How to Personalize the Sales Funnel
By: Hannah Eaglen | Brand Manager
Did you know that on average, it takes a patient roughly two years from the moment they first consider elective refractive surgery until the day they show up for their surgery? Two years is a LONG time to hold a patient’s attention, as well as, a long time for a patient to constantly receive offers, emails, and marketing touch points. Oftentimes, the overwhelming amount of information, sales push surge from practices or marketing companies, and lack of personalization are the causes that turn patient’s off from commiting to a decision. This is why it is SO important to meet each patient where they are in their decision process. Let’s dive into how to do that efficiently and effectively.
Acquire Lead
Obviously, before you can meet the patient where they are, you have to meet the patient. Whether these patient leads come from advertisements, recommendations from past patients, or a direct visit to your office, it is important to be prepared to welcome each patient with open arms. You may think this is obvious, however, it’s astounding how many patients are turned off by their initial encounter on social media, a phone call, or in the office.
ASK The Patient
You may think you know what stage of the sales cycle a particular patient is, however, you won’t truly know until you ASK them! Once you figure out their current state of mind towards elective eye surgery, you can move them through the sales funnel by answering their questions, calming their fears, and personalizing their experience. This may begin with adding them to your email list where you can send them educational information, inviting them to a webinar where they can get a less intimidating introduction to the doctor, or scheduling them for a consultation so they can ask the individual questions that they may have.
Tailor Your Messaging
It is important to know your audience in order to effectively meet their needs. Your approach must be catered to the party who is on the receiving end of your sales funnel depending on what state they are in. For example, if the potential patient that you are speaking to has merely seen an ad and googled more information about the procedure, they will require a different approach than a patient who has attended a webinar and signed up for a consultation. In addition to having different messages for different audiences, it can be even better to personalize your messages by using things like tokens, to insert their name, city, etc into your emails, social media, and SMS messages. By tailoring your messaging to fit the patient’s decision cycle, you can adequately meet their needs.
Reconnect
This is the most crucial, yet least executed, patient sales strategy. Remember how I said that it takes two years on average for this decision? Well, like I said, this is a long time to keep a potential patient’s attention. Therefore, some people are inevitably going to fall outside of the targeted sales funnel audience. These are the patients who may have seen an ad, done their research, attended a webinar, then never scheduled a consultation and were never heard from again. Those are the patients who you have to reconnect with because they have already expressed interest in what you have to offer! By reaching back out, you regain their attention and interest in order to move them farther down that sales funnel and towards a successful procedure outcome, which means it's a win-win for everyone! Side note, that reconnecting with these patients tends to be a lower cost way to acquire patients than trying to find new patients who may or may not be interested.
Champion The Patient
What makes certain businesses, practices, and service providers stand out among the masses? It is those who provide consistency, convenience, and recurring positive experiences. With that being said, you have to be your patient’s biggest fan and advocate. Your job is not to rush them through the sales funnel with gimmicks, but instead, to inform them, support them, help them, and cheer them on through the process. By becoming someone your patient can truly trust, you are not only bringing them closer to a positive surgical outcome, but also, building brand loyalty which will in turn, cause that patient to not only have personal positive results, but most likely share about their experience with their friends and family
As much as we hate to divulge some of our secrets to success with you, at Vision Care Connect, we believe that all patients deserve a positive experience through the refractive surgery journey. By effectively following these tips, you will be able to improve the patient experience and even increase conversion revenue for your practice.
For more patient tips, be sure to check back regularly on our Vision Care Connect V-Blog page.