How to Improve the Patient Experience in Healthcare

Patient feedback is a vital aspect in the healthcare industry and patient surveys are a common method used to help improve the patient experience. To better understand and address the patient experience, healthcare organizations must first understand the patient journey and it is important to ask – what is the patient journey in healthcare? Armed with this knowledge and the right tools, healthcare professionals can better identify pain points within the patient journey and implement new strategies to improve the patient experience – and we are here to help at boostCX.

What Are the 5 Stages of the Patient Journey Map?

The patient journey map is a crucial tool in healthcare, outlining the path a patient takes from the first point of contact through ongoing care – and every stage of the patient map represents a touchpoint of the patient experience that plays a key role in their satisfaction. The patient journey map has five stages – Awareness, Consideration, Access, Services Delivery, and Ongoing Care.

It is crucial for any healthcare organization to understand and optimize the patient journey as it directly impacts the patient experience and the reputation of your organization. A well-managed patient journey can lead to improved patient satisfaction, increased loyalty to your organization, and positive word-of-mouth, all of which can contribute to the growth and success of your organization.

Here is a closer look at each stop on the patient journey map:

1. Awareness

The Awareness stage of the patient journey is the initial phase where patients identify a health concern and begin seeking information. This stage is crucial as it sets the tone for the patient’s perception of their healthcare journey and will influence their choices of healthcare providers and treatments. Online searches, reviews, marketing, networking, and word of mouth are all elements that influence this stage of the patient journey.

2. Consideration

The Consideration stage is a critical step in the patient journey that involves patients evaluating different healthcare providers and treatment options based on the information they have at their disposal. This step in the patient journey is where patients make informed decisions about their healthcare, based on factors like quality of care, cost, location, and reputation.

3. Access

The Access stage of the patient journey, where patients make appointments and access healthcare services, is a key touchpoint in the patient experience. It’s during this stage that patients have their first direct engagement with your organization, making it a critical opportunity to establish a positive first impression and build trust. Patient engagement can occur via a variety of mediums in this stage – phone calls, patient portals, text messages, and emails.

4. Service Delivery

This stage of the patient journey encompasses consultations with medical professionals, tests, treatments, and procedures. This stage of the process is directly correlated with patient satisfaction. The quality, efficiency, and empathy exhibited at this stage of the patient journey has great influence on a patient’s overall perception of care and their likelihood to recommend their healthcare provider to others.

5. Ongoing Care

The Ongoing Care stage of the patient journey, which includes post-treatment follow-ups, rehabilitation, and preventive care, is a valuable opportunity to gather patient feedback. Insights gained at this stage can help healthcare providers better understand the patient experience, identify areas for improvement, and adapt their services to meet evolving patient needs and expectations.

What Are the Benefits of Mapping the Patient Journey?

Mapping the patient journey offers numerous benefits to healthcare providers and organizations. It provides a comprehensive view of the patient’s experience from start to finish and this understanding can help identify gaps in service, areas for improvement, and opportunities to enhance patient satisfaction. This practice creates a visualization of the patient’s path that allows healthcare providers to design more effective interventions, streamline processes, and personalize care.

Here is a short list of the benefits you can expect to discover when you create a map of the patient journey for your healthcare organization.

• Provides a common view of the patient experience for your organization
• Identifies common pain points that patients experience within their journey
• Creates a comparison between the intended patient experience and actual patient experience within your organization
• Helps your organization refine patient surveys and feedback strategies
• Helps build a shared ownership of the patient journey and experience

In conclusion – understanding the patient journey in healthcare is crucial for improving the patient experience and your level of care. Each stage of the journey, from start to finish, provides new opportunities to engage with patients and meet their needs effectively. Equipped with customer solutions like the boostCX Customer Experience Platform, healthcare providers can gather and analyze patient feedback, manage their online reputation, and leverage insights to make data-driven decisions.

Frustrated customers can and will erode your bottom line as a business – and understanding the pain points within the customer journey and the hurdles customers face while interacting with your business, is crucial for improvement. But identifying these pain points is not always the simplest of tasks.

If you need help to identify customer pain points in the customer experience – boostCX provides a comprehensive suite of customer experience management solutions that may be able to help you reach your goals. This guide will explore how you can identify customer pain points and demonstrate how boostCX empowers you to uncover hidden frustrations, understand the needs of your customers, and transform your customer journey into a frictionless experience that fosters loyalty and drives growth.

What Are the Different Types of Customer Pain Points?

Customer pain points come in all shapes and sizes and can affect every stage of the customer journey. These frustrations can be financial, like hidden fees or expensive subscriptions or they may be process-related pain points that involve confusing procedures or inefficient steps in the process. Customers may experience support issues, encounter unhelpful staff or long wait times. Technical difficulties or a poor-quality website can create pain points with the online user experience. Finally – a lack of clear communication or feeling undervalued as a customer can lead to more emotional pain points that drive customers away and erode brand loyalty.

By understanding these different categories, you can identify the root causes of customer frustration and develop tangible solutions that transform your customer experience, drive brand loyalty, and increase customer satisfaction. This is where boostCX comes in – providing you with innovative tools and solutions that help you collect and analyze customer data to identify pain points and craft a better customer experience.

Customer Financial Pain Points

Financial pain points are not uncommon. You can unveil hidden financial pain points by  analyzing customer feedback for mentions of unexpected fees, unclear pricing, or expensive subscriptions. boostCX Survey Feedback and Closed-Loop Alert Management can help gather this data and notify you when it is mentioned by customers. When identified, clearly communicating pricing structures, offering flexible payment options, and avoiding hidden charges can help to transform financial frustrations into satisfied customers.

Customer Support Pain Points

Identifying customer support pain points is easy with the help of boostCX. Analyze feedback channels and monitor social media to pinpoint mentions of long wait times, unhelpful interactions, or a lack of resolution. boostCX can then help you streamline support processes,  provide proper agent training, and offer multiple support channels to turn frustrating support experiences into opportunities to showcase exceptional customer service and foster brand loyalty.

Customer Process Pain Points

Many customers may run into roadblocks on their customer journey that can be identified by analyzing customer feedback for mentions of confusing application processes, inconvenient steps, or a lack of information within the process. boostCX Actionable Insights and Customer Journey Mapping can help your team visualize these pain points. Once pain points are identified in the process, they can be addressed by streamlining processes, simplifying forms, and providing clear instructions on how to transform awkward customer journeys into smooth and memorable experiences.

Customer Productivity Pain Points

You can uncover customer productivity roadblocks by analyzing feedback that mentions difficulty using features, a lack of training, or time-consuming workflows – which can also be applied to the employee experience. boostCX Text Analytics can delve deeper, identifying any hidden frustrations in customer comments and reviews. By providing clear tutorials, offering additional product training, and optimizing workflows, you can empower customers and employees to accomplish tasks efficiently and transform initial pain points into long-term satisfaction.

Uncovering and defining customer pain points no longer has to be a guessing game. By learning how to identify customer pain points in the customer experience, you can create a frictionless customer experience at every point in the customer journey. boostCX equips you with a powerful suite of customer experience management tools that will help you gather valuable customer feedback, uncover hidden pain points, and translate customer insights into action.