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Winning against disruptors with digital: 3 ways to create a more consumer-centric website

Summary: Though healthcare marketers are keenly aware that retail and tech disruptors will soon impact their revenue, few are actively positioning to compete using digital. Here are three ways you can take action today.

Healthcare disruptors are here. Now what?

Industry disruptors—retail, tech, and system innovation—are already here, but are health systems positioning to retain market share? In a recent survey that Reason One conducted with Greystone, we found that although 50% of health systems recognize their revenue will be impacted by industry disruptors, only 37% are making moves to compete.

A pie chart demonstrating that 37% of systems are positioning against disruptors.The race to capture patients will occur online, with retailers having a leg up on digital tactics that convert and turn one-time patients into brand advocates, through frictionless, instantly-gratifying experiences.

Positioning against disruptors doesn’t mean overhauling your website overnight. There are a few tactics you can employ in the short term to test and prove the ROI.

A/B test conversion points

In the survey, only 32% of marketers identified “conversion” as an indicator of consumerization. But how many of us have bought something online, simply because the process was easy? Pick one point of conversion on your site and tweak one element to see if it makes a difference: the size or color of a button, the CTA copy, the placement of a form on a page. All of these subtleties can make a difference.

It may also be useful to do user testing on certain parts of your site to see where people are falling out of the funnel. If there are clear points of failure in the journey, you can focus on improving those areas.

Pricing transparency

In another study conducted by Klein & Partners, they found that 20% of consumers price-shop, and 56% of consumers choose the least expensive option. The No Surprises Act makes pricing transparency a requirement, and there are numerous benefits to tackling it head-on.

Pricing transparency is an opportunity to build trust and convert patients. Pricing that is buried in MyChart or on an inaccessible Excel or PDF document can lead to user frustration (and leakage), or worse, lack of trust in the organization.

SEO, but make it specific

Consumers are looking for things that are “near me” or “open now” or even more hyper-specific: “doctors near me that accept Cigna.” SEO is a table-stakes tactic, but taking into consideration long-tail consumer intent can be the key to boosting your rankings and providing that frictionless experience consumers want. Ensure that your SEO tactics employ plain language and the language that certain populations use: are users searching for “cardiologist” or “heart doctor”? “Chronic kidney disease” or “CKD?” These things make a difference.

Low-cost, high ROI

These tactics are all things that are highly achievable in-house, with a little bit of research and strategy. What’s more, if they’re done with a testing mindset, you’ll be able to demonstrate ROI to leadership, paving the way for more global changes across your digital strategy.

Want to learn more about how systems can position against disruptors? Watch our recent panel discussion on the survey data here, and drop us a line here.