• Pramod Goel
  • Jul 20, 2023

Elements that influence individuals’ decision to make a purchase is called consumer behavior. Analyzing consumer behavior is extremely essential in the medical tourism industry as it helps providers craft hyper-targeted marketing campaigns to arouse the interest of their target consumers. This has become increasingly significant in the present times due to the COVID-19 pandemic when treatment booking decisions are highly influenced by psychological, environmental and societal factors. So, the providers first need to understand what drives their purchasing decisions to be aware of consumer behavior.

Consumer Behaviors in Medical Tourism is Driven by Factors like:

Factors Driven by Psychology- Various psychological factors influence consumers’ purchasing behavior. For example, in the present scenario of medical travel, people are skeptical to book treatment abroad and fly to another country for treatment. They consider several factors such as travel restriction rules of the destination, present situation of the pandemic, safety factors of the clinic and others. Unless it is emergency treatment, patients now are engaged more towards researching and educating themselves about the possible treatment options. Providers need to understand how psychological factors are influencing the buying patterns of the patients based on what they want and what they need.

Factors Driven by Personal Interest- Personal factors like a patient’s interest and lifestyle can also help providers to analyze consumer behavior. Every consumer has a buying habit that is linked to interest. For example, a patient who is interested in certain material for a dental procedure can be reached with the exact solution he/she is looking for. Such individualized behavioral marketing influences the purchasing decisions of the consumers.

Demographic Factors- Tracking the location of healthcare travelers can also be useful to analyze consumer behavior. This helps providers to make efficient local targeting of consumers. For example, if a provider has partnered with a clinic in a region where the patient is looking for a healthcare solution, it is possible to suggest the patient get the required treatment locally.

Consumer Buying Behavior

According to the experts, there are mainly four types of consumer behavior, which are complex, conflict-reducing, routine and choice-seeking buying behavior. If providers study these behaviors they can understand factors that may or may not influence the decision to book a treatment. For example, patients who are looking for an expensive dental procedure like all on 4 dental implants will be influenced by different factors than patients who are searching for a less expensive procedure such as a dental veneer.

Complicated Buying Behavior- This occurs when a patient books a treatment that is costly or has minimum knowledge about it. For example, the buying behavior of a patient booking stem cell therapy can be complex, as he/she doesn’t have enough knowledge about it. So, patients who are involved in this type of purchase take time to research significant differences between the available options. So, providers need to understand this deep sense of patient commitment based on health issues, possible solutions and associated costs.

Conflict-Reducing Buying Behavior-This occurs when a patient is highly involved in the process of booking a treatment, but they are confused to differentiate between various options. With the availability of plenty of choice for the healthcare solution the patient is looking for, it causes a conflict when he/she is worried of making the wrong choice and regret the decision later.

Routine Buying Behavior- This happens when a patient books a treatment regularly. It can be a regular check-up with a general physician or a dentist. In this type of buying behavior, patients know that they have to get treatment, checkup-up or consultation in a certain time-frame. In such a scenario, the providers can contact these patients and ask if they want to book an appointment or online consultation with a doctor as they usually do.

Choice-Seeking Buying Behavior- This happens when a patient decides to opt for a different clinic or physician for a procedure that he/she usually gets from a certain clinic or doctor. It is not because they are not happy with their regular option, but because they want to try out a new option.

The providers need to analyze these buying behaviors which are slightly different from the rest. However, these four types of behaviors also share certain commonalities like a treatment booking process is often initiated a patient identifies a need, regardless of whether that need is for booking a second opinion consultation, therapy or surgery.

When providers understand why patients book treatments, they can craft how to deliver their message and devise important strategies for marketing, pricing and branding. At PlacidWay, we assist thousands of healthcare providers to gain maximum benefits by bringing transparency between them and patients.

Being the global leader in the medical tourism self-pay marketplace, we can help you explore the benefits of consumer behavior analysis and retailing healthcare with a wide range of innovative solutions. We focus on direct patient-provider communication, AI-based omnichannel presence, behavioral marketing strategies and hybrid experience will help you offer consumer-centric care, customized services, price transparency and improve customer experience. We can also help you to educate your targeted customers with treatment packages, articles, doctor profiles, center profiles, videos, patient testimonials, social media marketing, email campaigns and more. Let PlacidWay help you with top-notch digital marketing to make the best use of consumer behavior analysis.

 

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