The Difference Between Medical SEO and SEM Written by Jeff Tormey on August 20, 2024. Posted in Healthcare Companies. Do you run a multi-location healthcare facility and want to find ways to promote your business? Then, it is important that you know about medical SEO and SEM. They go a long way to customize your marketing by making your website more visible on search engines. Here is what to know about them and how they compare. What Is Medical SEO? Medical SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a strategy that healthcare centers use to boost their web pages, making sure they are more visible to patients and clients. When you use SEO, search engines can easily understand your website, and the reward is that it gets pushed to the top of the results pages. Your patients and other key stakeholders can rely on Google to learn more about your company. SEO experts know how to make use of target keywords, create quality content, and improve your website for it to rank better. Read more: How Can Healthcare SEO Improve the Visibility of a Website? What Is Medical SEM? The difference between medical SEO and medical SEM is that for SEM (Search Engine Marketing), your healthcare facility pays for ads that push you to the top of pages in search engines. It is a strategy in digital marketing for pay-per-click ads in the healthcare center to help improve your website’s ranking. You purchase these ads through auctions, where you bid for keywords and win based on your bid’s status. Remember that these keywords must be relevant to your industry and what your company does. What Is the Difference Between Medical SEO vs. SEM? SEM and SEO can be confusing at first, so how do you know which is the best way to go for your healthcare center? What is the difference? Cost Mainly, SEO is a free search strategy that allows your website to rank high organically. It is more long-term, thanks to the use of relevant keywords. However, SEM is a paid technique using pay-per-click advertising. Timeline SEO is more of a long-term approach because the results need a little more time to take effect. It is more gradual, so it takes a little longer to work. As for SEM, the results are almost instant. The only issue is that, unlike organic SEO, SEM strategies don’t last long, as the visibility stops when the advertising budget runs out. Read more: How Long Do I Have to Wait For Medical SEO to Show Results? Talk to the Experts Both SEO and SEM have their advantages and disadvantages, so you should consider what works best for your healthcare center. You can even use both methods for the best results. If you want to take advantage of medical SEO or SEM to promote your facility, contact our experts at Sequence Health.
Differences Between Onshore and Offshore Call Center Outsourcing Written by Jeff Tormey on August 19, 2024. Posted in Other. There are so many benefits for your healthcare center when you choose to outsource your contact or call center. Which is the better option? An onshore or offshore call center? The two have a fair share of pros and cons, so take a look at the key features to consider when making your decision. Costs and Cost-effectiveness One of the key factors to account for when setting up a call center for your health facility is the costs involved. The first thing you notice about offshore services is that the labor costs are lower. For onshore centers, the overhead costs may be higher, but in comparison, you are sure of high-quality services. Time Zone Differences Another major difference between onshore and offshore call centers is differences in time zones. You will need proper planning to be able to coordinate teams working in different parts of the world, especially in matters of communication, workflow, and time management, for alignment of other aspects of daily operations. Luckily, you never have to worry about that when working with an onshore healthcare call center. Language Barriers You are looking for a team that will effectively communicate with your patients when the call diverts to them. However, even for offshore agents who speak English, there is a risk of miscommunication due to issues like accent, a poor understanding of local expressions and common idioms, and more. To avoid that, onshore centers are safer bets, but you will still have to conduct training for the agents to adjust to the expectations of the patient. Cultural Differences Lastly, in the comparison between onshore vs. offshore call centers, you must consider the cultural differences. It is expected that companies based in the US will have a better understanding of the culture in the region. The agents will culturally align better with your values, regulations, and other industry standards. This cultural alignment is particularly crucial when implementing solutions for healthcare, where patient communication and understanding are paramount. In contrast, when working with an offshore call center, expect hurdles like the clashing of public holidays. Luckily, you may also appreciate their work culture, including their dedication, loyalty, respect, and structures based on hierarchy. Read more: Deciding Between Onshore and Nearshore Call Outsourcing in Healthcare: What You Need to Know Choose the Best Healthcare Call Center Solutions Onshoring comes with so many advantages for your medical center, from alignment with time zones and cultures to better communication. Contact Sequence Health for assistance if this is the better choice for your healthcare call center.
