In a recent J.D. Power study, they found that customers were slow to embrace new technology and continue to prefer the human interaction while obtaining their prescriptions. As per the study, here are a few of their findings:
- Most pharmacy customers communicate with the pharmacist and staff in person
- Thorough discussions with the pharmacists yield higher satisfaction rates (Discussing more topics with the pharmacists increases customer satisfaction)
- Health and wellness customers spend more at the pharmacy
- When customers do use mobile apps, they are more satisfied
Reflecting on this study, here are some takeaways for a pharmacy to continue to drive satisfaction.
As within all healthcare, compassionate care for customers and patients drives results and satisfaction for both customers and employees. The need for certainty and human care is prevalent in the two top findings listed above. Customers want that human experience for their healthcare and having a person who cares about their individual life and helping reduce uncertainty with informative discussions will bring their loyalty to that pharmacy. As with all technology, there are various adaptation rates due to the history of each customer and their exposure and perception of the technology changes. Pharmacies will continue to have the challenge of embracing new technologies, understanding customer expectation changes, and providing that human touch of certainty for their customers.
Below you will find these challenges changed into strategies for pharmacies to increase customer satisfaction results:
Manage the Human Touch
Customers want the human experience. By making sure that the customer knows that the pharmacy will be a supportive partner within their customer’s journey, the customer will have the reassurance that someone will help them with the uncertainty that changes in their health and in the healthcare system will not be faced alone. Pharmacies that can look at the experience as not just a transaction, but an emotional experience will separate themselves from the pack.
Measure Perception Changes
As technology becomes more part of people’s lives, it will increase and be more a part of the pharmacy experience. However, the adaptation rates to new technologies will continue to be wide between individuals who embrace technology versus the ones that do not. With real-time feedback, a pharmacy can be on top of these changes and learn and grow with their customer’s perception changes.
We are in a time where technology constantly changing and uncertainty prevails. With such constant change, a customer’s viewpoint of what drives a better experience will also change. Pharmacies will continue to add services to compete in the marketplace. By measuring how a customer sees the various touchpoints, a pharmacy can be on top of the touchpoints that drive satisfaction and ones that are pain points.
Bring Certainty to the Customer
The constant change in healthcare policies, company healthcare costs, drug prices, and prescription coverage brings a lot of uncertainty for the consumer. Adding to this stress is the information overload of what a healthy lifestyle consists of (proper foods to eat, amount and type of exercise, other social impacts on health, etc.) and just an overwhelming amount of information in general. By bringing certainty in this atmosphere of change will help a pharmacy drive higher loyalty, customer satisfaction, and higher bottom line results.
To help drive this certainty, having a staff that is satisfied and knowledgeable of the customer concerns and expectations will be an integral part of this process. Giving their customers a voice with simple and easy feedback and sharing the results to their customers and staff will bring a consistent positive culture for both employees and customers.
SmileyAnswers
With the four Smileys from HappyOrNot®, SmileyAnswers can help pharmacies bring satisfaction by measuring, following, and improving results.
- Measure the perception of customer and employee satisfaction with real-time feedback. Have a real time pulse on what the customer is feeling and expecting.
- Follow the performance by discovering hidden pain points within the customer journey.
- Improve results with quick changes and share the positive results with customers and employees. By measuring customer and employee perceptions all year round, a pharmacy will be on top of changing customer perceptions and expectations.
Manage the human touch by collecting feedback as to how the customer is satisfied with their interactions with both staff and pharmacists. With a Smiley Touch, the pharmacy can obtain more granular information as to what touchpoints are more important for their customers when they have a positive or negative experience. As customers embrace technology and move their interactions online, the pharmacy can capture their customer’s online experience with a Web Smiley to make sure that their experience is positive.
Wrapping it up
Uncertainty and changes in the healthcare system, prescription coverage, and technology will continue to be stressful for customers. Pharmacies can be the supporting partner for their customers through these uncertainties by understanding their customer concerns and expectations and being an engaging partner within this process. This can be done by continuing to bring the human touch to the whole experience. Then, by consistently measuring customer perception changes, pharmacies will be on top of their changing expectations and attitudes. Lastly, by bringing their customers certainty within the fast changing environment of healthcare, pharmacies can build trust, security, and a stronger business model to sustain this changing environment.
Contact SmileyAnswers to see if the HappyOrNot® Reporting solution is a right fit for your organization. You can also schedule a demo to learn more about the four Smiley’s and how they can help you Measure, Follow, and Improve experiences.
