lead volume and generate more qualified leads.
• Manage these leads more effectively and reach out to them in a timely manner.
• Increase patient engagement with personalised communication across various touchpoints.
• Increase patient loyalty which will further improve the brand image through word of mouth.
• Get clear visibility on how the audience is responding to your marketing efforts.
• Optimize and re-align your marketing strategies using data analytics to get a competitive advantage.

The Indian market has taken leaps and bounds when it comes to digital and tech advancements in the last few years. Brands have understood that digitization of businesses is the future and Covid has acted as a catalyst for the same. With relevant tools and tech implementation, we can create a closed-loop feedback system throughout the funnel to help us make better business and marketing decisions.

Amura Marketing Technologies is a Martech company that has been operating in the performance marketing domain for the last 13 years. We are one of the leading pharma marketing companies in India. Over the years, we have developed pharma solutions that can help you improve your online business, engage doctors across the funnel, optimize the efficacy of the MRs and build an end-to-end online pharma marketing system. We provide end-to-end digital marketing services for PPC, Social Media, SEO, and Creative and Website development. We can help brands with 32+ tools from our tech stack. Also, we are partners with Google, Facebook, Hubspot and Kylas. If you have any queries with your digital marketing set-up, do reach out to us.