Balancing push and pull communication in the healthcare industry
Communication in the healthcare industry has changed rapidly over the decades, influenced by different environmental factors and advanced technologies. Healthcare is so vast and unique because it consists of a lot of different moving parts; and now with the COVID-19 pandemic, life science organisations have had to face unplanned restrictions (and complete shutdown for some) of face-to-face access to healthcare professionals.
There is now a widespread shift taking place to a "new normal" in healthcare - moving away from face-to-face meetings and shifting towards a more customer-centric digital age.
However, what is becoming an increasing concern is the concept of "digital burnout", with HCPs becoming bombarded with calls and emails that are not relevant to them. The market is saturated and siloed resulting in HCPs having dozens of different logins and passwords to various websites and systems; an overloaded inbox; and more time spent filtering to pull out what's actually "meaningful" to them.
Cutting through requires a careful balance between push and pull communication as well as access to content that is not only relevant but provides significant value.
What is push and pull communication?
Push: also known as out-bound marketing - refers to "pushing" out information to new or existing customer i.e. emails, phone calls, face-to-face meetings, push notifications, etc.
Examples of push alert mechanisms within myINTERACT:
Push notifications
Centralised E-newsletters
Connection/Event wall invitations
This has been the norm in healthcare, and still serves a vital role. Push communications are effective for short-term messaging and awareness. However, it has led to an overall "digital burnout", often at times perceived as disrupted and irrelevant. In fact, since the COVID-19 pandemic, 40% of doctors feel that receiving calls are a waste of time.
Push marketing is most effective to secure an ongoing relationship, which is then maintained through a "pull" strategy.
Pull: also known as in-bound marketing - this refers to HCPs requesting and seeking information and resources regarding your product and service - based on their current needs.
The inherent nature of the inbound methodology – being helpful, human, and holistic – aligns perfectly with the nature of healthcare.
Life science organisations not only benefit, but are now expected to, expose and present resources, always-on support to self-service channels, and other information that HCPs can discover when it suits them.
Examples of myINTERACTs pull alert mechanisms:
Homepage on all devices which features several feeds of latest updates, suggested content and connections.
Dedicated connection and event portals so HCPs can revisit content, tools and support when they need it.
Profile and segmentation to ensure the right content is going to the right person at the right time.
Optimising multi-channel engagement to include both push and pull
To ensure trusted and long-term relationships with customers, life science organisations should ideally use both push and pull strategies to underpin content and resources they are distributing. Push is needed to draw initial awareness and education. Ongoing content and support can then be leveraged through pull methodology so ensure services are constantly optimised to fit in with customers' needs.
Check out the different ways you can add value and exceed customer expectations with myINTERACT here.
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