Like most other customer-centric sectors, the healthcare industry has undergone a massive digital transformation over the last decade. Reaching out to prospective consumers online has become a priority, thus replacing traditional advertising with digital marketing.
Be it a hospital chain, an online pharmacy, a medical practitioner, a health aggregator, or even a pathology lab, hiring an efficient healthcare digital marketing agency is no longer an option but a priority.
Scope of ROI for Healthcare Digital Marketing Campaigns
Across every field of specialization, scores of competitors are vying for the attention of the same target audience online. Only a precision-oriented healthcare digital marketing campaign steered by the right metrics can generate the desired ROI in terms of:-
- Higher online appointment bookings and consultations
- Higher inbound patient queries and enrolments/registrations
- Higher search rankings for relevant keywords
- Higher organic traffic and conversion rate optimization
- Lower bounce rates and reduced cart abandonment
- Higher social media engagement (by tracking the right engagement metrics)
- Positive online reputation management for effective brand-building
The right digital marketing service provider company is committed to full-fledged brand-building specific to the latest online trends and dynamics of the healthcare industry. The team should identify and track the right digital marketing metrics for their clients to maximize ROI across all relevant online platforms.
3 Important Metrics Emphasized by the Best Healthcare Digital Marketing Agency
An ever-expanding and dynamic sector, there are numerous areas of specialization within the realm of healthcare. Adjudging the campaign success for a medical insurance provider is very different from tracking the right metrics for a health tech service provider or an independent clinic. Their digital marketing strategies will differ greatly, as will the apt platforms to invest in. Thus, a digital marketing campaign can be successful only if its highly customized and in complete sync with the ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) of the healthcare business. The team should not just have healthcare SEO/SMO experience, but knowledge and expertise in the specific area. Despite the niche-wise differences, here are 3 important metrics that play a vital role in evaluating the ROI of any healthcare digital marketing campaign:-
- Customer/Patient Acquisition Cost versus Customer Lifetime Value
Cost per Acquisition is the most basic metric to show how much ROI is being generated from a digital marketing campaign or a particular online marketing channel. Its simple formula is Total digital marketing cost (campaign-wise or channel-wise) divided by the total number of new customers acquired through the campaign or channel. Rather than considering this metric in isolation, it is always more insightful to compare it with the average customer lifetime value. This is obtained by multiplying the average purchase value by the purchase frequency rate. Channel-wise tracking of every lead and conversion is necessary to gauge the ROI from each digital platform.
- SEO and Conversion Metrics
Many healthcare businesses commit the basic mistake of limiting their purview to the percentage increase in organic traffic only. This only gives a half-baked picture of the SEO campaign’s progress. Calculating the conversion rate (percentage of the number of conversions over the total number of visitors) is the most useful metric to adjudge SEO success. Similarly, for paid search engine ads, the click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CTC), cost per conversion (CPC), and conversion rate (CVR) are important metrics that reveal whether the investment is worthwhile or not.
- Social Media Metrics
Of all the digital marketing strategies, social media optimization is viewed as the most ambiguous in terms of performance evaluation. The team can overcome this challenge by tracking the right metrics vis-à-vis their prime competitors. Especially for the healthcare industry, one has to go beyond the basics of measuring the total likes, shares, and comments. To survive the cut-throat competition, businesses should be getting into finer details like the number of QR code scans, video completion rates, customer satisfaction scores, engagement rate, and so on.
Conclusion
With strategic content marketing and establishing thought leadership across relevant online forums, healthcare brands can not only engage prospects but also foster trust-building. Soliciting reviews from satisfied patients and seeking references are also great strategies to boost online presence. A professional digital marketing team can assist healthcare businesses with multi-faceted online growth and expansion and loyalty. The key is to focus on the right metrics for higher digital marketing ROI.