You surely do have a good sense about your patients or referring physicians but why not obtain good information in absolute terms? Having solid market intelligence is a healthcare marketing essential and enables us to make the best choices in our service offerings, pricing and tactics. Most of us believe we have a good understanding of the healthcare market we serve. And while that is true, it is not totally true.
Way too many of us cut the corner of simply making assumptions and neglect to ask our customers what is really on their minds about our healthcare service. We are missing out on good opportunities to continually improve and grow our services. I often hear the lament of how frustrated primary care physicians are about the lack of feedback they receive from consulting physicians or patients who tell their friends their frustration about the service they didn’t receive at their doctor’s office but don’t tell the people who can fix the problems.
Get in the habit of seeking feedback. Whether positive and negative, feedback, can help tune work processes and services to better suit your current and future patients/customers. Obtaining feedback can move your healthcare organization from ordinary to extraordinary.
Varying Methods of Collection
There are many different ways to obtain the feedback. There are several different on-line services that you can use such as SurveyMonkey or PollDaddy. Using such a site will help you create a survey of any size with the option of conducting analysis once the data is collected. Or consider creating a quick survey on your website asking key questions or instill a face to face feedback moment at the end of a visit – give them a form or ask them to meet with one of your staff members to go over some service oriented questions.
Questions to Ask
Once you are in the habit of seeking feedback from your customers, you will seek out input on a variety of things. Typically you will want to know about how your service is valued, what are road-blocks in the delivery of that service? What can be done better and what is already done well. Your questions will reflect what your interests are but here are some example questions:
- How old are you? (knowing this information can help you tailor the delivery of your service based on generational differences.)
- Why did you choose us as your service provider?
- How long did you have to wait before you were provided with an appointment?
- How would you rate your overall satisfaction with our service?
- How would you rate the overall customer service you received?
- Did you consider any alternatives to our service? If so, how did you make your decision?
- Are you familiar with our website? (This can lead to several other website questions)
- What do you wish was different about our practice/service?
- Would you recommend us to your friends and family? Why/why not?
The Last Thing to Consider
What do you do with the data once you have collected it? Be sure to systematically analyze the information you are receiving. Set up studies so you can chart improvement and catch problems early on. Thoroughly review data to determine if you should change services, personnel, customer service efforts. Your patients are a great source of insight for your continued and future success as a healthcare provider.
