Last week saw the annual Customer Experience Management (CEM) summit at the brand new conference centre at Century City. RecoMed was proud to be one of the 440 delegates to join fellow professionals from across the country at Africa’s largest customer experience summit to address the rise of the customer experience economy.
There’s no doubt managing the customer experience is the “new” golden pass – it’s been around for years, but only recently attracted the attention it deserves – to achieving customer loyalty and retention. The key here is to cultivate a consistent customer experience and brand persona throughout the entire organisation (as opposed to relying only on your customer service or front-end staff). What does all of this mean to medical practitioners? I included a couple of learnings below that apply:
Customer retention is five times easier than attracting new customers
Your customer (patient) should be the centre point of focus for each employee of your organisation (practice). Get personal, have a humanly brand and address their emotional need. It’s imperative for doctors to have sympathy with their patients, needless to say, but what else can be done to make the patient feel at ease and have a ‘wow’ experience? Exceeding expectations results in retaining customers which uses five times less effort than gaining new customers.
60% of customer loss is due to bad service delivery
You’re already delivering a service, so make sure you’re doing an excellent job while you’re at it. Give your customers a reason to talk about their (positive) experience, because your brand is only what customers tell each other it is. 92% of customers trust personal recommendations more than adverts or media reclaims.
Obsess about your customer journey
The customer journey starts long before the patient enters the waiting room and extends long after they leave. As a medical practitioner, have you thought about delivering a service even when you’re not face-to-face with your patients? In SA, millions of patients are searching for healthcare online each month. Is your practice listed online to meet those patients’ needs? RecoMed offers a one-of-a-kind solution to extend the service experience beyond the waiting room and meet patients online.
It all comes down to thinking about your customers, the state of mind they are when they enquire about your service, during service, and after! How are you inspiring your patients? See how you can go the extra mile to ensure you are not merely providing a service, but actually delighting your customers.
Images captured by IphotoSA, courtesy of Cornastone.
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