- Pramod Goel
- Jul 20, 2023
At the time when WHO has declared COVID-19 as pandemic and restrictions are being imposed on traveling abroad, the situation is challenging for the medical tourism industry to survive. With travel industry shutdown, countries declaring lockdowns, people are not able to travel abroad for treatment until the coronavirus outbreak settles down. During such a time, it is more important than ever to inform and educate people about the possibilities of conducting treatment procedures (except emergency health conditions that require immediate medical attention) in the future. You have to continue to build your practice presence in front of people who are currently still in search but not setting appointments. For people who had inquired or still doing inquiries, you need to reach out to these prospective customers and provide them potential solutions and discounts when the coronavirus threat is removed.
Potential Solutions for the Future:
1. Pricing Strategies:
It is important that you make appropriate adjustments to your pricing strategy. Offering discounts on the treatment procedures can be one of the useful measures. Price sensitivity is expected in a market environment when the global economy is being impacted. As a provider, you need to set pricing structures considering the value assessment of your services. The value of your service should be the foundation of price. When you retain the balance between the price and value, it would be possible to broaden revenue streams and improve the competitive advantage.
2. Future Booking Strategies:
Do you know that one of the most significant reasons (apart from the coronavirus itself) for not booking medical treatment abroad is the fear of cancellation costs? As the impact of coronavirus is uncertain, the customers do not want to take the risk of a future booking. You can ease this concern of the prospective customers by implementing a strategic and clear cancellation policy. You can curb their fear of losing money by offering insurance during booking for the treatments. The customers are also aware that the situation will return to normalcy, but when it will happen is uncertain. In such a situation if you can assure them that their money is not on the line then they will be happy to proceed with future bookings.
3. Technology Integrations:
Integrate different technology solutions to improve communication with prospective customers. You should dedicate efforts to maintaining good communication with the prospective customers. Stay connected not just to show your concern, but also to keep up with their treatment queries and booking plan updates.
Integrate various direct communication channels such as Direct Chat, AI, WhatsApp, SMS, Email, etc. This will ensure direct and fast conveying of information, which increases transparency and leads to quick decisions. When you communicate directly with prospective customers, it can help to win their trust and increase the possibilities of booking appointments in the future.
4. Marketing Strategies:
Management of marketing channels may be different from previous routines for the time being. It will not be like many customers booking via different channels every day. Now, it is important that you focus on using these channels more for establishing your brand positioning and delivering key messages. For example, when the time is appropriate, the prospective customers can get that ‘all clear’ message across different marketing channels.
Some of the vital marketing channels that you can use are:
Social Media: Start campaigns about your treatment procedures on various social media channels. This will help the consumers to stay aware of your services and initiate contact to gather more details about the preferred treatment.
Email Campaigns: You can start email campaigns informing consumers about not to panic or hesitate to reach your healthcare service once the COVID-19 issue officially settles down. Inform them about measures your clinic/hospital takes to sanitize the environment and other essential things regarding patients' safety and health.
Articles, Blogs and Videos: You can also create articles, blogs and videos related to treatment procedures, patient feedback, hospital facilities, hygiene or anything that you feel important to inform consumers. Distribute these contents in different channels to ensure it reaches the maximum number of people.
Medical Tourism Marketplace: Promoting your medical center, treatment facilities, doctor credentials, treatment packages, etc. on a global medical tourism marketplace can be a great move. Featuring your healthcare service information in such a platform will help educate the consumers who are interested to travel abroad for healthcare services.
5. Innovating Your Practice during Crisis:
This could be the best time to improve or upgrade services at your healthcare facility brand. Look out for the innovative solutions that you can integrate that can possibly give you an edge over the competitors. The application of industry best practices and innovative tools will help you to identify and implement a profit protection plan. Such an approach will make it easy to deal with the current COVID-19 challenge and measure operational efficiency.
This is a passing phase and things will come back to normal situation. You have to constantly stay in touch with the prospective customers asking them to stay safe, educated and informed. Convince them to seek the best healthcare services once the global crisis settles down. As the leading global medical tourism marketplace, PlacidWay is offering future visionary solutions including effective marketing strategies and technology integrations supporting direct patient-provider communication. Together we can create innovative strategies to deal with the COVID-19 global crisis.
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