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The Power of Personalization and Technology in the Healthcare Consumer Journey

The Power of Personalization and Technology in the Healthcare Consumer Journey

Integrated campaigns that focus on patient engagement and leverage advanced marketing technology are reshaping the healthcare consumer journey. Watch the recording of the session from Digital Front Door Day 2023, by Ballad Health's Taylor Hamilton and Molly Luton.

Featuring:

  • Taylor Hamilton, Senior Vice President & Chief Consumer Officer at Ballad Health
  • Molly Luton, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Ballad Health Care

Session Highlights

Taylor Hamilton and Molly Luton, Senior Vice President & Chief Consumer Officer, and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer respectively, at Ballad Health, discuss the importance of personalization and technology in the healthcare consumer journey. They provide an overview of Ballad Health, a relatively new healthcare entity formed through a merger five years ago, operating in Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. They emphasize their focus on population health initiatives and improving access to healthcare in rural regions.

Reimagining Rural Healthcare: Addressing Disparities

The speakers highlight the challenges faced in their region, including health disparities, economic struggles, and broadband access issues. They emphasize the need to go beyond traditional access points and utilize digital channels to improve accessibility. They stress that “digital” encompasses more than just websites and apps, encompassing a wide range of consumer-facing and non-consumer-facing applications, including electronic medical records, artificial intelligence, and data-driven clinical care.

Consumer Expectations and Redefining Digital Experience

The speakers delve into consumer expectations, revealing that there are over 70,000 health-related Google searches happening every minute in the United States. They identify key priorities for consumers, including understanding symptoms, finding providers, seeking convenient care, price transparency, and booking appointments online. They underscore the importance of constantly evaluating and adapting digital platforms to meet evolving consumer needs. Additionally, they emphasize that improving the digital experience is a collective effort involving the entire organization, with a focus on enhancing rather than replacing care and access.

Consumer Journey and Digital Transformation Vision

The presenters outline Ballad Health’s approach to the consumer journey, mapping out touchpoints across the digital and physical realms. They differentiate between earned and managed touchpoints, emphasizing the importance of managing both consumer-facing interactions and actual care delivery. They highlight the complexity of healthcare services and stress that digital transformation is a cultural mindset, involving the entire organization. They conclude by showcasing a video that exemplifies Ballad Health’s vision for seamless, effective, and consumer-friendly healthcare delivery through digital means. The video demonstrates various scenarios where technology streamlines the patient experience, from scheduling appointments to virtual visits and prescription delivery.

Re-engaging Patients in Primary Care

Taylor Hamilton and Molly Luton address the challenges of reengaging patients with primary care services post-COVID-19. They emphasize the consumer’s desire not only to be seen and heard but also understood in their healthcare journey. The duo reveals that primary care visits across the country dropped significantly during the pandemic, impacting around 72% of Ballad Health’s patient volume.

Understanding Audiences and Customized Content

Molly underscores the importance of understanding audiences before content creation. Research in campaign planning allows them to tailor content to meet specific patient expectations and needs. They navigate the constraints of limited marketing budgets by emphasizing precision in targeting the right audience with relevant messaging. Their goal was to drive traffic to the Ballad Health website and offer multiple front doors to primary care services, particularly targeting patients who hadn’t seen a primary care provider in the last two years.

Strategic Audience Segmentation and Engagement

The team targets healthcare consumers over 25 within their service area, utilizing a mix of digital strategies including programmatic display, mobile and app messaging, and geotargeting. They focus on two main cohorts: existing Ballad Health primary care patients who hadn’t seen a provider recently, and non-Ballad Health patients in need of primary care. The duo highlights the importance of conversions, ensuring that patients not only see the ad but take action. Patients are empowered to schedule their own appointments, reflecting their consumer-centric approach.

Measuring Impact and Achieving Returns

Taylor and Molly celebrate the campaign’s success, generating an impressive 8,700 new patient visits within a 90-day period. They stress the significance of measuring actual patient visits to demonstrate the full impact of their efforts. Furthermore, they reveal achieving a remarkable six to eight times return on their marketing investment during this campaign. Taylor and Molly express their enthusiasm for the potential in healthcare consumer engagement and reiterate their commitment to understanding and meeting the needs of consumers in their healthcare journey.

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