Why Understanding the Customer Journey Matters More Than Ever
Not a day goes by without a mention of Artificial Intelligence… AI.
Every day, it’s becoming clearer that AI is changing how businesses operate, including healthcare.
From how we connect with patients to how we plan, market, and grow our practices, AI is no longer just a novelty but a valuable, cost-effective tool.
But before you can use AI to help you market and run your practice, there is another step.
To successfully tap into AI to help you write content, craft messages, or plan for the year ahead, you must first understand something deeper… the customer journey, or, in the case of healthcare, the patient journey.
Perhaps you’ve used AI before to help you write marketing messages or create content for your newsletter, but it didn’t amaze you, nor did it resonate with your patients.
It’s not because AI doesn’t work; don’t jump to the conclusion that it’s AI’s fault.
AI works, and is capable of creating amazing things… as long as it’s given appropriate context and precise parameters.
More likely than not, the reason your AI-generated content didn’t work is that your marketing message didn’t align with your audience; specifically, it didn’t meet them where they are on their customer journey.
So What Is the Customer Journey?
Please stay with me here; resist the urge to say, “This doesn’t apply to me or my practice.”
It applies to your practice as much as it does to every other practice or business.
Regardless of whether a business is aware of the customer journey, if it has only one or a few customers, some form of customer journey is at work.
The customer journey describes the series of steps someone takes before, during, and after engaging with your business.
The steps representing the journey may vary from business to business; however, the overall components are as follows…
- Awareness: Someone realizes they have a problem. Perhaps they experience ongoing fatigue or headaches. They know they have a problem, but they don’t yet know what to do about it and hope it goes away.
- Consideration: The problem is getting more difficult to ignore, and they start looking for options. They may go online and research “reasons for consistent fatigue” or “what to do about headaches.”
- Decision: The problem has reached a point where they decide to take action. Perhaps they look at your website, call your office, or even book an appointment and come to see you.
- Retention: After they’ve become a patient, your newsletter keeps them engaged, reassured, and they come back to see you.
- Advocacy: Ideally, they’re so happy with their results and experience in your office that they tell others who become patients in your clinic.
This is the customer journey, and we all go through some variation of it whenever we have a problem we need to solve.
Here’s an example from my experience…
Recently, an outdoor electrical plug stopped working, and a couple of fixtures inside needed rewiring. I ignored the problems for a while until the inconvenience became too much, and I decided to find an electrician.
I looked online, read reviews, and finally called someone to book an appointment. It took me some time to reach a decision because most of these businesses don’t have much of an online presence, making it hard to get a sense of who they are.
So far, I’ve made it through stage three of my customer journey with this business. It remains to be seen whether I will be satisfied enough with the service to get their newsletter (if there is one), become a repeat customer, or tell others about my experience with the business.
Think about your own experience and how you engage with any business: you go through your own version of the customer journey.
The important thing about the customer journey is to recognize that each stage is unique and has its own needs, emotions, and triggers.
For example, when someone visits your website, they are curious. When someone calls your office with a problem, they may feel unsure. When they come to their appointment, they may feel nervous or anxious…
And here is the thing…
When your marketing and your messaging align with where the person is on that journey, it feels like you’re reading their mind. But when it doesn’t, they ignore your message or scroll right past it.
Common Mistakes …
Even well-intentioned practice owners fall into these traps:
- Talking about yourself instead of your patient
Many provider websites and marketing materials, including those of Nurse Practitioners, lead with their education and credentials rather than the problems they are prepared to solve and the benefits the clinic offers. However, most patients care less about your title and education and more about whether you can help them solve their problem so they can start feeling better. - Ignoring the importance of emotional connection
Try to create an emotional connection with your prospective and current patients. People respond to kindness; they want to be heard, understood, and appreciated. Always keep this old marketing adage in mind… facts tell; feelings sell. People make decisions with their emotions first and justify them later with logic… and it doesn’t matter if it’s booking an appointment with you or buying a new car. So let people know who you are and what you (and your office) are all about. Let them see your personality along with your education and qualifications. - Using the same message for everyone.
Depending on where people are on the customer journey, they have different needs and expectations, and require different messaging. Someone who has never heard of you needs a different message than someone who has been with your office for years. That’s why generic messaging doesn’t work, and why it fails to reach either group effectively.
The big takeaway about the customer journey…
When you understand the customer or patient journey, your messaging changes from “selling services” to “meeting the needs of your patients.”
And that makes all the difference!
How AI Helps Understand the Customer Journey
AI can help you uncover insights about your audience much faster and more accurately than you can.
You can ask AI to help you:
- Identify and analyze patterns in online reviews, patient feedback, or surveys to understand the common pain points experienced in the healthcare setting.
- Summarize trends in health forums or on social media to see what patients are asking, are frustrated by, or complain about their healthcare experiences.
- Generate ideas for educational content, FAQs, or blog posts tailored to each stage of the journey.
- Test your messaging by asking AI to rewrite or reframe your content for patients who are in the awareness stage versus for those in the decision or retention stage.
And don’t worry, AI won’t replace you, your empathy, or your expertise.
It simply helps you see your patients more clearly and creates messaging that meets them where they are.
In Conclusion…
Our world is infused with AI, and is becoming more so every single day.
Today, patients have distinct expectations and more choices than ever. They want to feel known, heard, and valued long before they walk into your office.
AI gives you the power to understand and serve them better, as long as you use it intentionally and provide clear parameters.
That starts with understanding the customer/patient journey: who they are, what they need, and where they are on their journey.
What’s Next
In Part Two of this series, we’ll explore how to conduct market research with AI.
You’ll learn which elements to include, which tools to use, and how to gather real insights to help shape your business and marketing strategy.
Do you use AI in your office? If so, how? Please tell us and leave your answer below…
Are you interested in AI and how to use it to grow your practice? Let us know, and we’ll incorporate it into our content.
By Johanna Hofmann, MBA, MAc., EAMP; regular contributor to the NPBusiness blog and author of “Smart Business Planning for Clinicians.”