Think User First for Better Patient Engagement

It seems obvious that if you want to engage with patients, you start with their needs. But, based on the number of low adoptions, and frustrated CFOs, the patient-centric portion of engagement gets overlooked in the need to solve clinical challenges.

Things Patients Want

How to Build Loyalty

Your patient engagement strategy must fit the needs of the patient. In the end, the solution is about them, not you. No matter how beautiful, technical, or medically sophisticated your application is, if patients don’t use it, your investment is wasted. To increase stickiness take into consideration:

• Value to the user. Does it solve a problem they have? To be adopted, your solution must make their lives easier.
• Ease of use. Follow the KISS (keep-it-simple-stupid) principle. From sign-up, to access, data export, integration and cancellation; create a seamless process.
• Build in flexibility. One size does not fit all. Especially when it comes to healthcare, every user is unique.
• Plan for continual enhancements. The current rate of technology change, especially in healthcare, is unprecedented. As soon as your platform is launched it will be outdated. Plan in advance for new features, new devices, new competitors.
• Start Now. Patients will only use one platform. Make it yours and you own the relationship for life.

Put Users at the Center

There is a strong correlation between feature adoption and customer loyalty. To build sticky relationships:

• Provide engagement options. When it comes to changing patient behaviors there is no silver bullet.
• Allow users to begin engagement with features that matter the most to them. Add additional features over time.
• Bridge the knowledge gap and cultivate deeper engagement through continual, multi-channel education/ marketing. Especially on features like medication compliance, that deliver the greatest ROI.
• Support leading platforms and technologies.
• Follow the KISS principal. Integrate all features/functionality into a single platform with single sign-on for a seamless experience.
• Watch what your users do, and adjust.

Get more tips on how to improve patient engagement. "Gearing Up for Patient Engagement; Key Factors for Success. >>