A Critical Partnership: How Aligning Marketing and Access Maximizes Brand Value and Revenue
A focused, bidirectional collaboration between health system call centers and marketing teams is critical to ensuring positive customer experiences that deliver on the brand promise and ultimately drive organizational targets for growth and revenue.
// By Linda MacCracken and Jane Weber Brubaker //
Too often, health system marketing and Access teams operate separately and don’t align to create the best customer service journey. This can create big headaches for all involved.
Here’s a familiar scenario: Marketing launches a campaign to drive service line growth, but the call center hasn’t been informed. Reps are deluged with calls and questions they can’t answer.
The crush of demand means that some callers are placed on lengthy hold, or never get through at all, and they have no guidance about how to follow up.
If callers succeed in getting through, they may learn that no appointments are available.
The biggest losers are potential customers who reach out in good faith only to be disappointed and likely frustrated enough to go somewhere else for the care they need.
Consequences for the health system include failure to maximize ROI, loss of customers to competitors, and a badly damaged brand.
But done right, all of these problems can be avoided. In this article, we hear from top marketers from Mount Sinai Health System, Renown Health, and The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. They share best practices for coordinating across the enterprise to make the most of outreach efforts and drive appointments, revenue, and growth.