A patient’s first touchpoint with a clinic might seem inconsequential. It may be a two-minute phone call or a quick exchange on an online chat. But as Sam Patel, founder of healthcare app Looped, can attest, more hinges on that first encounter than most people realize.
You might recognize Patel from his viral anonymous calls to medical clinics, where he assesses their intake processes and customer service skills. But Patel has plenty of experience on the other side of the phone, too. Before starting Looped, he was a practicing physician and the owner of multiple medical clinics.
For clinic owners across the country, competition for patients is fierce, and it takes outside-the-box thinking to stand out. Patel says that the best way for a clinic to distinguish itself is to focus on transforming the patient lifecycle. But before clinic owners can do that, they need to understand the nuances of how it works.
“There are five broad steps of the patient lifecycle,” Patel explains. “Step number one is marketing. It’s how patients find you, whether it’s search engines, whether it’s social, whether it’s paid ads, referrals, word of mouth, etc. Step two is the phone call. Or more specifically, step two is, ‘How do we convert someone from a phone call?’”
If the second step is successful, that’s when the patient and clinician meet face-to-face for the first time.
“Step three is the consultation,” Patel continues. “When they come in for a consultation, then we convert them to step four, which is treatment. If they get the service done and the service goes well, and we do everything in our power to make them have a good experience, then we get to step five. That’s getting them back in the door.”
For practices across all specialties, that fifth step can prove challenging. How exactly can a practice retain its clients? “It might be with email campaigns, phone calls, events, or Looped,” Patel says.
Looped is a white-label app that strengthens patient engagement with interactive content and helps drive clinic revenue. It also doubles as a hook to draw in potential patients.
“There’s a QR code for the app that can be placed on the clinic’s website or social media,” Patel says. “Any prospective patient or someone who’s just kind of checking the clinic out for the first time can scan the code and start to discover what the clinic offers in more of an elegant, intimate environment.”
Looped facilitates each would-be patient’s journey of discovery, but it also starts offering incentives even before they schedule their first appointment.
“When they download the app, they’ll get reward points. They get a free coupon before they even come in for the first time. It says, ‘Hey, start your journey here,’” says Patel. “They’ll get a free something before even committing.”
In addition to giving prospective patients an incentive, Looped also encourages them to reflect on their own healthcare goals.
“When they download the app, it launches them into a series of questions, like ‘What are some of the things that you’re looking to accomplish?’”
It might seem like a small step, but it’s a critical way to shape the clinic-patient relationship. Patients feel heard and understood before they even reach out. And when they identify their treatment goals, they’ll be more likely to spend money at the clinic in the future.
Reworking and strengthening the patient lifecycle isn’t just about marketing or customer service. Clinics need a modern solution to navigate today’s market, and for the 300-plus clinics (and counting) using the app, Looped has proven itself to be that solution.
