More interaction choices mean more revenue
- In general, customers said they were willing to pay higher premiums for more ways to interact. Notably, those higher premiums exceeded the cost of providing those additional channel choices.
- Consumer preference rose 40 percent when a “professional interaction partner,” and both digital and traditional interactions, were added to a basic low-cost product offering limited coverage.
- Many consumers don’t value the traditional, on-site, live interactions that many organizations assume they want most. McKinsey advises evaluating your customer base and shifting to more “cutting-edge” digital options, or upgrading your contact centers. It’s a good way to reduce costs while meeting the real desires of your patients.
- McKinsey concludes that “firms should be able to charge significant premiums by offering a large choice of interactions. Companies should be confident enough to charge for them explicitly, even in today’s competitive environment.”
Connecting patients and clinicians for better clinical outcomes
- Cloud-based contact centers and presence technology enable staff to connect patients to medical professionals efficiently and quickly. Likewise, doctors and nurses can prioritize the most critical patient inquiries more easily.
- While most patient portals enable patients to send emails to their healthcare providers, a cloud-based system streamlines the process. Patients can use click-to-chat and click-to-call when a matter is urgent. With click-to-chat, patients click an icon to initiate a chat session with an assigned nurse agent. With click-to-call, patients who prefer traditional voice communications enter a callback number where they can be reached quickly.
- Integrated voice and chat capabilities enable physicians and nurses to meet the patient’s needs more promptly by providing them with faster access to records, information and appropriate specialists.