3 ways to improve your telehealth website marketing

This post is part of TBH Creative’s series on digital marketing, crisis communications, and COVID-19.

Telehealth services are revolutionizing the way doctors and other healthcare providers are helping patients improve their health and wellbeing.

Whether you’re introducing a new telemedicine line because of the COVID-19 crisis or ramping up promotion for your existing telehealth services to better serve your patients during the pandemic, launching clear and helpful website content is critical to successfully marketing your offering to your patients.

Keep reading to find out how to use your website to effectively promote your telehealth services and improve patient satisfaction.

Why should you invest in telehealth website marketing?

Not every patient is going to be comfortable adopting telehealth without a little support. Providing clear information about telemedicine services is essential during each step of the patient healthcare journey.

Make sure your telehealth website marketing content includes complete information on how the service works to help make people—especially new patients or those who aren’t as tech-savvy—feel more comfortable seeing their doctor online. Use your website to let them know it’s just as secure and personalized as an in-person visit.

Your goal should be to use your website to provide the right mix of information—everything patients need to know to demystify the telemedicine process, build confidence, and reduce anxiety, frustration, and stress.

Here are some best practices to follow to ensure that your telehealth website marketing efforts are successful.

Tip #1: Prioritize your patients’ perspective

The simple fact that your website includes the option for making telemedicine appointments doesn’t guarantee that your patients will use the service. It’s critical to identify who your telehealth services are for, and then craft your marketing pitch to best appeal to your target audience.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

Who are the patients you’re trying to reach with your telehealth services?
What are their needs?
How does your telehealth service help you solve their problems as patients?
What are their priorities, and how do you highlight your understanding of them?

Need help figuring out what your patients need? Get invaluable insights by checking in with your appointment schedulers and your patient services support team. These people on the frontlines are talking to your patients daily—answering questions and hearing about their biggest worries.

Learn more about how to use customer feedback for persona research

Ultimately, your patients don’t care how cool your telehealth technology is. They trust you’ve done the work to ensure it’s easy to use and secure. They would prefer to know what your services can do for them to make sure they receive the same exceptional care they’re used to getting in person.

For example, is your service line designed to provide emergency consults for high-risk patients with chronic health issues? If so, let them know that telehealth could be the best choice for them, as a stay-at-home consultation reduces the risk of contracting an illness while traveling to and from your facility or office.

On the other hand, if you’re pitching telemedicine appointments as an easy way for busy patients to get treatment for minor conditions and illnesses, your marketing might focus on convenience.

Tip #2: Optimize messaging with tracking and analytics

Without tracking metrics like referrals, bounce rates, and conversions, it’s nearly impossible to determine which of your telehealth website marketing efforts are actually working and helping you make progress towards your goals. So, each time you make messaging changes on your telemedicine website, be sure to keep an eye on your analytics to see how these edits affect your appointment requests and other relevant stats.

Referral data will help you determine which external sources are generating traffic to your website and help you better understand things like whether it’s more effective to promote your telemedicine services using Google Ads or posting to Facebook.

Looking at the bounce rates on your pages with telehealth website marketing content will help you understand how patients are navigating through the website and help you pinpoint if (and where) they might be struggling.

Don’t forget to keep an eye on conversions, or the number of patients who request a telehealth appointment using a form on your website. This metric will help you figure out whether your marketing efforts help you convert patients, too.

Pro-tip: There are a lot of different ways you can use metrics to boost your campaign results. Get the most out of your tracking with these quick tips for using analytics to improve your marketing strategy.

Tip #3: Follow healthcare website marketing best practices

Consider using these proven strategies to optimize your telehealth website marketing efforts:

Create a specialized landing page or microsite for your telehealth service line
Add reviews of your doctors to your telehealth microsite or service landing page
Include a promotion for your telemedicine services on your homepage and other relevant pages, like your appointment request form page
Make sure your site is responsive and user-friendly
Allow patients to request telemedicine visits using an online appointment request form

Bonus tip: Develop a comprehensive digital telehealth marketing plan

While telehealth website marketing is an excellent first step, an effective digital marketing plan should be comprehensive and include ongoing website maintenance, email workflows, paid ads, social media, blogging, and more.

Choosing the right telehealth website marketing partner

If you’re ready to invest in your telehealth website marketing, start by finding a team of experts with a deep understanding of HIPAA and https. Look for a firm with the expertise and experience to help you grow your practice’s telehealth services and navigate the unique challenges of online medical marketing.

The experienced team at TBH Creative works with healthcare clients every day to create comprehensive digital marketing plans. Whether you’re just starting to promote your telehealth services or you’re looking for ways to boost the results of your current telemedicine marketing campaigns, we can help.