In the last decade, technology has revolutionized the field of healthcare. With the ongoing pandemic only escalating our reliance on technology, patients now turn towards digital channels more than ever before for their healthcare needs. As a result, medical practices must provide a seamless, convenient, and personalized digital patient experience to maintain patient satisfaction and retention.

Here are some of the best ways to optimize the digital patient experience:

1. Design an Easy-to-Navigate Website

Website navigation is one of the most essential elements of the digital patient experience. Patients should be able to easily find the information they need in order to make informed decisions about their health. If your website is difficult to navigate, patients may become frustrated and turn to other sources for information. 

One way to simplify your website is to have a clear menu structure that provides answers within a few clicks. With a visually appealing and organized website, visitors will stay on your site longer, which can improve your search engine optimization (SEO) rankings. 

2. Ensure Your Website is Mobile Friendly

Being mobile-friendly gives your website visitors a seamless and convenient experience that builds trust and provides an easier way for your patients to contact you. A mobile-friendly website can also reach a larger audience, giving your practice an edge over the competition. 

3. Create Engaging Content

When patients search for information about their health, they often can become overwhelmed or confused with complex information and medical jargon. If your website includes well-written, accurate, and digestible content, patients are more likely to engage. 

Accurate content can further improve trust in your practice and may include educational articles, patient testimonials, social media posts, or even fun quizzes. If this content is tailored to the latest SEO practices, a greater number of prospective patients may see your content. 

4. Personalize Your Content

Personalization is a crucial component when it comes to the digital patient experience. Patients want to feel like they are being treated as individuals, not a number. One way to customize their experience is to send them personalized content that pertains to their health, which can help them better understand their conditions or overall well-being. 

A simple way to send customized content to each of your patients is to utilize marketing automation, a software that can manage patient engagement. Depending on where they are in the patient journey, what pages they visit, and what they fill out on their patient form, marketing automation can anticipate a patient’s needs and guide them to the next step in their patient journey. From sending educational newsletters and blogs to sending follow-ups and asking for feedback, marketing automation can maintain communication with patients throughout their entire health journey. 

5. Provide a Live Chat Feature

Offering a live chat option on your practice’s website is one of the most effective ways to improve a patient’s digital experience. Live chats allow your patients to conveniently get help in real-time without having to wait on hold or schedule an appointment, which significantly boosts patient satisfaction ratings.

Live chats also allow your practice to gain insight into your audience. It can show you the peak times when people visit your website and what questions or concerns they most commonly have. By better understanding your patient’s needs and cultivating their trust in your practice, your patient-provider relationships will improve.

6. Offer Telehealth Services 

In the last two years, telehealth services have exploded in popularity, allowing patients to seek medical care in the most convenient way for them. Telehealth services not only allow patients to set up virtual appointments with their providers but they can also be used to:

• Keep track of health metrics, like weight, blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar levels, and more
• Change or schedule appointments
• Find educational content
• Send messages
• Request prescription refills
• View or request test results
• Pay any medical bills
• Receive reminders about appointments or test results 
• Access medical history 

Offering available and easy-to-use telehealth services provide your patients with other ways to receive care, leading to improved health outcomes, increased patient satisfaction, and an optimal digital patient experience. 

Improve Your Patient Experience with LEVO Health

If you are interested in optimizing your digital patient experience, contact LEVO Health. LEVO Health is a full-service healthcare marketing agency that can help you design a navigational, user-friendly website with a live chat and engaging, accurate content. To learn more, call (813) 235-0830 today.