Convert More Healthcare Consumers with Modern Conversion Rate Optimization Techniques
Healthcare consumers demand better, more personalized experiences at every touchpoint. According to Google, approximately 77% of people use search engines to start their patient journey.
So, it makes sense for healthcare businesses to focus their attention on their websites, landing pages, and paid search campaigns. But what happens after your ads have captured their attention—especially with a PPC or display ad? Do the consumers convert or bounce?
I recently interviewed Brian Massey, Founder and Conversion Scientist of Conversion Sciences, an agency dedicated exclusively to site testing and optimization. I was first introduced to Brian through one of the leading digital marketing conferences. During the podcast, we discuss how personalized landing pages and easy-to-use online forms can elevate your paid search campaign and grow your business.
Brain and I recommend all healthcare businesses re-examine their digital marketing efforts to ensure they’re patient-centric, intuitive, and drive better conversion rates and business growth.
In this podcast, Brian shares valuable insights about the benefits of conversion rate optimization tactics on your paid search landing pages and online submission forms.
In case you don’t have time to listen to the entire podcast, here’s a summary:
Closing the Gap Between Patient Experience and Technology
Patient experience must be central to everything you do as a marketer, whether you’re building paid search ads and websites or crafting marketing content and social media posts.
During our discussion, Brian shared several valuable insights, including why an intuitive buyer journey, highly relevant and engaging content, and clear calls to action are essential.
He offered this personal anecdote, which I think helps drive this point home.
"I needed a preventative health screening, a heart scan, just to make sure everything was healthy. My doctor gave me a link, but unfortunately, it directed me to an unhelpful page with no relevant information for my immediate need." Brian continued, "There wasn't a signup link for the scan I needed, and the 'Find a Doctor' feature was cumbersome, requiring knowledge of complex terminology. It was extremely frustrating during a time in which I felt vulnerable and cognitively depleted."
The good news is that he got the needed scan, and all is well. The bad news is his patient experience, though assuredly unintentional, was lackluster at best.
However, it made him acutely aware of the importance of a positive patient experience—from the first touchpoint.
Next, we explored how to create more intentional strategies that humanize the online patient experience and how these strategies help boost conversions and lower acquisition costs.
Landing Page Optimization Strategies to Help Lower Consumer Acquisition Costs
“Optimizing your landing experience decreases your acquisition cost, which means you can spend more, which means you can expand your keywords, which means you expand your traffic, which means sales and revenue go up,” shared Brian, “It’s a multiplicative effect.”
To improve the patient experience and increase landing page conversions, Brian encourages healthcare organizations to focus on these page elements in this order
- Headline and Subheadings
Now that you’ve won the click, you’ve got to engage, persuade, and encourage your new lead to convert. First and foremost, you must keep the promise made in the paid search ad, email, or social post and let your users know they’re in the right place.
Brian says this can be “as simple as using the words in your headline or subhead that match the words used in the paid search ad.” - Body Copy
“Now that you’ve got their attention,” Brian says, “you’ve got to give them a reason to scroll.” So, how can healthcare marketers effectively capture and maintain their interest?
Online users have notoriously short attention spans. He posits, "Your introduction copy must quickly deliver on the ad's promise to keep them engaged and achieve your business goals. It's got to be emotional and compelling. It has to make them feel something. You can't meander toward it. Your copy must grab their attention—and it's got to do it above the fold."
Optimizing the content above the fold (anything the user can see without scrolling) helps lower bounce rates, increase engagement, and ultimately helps your business achieve its objectives. - Value Proposition
Next, it’s time to give your audience more reasons to engage with your landing page.
Brian proffers, "This generally involves being clear about your unique value proposition and how it relates to their initial question or query. Show users what separates your brand, business, products, services, or doctors from competitors." - Images
The images on your landing page must also resonate with your target audience. They’ve got to have people that look, sound, and feel like them. “But that’s not all,” shares Brian, “your image captions and alt tags are also a terrific opportunity to build on your value proposition.”
Adding captions that differentiate your brand, like “Our customers give us a 97% approval rating,” builds trust and encourages users to keep scrolling, reading, and engaging. - Lead Form
“For better conversion rates,” Brian says, “it’s best to keep forms visually short and simple.” However, short forms can be challenging, if not impossible, for some business objectives.
To overcome this challenge, he shared the idea of a “pancake form” and how healthcare organizations can retool forms. That way, it’s more of a customer service interaction, which is more palatable for consumers.
He says these quiz-style forms are typically more successful when longer forms are warranted. "Start by asking personal questions like, 'How do you feel," or 'What symptoms are you experiencing.' Each piece of information becomes an opportunity to probe for more critical information, like their name, age, social security number, or health insurance provider. It also becomes an opportunity to explain why you need the information and why they should trust you."
Once these leads have answered a few questions, they are more likely to finish because they’re invested. “I think it’s a very compassionate and helpful way of saying, ‘We’re listening to you,’ and ‘Here’s the information we need to help you get the care you need.’” - Call to Action (CTA)
“The color of the call to action button should be outside of the palette of the rest of the page,” Brian asserts, “an unexpected pop of color will get more attention, tell the user they are being asked to do something, and (with the right CTA message) boost conversions.”
Unlike homepages, which must encompass the entirety of your brand, landing pages offer businesses a unique edge. “You know why they’re there, and you know what they’re looking for,” Brian explains, “You can design everything on that page to meet those specific needs, and you can do it quickly and efficiently to drive higher conversions.”
Once a landing page is optimized for your paid search campaign, it's essential to analyze the data regularly and optimize it to remove as much friction as possible.
This ongoing effort to improve your landing page experience will increase patient satisfaction with your brand, boost conversions, and help you achieve your business goals.
I want to thank Brian again for sharing his time and expertise. I hope it's provided you with new and valuable insights into the benefits of conversion rate optimization strategies. If you’d like to stay up-to-date on the Conversion Scientist and his informative content, I encourage you to subscribe to his emails.
If you need help with your marketing or optimization strategies, please contact us.
