A CRM (customer relationship management) isn’t just a database.
It’s a strategy.
That’s what the trio of speakers said during the “CRM: If You Are Still on the Sidelines, Let’s Get You in the Game” presentation at Greystone’s Healthcare Internet Conference.
“There are two components behind a CRM system,” Lisa Meade, Vice President of Solution Intelligence at Healthgrades says. “Yes, your CRM system is a technological database that tracks interactions and enables communications with patients, and increasingly — the CRM platform is also where marketers are looking to do marketing automation – functionality for triggered campaigns, auto-responses, and the like. Ultimately, customer relationship management is a strategy that is powered by data and insights, and enabled by technology. You need to know your strategy in order to have the technology help you achieve your objectives. It’s important to understand that before you try to select a solution.”
Jean Hitchcock, President of Hitchcock Marketing and Communications, explained the strategical marketing component behind a CRM.
“A patient doesn’t just begin their experience when they see your doctor for the first time,” Hitchcock says. “It starts way before they come to your hospital. As marketers, we need to do a better job of mapping out patient pathways to find out how patients come to us — and then, make sure CRM technology can match up to that pathway.”
Hitchcock explains the point of a CRM is to get your message to the right audience at the right time. She gave a few tips to make sure this can happen:
- Use secret shoppers. “If your product doesn’t meet a patient’s experience, why spend money to advertise that experience? Secret shoppers can tell you what’s working and what’s not.”
- Create user personas. “This gives you a better understanding of who your patients are and who you want to attract.”
- Understand millennials. “For this demographic, it’s all about access and convenience. Your technology should be based around this fact.”
Next, Tampa General Hospital talked about how they found a CRM that fit what they were looking for. This is a challenge many healthcare marketers face. Rebecca Pizzo, Senior Web Content and Social Media Coordinator, explained the process.
Tampa General Hospital was looking for the following traits in a CRM vendor:
- Depth and fit
- Integration
- Roadmap vision
- Demonstrable features
- Command of “example” cases
Here’s something the team did to whittle down the selection process:
“We told the CRM vendors that we didn’t want their PowerPoints,” Pizzo says. “We wanted to see live demonstrations of what their product actually did. We gave them example cases —
like how to manage chronically ill patients — to see what the CRM product could deliver.”
Tampa General Hospital also developed a detailed, organized RFP of what exactly they were looking for in a vendor. They also involved strategy, marketing and IT teams on the search.
Pizzo said the hospital invested with a CRM because it was having trouble with its call center, along with the rising cost of acquiring new patients.
“We needed a more patient-focused strategy,” Pizzo says. “We wanted to be more relevant in people’s lives. We wanted to be where they are. The CRM allows us to do more marketing automation because now, we know what people want — and we give them content, based on their click patterns. The CRM technology has really helped us be intentional, versus just hoping people would find value from our content.”
Wrapping up the presentation, Meade gave some advice to CRM shoppers in the audience.
“A CRM is all about deep segmentation, tracking, reporting, planning the patient journey and mapping,” Meade says. “But before you start looking at CRM vendors, you really need to think about what your team wants, what you’re capable of and set realistic time frames and goals.”
Join us in Chicago March 28-29, 2017 for an open dialogue on the challenges of optimizing a CRM solution for your health system. Find out more: CRM Workshop.