5 Ways to Attract & Convert Millennial Patients

As the largest generation in history, Millennial patients now hold the keys to success for medical practices. Learn how your practice can market to prospective Millennials and convert more leads into booked consults.

\”Millennials\”, roughly defined as anyone born between 1980 and 2000, represent a staggering one-third of the world population. Their $200 billion in annual purchasing power does not include an estimated $30 trillion of wealth that is transferring at a growing pace.

They are the most educated and studied generation ever, and their behaviors are the most diverse and unique. As such, medical practices need to adapt their strategies accordingly to cater to and captivate this powerful generation.

Here are 5 ways practices can attract and convert Millennial patients:

 

1. Be Authentic & Transparent

In every aspect of your communication with your patients, be transparent and authentic. Ensure that the information used to attract Millennial patients (i.e. promotional content, pricing, campaigns) do not require reading between the lines. Millennials will lose trust quickly for practices that are inconsistent in their messaging, end up charging hidden fees, or somehow over promise and under deliver.

For example, if your practice is more expensive than others, communicate the reasons why. Millennials understand and are actually willing to pay a premium when it is justified.

 

2. Never Underestimate the Power of Reviews & Referrals

The OptiCall 2016 Medical Marketing Outlook reiterates word of mouth referrals and reviews are critical for your practice. Additional data shows Millennials are twice as likely as baby boomers to seek out peer reviews.

Never has it been more important to ensure every patient and prospect has a positive experience with your practice. Furthermore, practices must have a process and incentives in place that make providing reviews easy and rewarding. Be sure to ask for reviews in a follow-up appointment or email. Offer ongoing incentives for referring friends.

 

3. Make a Difference

Millennials are very interested in companies and brands tied to values that promote socially good causes. A recent study showed roughly 90% of Millennials would switch brands to one associated with a cause (91% vs. 85% U.S. average). Two-thirds use social media to engage around Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Of course, companies are catching on to the trend, and Millennials will sense when companies are simply using CSR to create buzz and grow their bottom line, without doing much of anything at all.

If practices choose to support a cause, they should be genuine and transparent about their contributions and the impact they make.

 

4. Maximize the Experience

From your digital marketing efforts, to the initial phone call, to scheduling the procedure and follow-up – ensure your practice is providing the best experience possible. Understand that every touch point you have with a prospective Millennial patient is a critical opportunity to build trust, increase credibility, and develop a long-term relationship – all of which are not only important for the initial buy-in, but for reviews and referrals down the road.

Online
Millennials consume more information than any other generation. Make it easy for patients to find you, learn about you on your website, get to know you on social media channels, and hear about other patient experiences.

Over the Phone
When they call your office ensure an actual person answers the phone who is well-trained on the ins and outs related to your practice. At this point, they are likely to have already thoroughly researched your practice as well as others. While a major part of the first phone call is getting additional information, they now are trying to \”get a feel” for your practice by assessing your staff and ensuring the information you’ve provided up to this point matches up.

In the Office
Provide continuity face-to-face when they come in the office. Make sure they feel they are attended to, that their concerns are addressed, and they are confident your practice cares about them.

 

 5. Don’t Get Caught Up in the Stereotypes

Millennials include a wide age range of people from late teens to early 30s, yet that isn’t the reason they are the most diverse generation. These young adults approach life in much more diverse ways.

Where previous generations focused more on getting married and having kids, many Millennials are choosing more eclectic life paths that may prioritize their career, traveling or pursuing their own personal goals.

Thus, medical practices should be careful to not focus too much on stereotypes that can get in the way of offering the best possible experience. In our webinar series, How to Convert More Calls to Patients, we discuss specific insights on how to personalize phone calls to maximize the patient experience.

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Join us for our next webinar
Attracting & Converting Millennial Patients

Thursday, August 11, 2016
10:00am PDT and 2:00pm PDT

OptiCall\’s CEO Bill Mercier, and Tammy Evans, VP of Marketing at Ceatus Media Group have teamed up to provide even more insights on how to capture Millennial patients. In this 30-minute webinar, we\’ll uncover how to:

–  Maximize social media and online reviews
–  Effectively target and engage Millennials
–  Convert Millennial leads into patients over the phone

Two convenient times available, but spots are limited.