May 16, 2022
Crafting your consumer health engagement strategy
6 min read
Digital transformation is reshaping the infrastructure of industries right before our eyes. We have seen digital entertainment providers shift from a mail delivery model to instantaneous content streaming, bookstores closing in favor of digital ebook delivery and the music industry pivot from selling individual albums to a monthly subscription model. Healthcare historically lags behind in terms of digital innovation; however, health systems now have the opportunity to position themselves on the cutting-edge of patient care and consumer engagement.
When it comes to creating a consumer engagement strategy, health systems have the distinct advantage of evaluating what has and has not worked previously for industry leaders. In The Health Management Academy’s whitepaper, Unlocking Consumer Engagement in Healthcare, they break down the elements of Netflix’s consumer strategy and how it has evolved over time. They identified three primary considerations for building an effective consumer engagement strategy.
Define what’s out of bounds so consumers know what they’re getting
First and foremost, quality over quantity. Instead of trying to branch into multiple sectors, focus on one thing that you can make extraordinary. One of the key lessons to be learned from Netflix is defining a scope of work and not pushing its boundaries. Instead of trying to be a news site or online store, they chose to focus solely on their content and how it’s delivered.
This is challenging for health systems, as they often need to provide more than one service to their consumers. However, the best place to start is clearly defining what you’re not going to do.
Use segmentation to move from episodic engagement to loyalty
One of the most difficult business activities involves moving from sporadic usage to consistent, everyday engagement. The solution lies within a highly personalized UX made possible through data-driven consumer segmentation. Netflix’s consumer segmentation has proven its value with its unprecedented 97 percent renewal rate.
In healthcare, extreme personalization is the starting point when shifting from a transactional care model to relational care delivery. Segmentation not only enhances the consumer experience but also addresses health equity by identifying distinctive personal factors related to user health. Start small but think big. Test this practice with a single consumer segment before expanding it into your entire end-to-end consumer experience.
Build a strategy and invest in technology that can keep up with the evolving consumer
Consumer preferences are continuously evolving and that means you need an agile consumer engagement strategy. Netflix has pivoted in two notable ways to improve their user engagement: first when they introduced streaming and second when they began releasing original content. The critical component to both of these events is the open architecture nature of Netflix’s technology, which allows for seamless integrations that enable an ecosystem of services to power their application.
Health systems need to evolve along with the times as part of their consumer engagement strategy. This is where technological agility proves its value. When you select an open architecture digital platform, you are safeguarding yourself against future disruptors. A platform with this infrastructure is performant and scalable, which means you can rapidly expand features and capabilities when adapting to new technologies, programs and integrations over time.