It’s estimated that over 30% of all data generated in the world comes from the healthcare industry, in fact, the yearly growth rate of healthcare data is estimated to increase to 36% by 2025.
The healthcare industry is responsible for saving countless lives every day. But over the years, patient demands have grown and more people don’t have access to adequate healthcare, and this increase in demand has made delivering quality care more challenging.
Through the use of data-driven strategies, however, many healthcare providers are now able to enhance their messaging, improve communication with patients, expand their reach and boost their credibility within the healthcare industry.
While new technologies have brought forward a number of challenges to the healthcare industry, such as the sheer amount of big data that needs to be collected and processed, it has significantly improved decision-making and treatment delivery.
Data-driven strategies are so widely used by the healthcare industry that the global market for big data may reach over $34 billion.
Let’s take a deeper look at how data-driven strategies can benefit your healthcare clinic in the long run.
Reach the right audience
Data can help your clinic identify and reach out to patients who need medical attention the most and provide the right care they need.
Additionally, online marketing analytic tools, such as Google Analytics, can provide valuable information pertaining to a user’s online habits and how they interact with your clinic’s website.
With this information, you can segment patients based on their behaviours, habits and demographics to create highly targeted awareness campaigns with personalised messages. When you have insights into their interests, online activity and lifestyle, it will help you create campaigns that resonate with them and aid them to find the right care.
For example, if your clinic offers solutions to skin problems, you can carry out research to find out which kinds of skin problems most people deal with and the age range of these individuals. With this information, you can create campaigns that aim to help individuals with these conditions find the right treatment.
Providing patients with useful information regularly may help them with their medical needs and could help you gain their trust in the long run.
Provide enhanced care and treatment
Data gathered using CRM systems, scheduling systems, satisfaction surveys, test records and electronic health records can provide you with valuable information on treatment options and medication.
For instance, data from electronic health records can be used to track chronic symptoms in patients who frequent your clinic. This data can help you understand health patterns in high-risk patients and give them better personalised care to reduce their visits.
Also, patients tend to trust the feedback they see online just as much as recommendations from people they know. By encouraging feedback from patients, you can establish your clinic as trustworthy and legitimate.
Additionally, this kind of data can help you provide your patients with other services, such as emails to remind them of their scheduled appointments and when their next treatment is due.
Use the right social media platforms to connect with patients
Social media is more than just a place to meet new people. Interestingly, about 80% of social media users try to find health-related information on these platforms, many of them being young adults between the ages of 18-24 years old.
By finding out which social media platforms patients spend a lot of time on, you can find ways to connect with them through these said platforms. Then by analysing how your audience engages with your social media posts, you can discover how effective it was.
Social media will also enable you to answer questions patients may have as well as gather information on how they would like you to improve your services and what they thought about past experiences with your clinical practice.
Additionally, you can use features on social media such as quizzes and polls as a fun and interesting way to regularly interact with patients.
Enhance the experience of your website visitors
Your visitors to your clinic’s website must receive a highly value-added experience. They value things like easy access to information, timely appointments and quick communication with a healthcare provider.
By studying how visitors engage with your website, you can identify what attracts them, and what doesn’t. For example, web analytics can give you insights into what your visitors are looking for, where your website traffic is coming from, the reasons why your website is losing visitors, and how user-friendly your website is.
Also, you should also consider improving your local SEO; this will help your website rank higher in location-specific searches. According to BrightLocal, 97% of consumers look for local names when they’re looking for services online; this could be a great opportunity to build brand awareness and credibility among local patients.
Data-driven strategies can open many doors for healthcare practitioners
Healthcare has come a long way in terms of technology and caring for patients. Now with the increasing use of data by healthcare providers, new and improved treatment methods can be discovered and many more lives can be saved.
Additionally, healthcare organisations that leveraged data-driven strategies have seen an estimated 5-6% increase in their productivity as compared to organisations that haven’t.
Regardless of how overwhelming data may appear, data-driven strategies have, without a doubt, revolutionised the healthcare industry and improved patient care for the better.