When it comes to your website, it’s only as good as the people using it say it is. The demand for easy, fast, and fluid digital experiences have skyrocketed since the pandemic and growth of companies like GrubHub and Amazon. Even your local grocery store, Target, and Walmart deliver right to your front door. Consumers have become spoiled wanting everything at their fingertips now.
This makes it more important than ever for healthcare to fully break down the digital roadblocks of the past and find new ways to serve today’s consumers. We all love consumers, just like we love our children, but it doesn’t mean that they aren’t accustomed to have the world at their fingertips.
And in healthcare, there’s even more reason to keep a competitive edge. With a growing number of healthcare options available, healthcare providers feel the pressure to stay competitive. Not only are choices increasing in the healthcare market, but loyalty is decreasing. This creates a competitive advantage for healthcare companies that optimize their digital strategy to focus on user experience (UX) and keep consumers happy. Unlike our children, we can’t change the consumer, so we are forced to meet them where they are. Because if you don’t, you’re leaving money on the table and that can lead to a business that’s hurting..
Have current consumer expectations left your digital experience stuck in the past? If your healthcare organization needs a website redesign or new platform, here’s what to know when choosing a digital experience agency.
1. What Kind of Digital Partner Would They Be?
When outsourcing any services, of course you want to know what doing business with this company will be like. The last thing you need is to pitch an idea to your boss, get the green light, fork out the dough, and then realize the company falls short on promises and results. Read the customer reviews, ask for references, and do your research on the company. There’s no faster moving industry than healthcare. There is no time to lose a turn and wait to roll the dice again. There are specific needs in the digital world as well as the healthcare world. Make sure the agency you choose can provide strategy, support, and the right tools. They should be data driven, focus on consumer experience, and regardless of platform – be a strategic partner. A partner who can help you reimagine your digital front door and grow it over time. After all, a website is never done. A good digital experience agency will provide ongoing progress calls and support, digital strategy services, and technical services if applicable. Your digital partner should help you make an impact, and have a team that is dedicated to building, maintaining and growing your digital presence continuously throughout the relationship. Not just a help desk or someone taking orders.
2. How Much Do They Know About Your Users Experiences?
Will the company need to do extensive research to understand your industry and the consumers in it? Do they support a broad range of industries, or just healthcare? If they solely focus on healthcare, it is very likely that they have already done extensive UX research specifically for the healthcare consumer. They may need to learn more about your business but finding an agency that already knows the healthcare industry leaves you light years ahead in the process.Find out more about the approach they would take with your project and custom needs. To create a new experience requires reconsidering what the healthcare consumer is trying to find, what action they need to take and how to guide their decisions along the way. User experience content strategy is the most important foundational element. Ask them what their thoughts are on UX content strategy.You want an agency that takes a holistic approach to content, information architecture and design based on UX research. Any digital agency can make things look pretty. That does no good if they don’t know the consumer journey and consumers can’t easily find what they need.
3. Do They Know Which Platform is Best for Your Organization?
There are many things to take into consideration when choosing the best content management system (CMS) or digital experience platform (DXP) for you: organizational goals, existing websites and codebase, digital & content strategy, desired functionality & integration points, your team’s capacity & technical expertise, and competitive websites & experience. Selecting the right platform is striking a balance that works for you and your organization. Your digital agency partner should have options, understand the differences, and give you a recommendation based off your specific needs. Do you have a small but mighty team? Do you need the autonomy and power to quickly make changes on your own, but you’re not a developer? Perhaps a proprietary healthcare platform is your best option. Are you a complex healthcare system? Are you making a big investment in a more sophisticated digital experience? Do you want more developer access and input? Maybe an open-source DXP is a better fit for you. It’s not a simple formula to identify the right solution. That’s why you need an experienced healthcare agency who can guide you through the selection process because using the right tools will impact your team for years to come.
So whether you’re a large or small hospital, national or regional health system, or medical group, the right digital strategy is vital in today’s market and having the right digital agency partner can make you stand out from the rest. The right partner can create an ongoing experience that gets better the more consumers use it, help you incorporate wellness into the experience and build a strong relationship between your brand and the consumer. Give today’s consumer what they want, an easy UX to get what they need to take advantage of your services, and watch your business grow.
Learn more about how you can reimage your organization’s healthcare digital experience. Download the guide for healthcare leaders to build a digital front door and beyond.