Crafting Personalized Marketing Campaigns To Improve Patient Retention

Creating personalized healthcare marketing campaigns is critical for a provider’s successful patient retention program and revenue stream. Thoughtful, custom marketing increases engagement and improves patients’ health outcomes and satisfaction. 

As an ad agency that specializes in the healthcare industry, we’ve seen patient-centered marketing strategies drive growth, and personalized campaigns are at the heart of these initiatives. If you aren’t sure where to begin, use these healthcare marketing strategies to power your retention program.

How Does Personalization Help Healthcare Marketing?

Tailoring healthcare marketing to meet patient needs takes effort, intel and diligence, but these campaigns offer improved performance in engagement and conversions compared to generic initiatives. Personalization also helps healthcare marketing feel more genuine and relevant, and valuable health and wellness communications increase patients’ willingness to act (book a follow-up or ask questions) and lead to better outcomes (prevention and earlier diagnostics).

Satisfied patients are less likely to shop around for alternative healthcare and more likely to leave a  positive review or recommend a practice to family or friends, enhancing the provider’s patient retention and increasing the facility’s bottom line.

Understand Patient Needs

Before implementing your marketing strategy, you need to first understand who your patients are, as well as their concerns, interests and preferences. Develop opportunities for patients to leave feedback throughout your marketing channels, and use the information from satisfaction surveys, social listening and reviews on healthcare directory sites to understand why patients may be going elsewhere for care.

Healthcare facilities can tap into website analytics and information systems, including electronic health records and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), to gather patient data and develop personalized healthcare marketing campaigns. 

Demographics, email response rates, scheduling frequencies, health conditions, browsing behaviors, and preferences (SMS, email, patient portal) define audience segments. Categorize your audience to enable message targeting that delivers relevant content likely to address concerns or needs discovered in your research and surveys.

Marketing Channels for Patient Retention

Contacting patients on their preferred channels is essential to a successful retention program, and patients’ preferences are diverse. Thankfully, a healthcare practice’s website, social media, email and patient portal are all marketing channels that can be personalized. These digital channels have become integral to how patients interact with care providers.

Identify and select channels based on traffic and patient preferences. Some channels essential to retention rates in the healthcare industry include: 

• Website: Share your expertise, discuss health topics and inform people of your services and medical specialties. 
• Social media: Build patient relationships and help those in your community feel connected to your practice.
• Emails: Email campaigns keep your practice on patients’ radars and deliver timely resources and reminders.
• Online portals or apps: Patient portals or apps offer more than appointment scheduling; utilize push notifications to send reminders and health advice, and provide in-app resources to enhance the user experience.

Let’s explore each of these channels for retention marketing:

Website Content and Resources

High-quality, optimized content marketing can attract potential patients and also help sustain relationships with existing patrons. Treatment- or condition-specific blog articles and detailed service pages help your audience find answers and understand your specialties. To determine what topics your audience will value, create personas based on actual clientele and analyze what healthcare advice, treatment information, scientific articles and tailored messaging resonates best. 

Interactive media often receives high engagement, so consider adding video production to your content marketing repertoire (or partner with an ad agency that specializes in healthcare). Videos, podcasts and infographics that delve deep into healthcare topics help make complex topics accessible and solidify your practice as a trusted expert.

Social Media

Healthcare providers who follow social media best practices establish their authority and build trust by consistently posting wellness tips, resources and other targeted content. Personalize this marketing channel by promoting local sponsorships and sharing any related charitable community actions. Staff profiles and behind-the-scenes content give your practice an approachable quality that encourages people to return. Social media also provides opportunities to interact directly with patients by answering questions and responding to feedback.

Targeted Email Campaigns

Email campaigns are some of the best examples of personalized healthcare marketing because they provide consistent opportunities for contact that can build better patient relationships. Personalize emails for specific audience segments by including patron testimonials, quick health tips with links to keep reading, or a wellness series centered on weight loss, heart health, or boosting immunity. If your facility performs elective cosmetic services, consider targeting people browsing those specific services with offers to encourage them to book their next consultation.

Patient Portals and Healthcare Apps

Whether on the web or a dedicated app, patient portals offer information tailored to an individual’s needs and health goals. These tools relay medical updates, billing, and wellness reminders, and the features for scheduling make staying on top of healthcare appointments easy. People remain with care providers who provide tools to make their wellness journeys convenient.

Marketing Strategies To Personalize Healthcare Campaigns

Once you know your audience, you can define how you’ll target them and what content best addresses their needs. Online directories and pay-per-click ads are ideal for patient acquisition, but strategies focused on customer service, tailored communications and proactive interactions are just as important. Some options for personalizing healthcare marketing campaigns for retention include:

Implement Dynamic Content and Automation

Deliver the convenience patients expect and maximize your marketing efforts using emails, push notifications and text messages to automate appointment reminders, aftercare instructions and health education. These messages can use dynamic content to personalize the communications for the person’s name, location, or medical trends. 

One push notification example is a message that says, “Hi, [name]. We noticed an increase in [condition] in [city]; book your vaccination with us today.” Automated communications like this can be set up for a patient’s preferred communication method and can include links to more information, a scheduling page or a patient survey, depending on the topic.

Enhance the User Experience

Patients today rely on online portals, telehealth platforms and digital appointment booking, so why not market to them on the tools they use most? Consider what can make these tools even more convenient, like chatbots to answer after-hours questions, SMS text appointment confirmations and cancellations, and preventive care reminders via the providers’ mobile app. 

Your website is a major marketing tool—if it’s outdated or hard to use, consider an update. It should have a responsive design so it’s easy for anyone on any device to navigate, request an appointment and view educational content. Consider whether the website’s organization deters people from exploring your services and if convoluted navigation hides resources, FAQs and health guides. Review the site’s accessibility features—alt text, color contrasts, screen-reader compatibility—to make sure your site is inclusive. Making website development improvements shows patients you care about their experience. When booking an appointment and accessing their information is seamless, patients are likely to return.

Monitor, Measure, and Adjust Healthcare Marketing

Use analytics tools to understand how patients respond to personalized healthcare marketing, and adjust your tactics as data becomes available. Measure engagement rates, appointment bookings and patient satisfaction to assess how effectively your campaigns help patient retention rates.

While you may be experienced in treating health conditions, prescribing the next steps for your retention marketing strategy may be beyond your wheelhouse. That’s where ad agencies that specialize in healthcare can help. We have a deep understanding of data analytics and marketing to enhance your practice’s patient retention program, so contact us today to get started.