Call Center Service Agreement and How to Improve It Written by Jeff Tormey on August 14, 2024. Posted in Other. There are so many factors to consider when monitoring key metrics in your healthcare call center during quality assurance. You want to make sure you answer as many calls as possible and at the fastest rate. The measure of these numbers is what is called service level in a call center. What is it? Why does it matter to your patients? And how can you improve it? Read on. What Are SLAs in a Call Center? A healthcare call center service level, otherwise known as the service level agreement (SLA), is a measure of how efficient your call center is. How responsive are the agents to the patients? When they reach out, how quick are they to answer within a given timeframe? It refers to the percentage of calls, messages, social media chats, and emails that are responded to within a time frame, usually as a percentage. For instance, the healthcare call center could have an SLA of 80% answer rate or ensure that the emails are responded to within a day. Tips to Improve SLA in a Medical Call Center Physician-patient communication is important in the medical industry. You want to make sure that you respond as fast as possible in case you are dealing with an emergency. Now that you know what an SLA is in a call center, how do you improve it to communicate better with your patients? Clearly Define Objectives Having a plan makes a huge difference because when you set an objective, you are clear on the target response times and other aspects, making sure that your patients are satisfied. Optimize Staffing In order to achieve high ratings when it comes to SLA, check that there are enough hands on deck. When the workforce is already in place, it is way easier to achieve your set objectives. Call-Back Services There are cases like peak times where it may be a challenge to maintain your SLAs. However, when you offer call-back services for your patients, you can find a way to handle high call volumes and maintain their satisfaction. Encourage Self-Service Sometimes, even maximizing the workforce doesn’t guarantee a high SLA. Luckily, you can embrace self-service options like IVR and chatbots. This way, you can keep the communication lines open even before the patients reach an actual agent. Read more: What Does IVR Stand For In a Call Center? Contact Sequence Health for Professional Medical Call Center Solutions SLA is one of the most important metrics to measure how effective your response rates are with your patients. To guarantee that they are satisfied, consider reaching out to Sequence Health for assistance with your healthcare call center.
Average Handle Time in a Call Center—Why It Is Important Written by Jeff Tormey on August 13, 2024. Posted in Healthcare Companies. Average handle time (AHT) is one of the most important metrics used to determine patient satisfaction and service delivery in a healthcare call center. The goal is timely intervention when patients call in through the IVR or directly connect with the agents. What exactly is AHT in a call center, and how is it important for patient experience? What Is Average Handle Time? To put it simply, the average handle time in a healthcare call center is the total amount of time it takes for the agents to handle the patients or callers. You count it from the moment the phone rings to the hold time, talk time, and wrap-up, where the call is documented after the patient hangs up. This is a direct indicator of how great your call center-patient communication is because the faster the agents are able to solve the clients’ concerns, the better it is for the patient experience. Why Is AHT Important? AHT may be a simple metric, but it goes a really long way to improve the level of service to your clients. If you are wondering what AHT means in a call center, here are the main reasons why you should measure it. Agent Productivity Call managers can use the AHT to check how efficient the call center agents are when it comes to receiving calls from patients and solving their problems. The higher the volume of calls and the lower the AHT, the better their performance. Patient Experience You know that your healthcare call center is doing well if it is receiving high volumes of calls within a certain timeframe. When the AHTs are low, the calls flow faster and the staff handle more clients and their requests. Improvement Areas When you are able to track AHT metrics over time, it gets easier to monitor patterns. You can tell when agents need more training and what aspects of the call need work. Cost Analysis A lot of money is spent on handling incoming calls from patients, and AHT can be a great measure to ensure the center is more cost-effective. The more you reduce the AHT, the more you save on costs down the line. Read more: Tips to Reduce AHT in a Call Center Contact the Experts Medical centers are always looking for ways to improve the patient-provider relationship, and what better way than by improving AHT? Patients can rely on your services if you work with Sequence Health to better manage your health call center. Contact us today to learn how our expert team can improve the average handle time for better patient communication.
Benefits of Having a Low Average Speed of Answer Written by Jeff Tormey on August 12, 2024. Posted in Healthcare Companies. The average speed of answer (ASA) is a metric used in a medical assistance call center to measure how much time the agents take to receive incoming calls. It is one of the most important metrics for any healthcare center. The following are reasons why your call center should have a low average speed of answer. Low Abandonment Rate Abandonment rate in a healthcare call center means how many times calls are dropped before the patients get the chance to talk to an agent. For the best patient experience, you will be going for the lowest call abandonment rate. Luckily, when the ASA is low, it means that the agents take very little time to answer the calls, so fewer will be abandoned. Cost-effectiveness If you are wondering why a low ASA benefits your call center, know that it is an indication of how many hands you have on deck. The lower the ASA score, the better because then, the patient can tell that there are enough agents available. When the call stays in queue for a long time, t the facility will have to pay more to handle it. Patient Satisfaction Nothing makes current and prospective clients happier than knowing that they can get in touch with you within the shortest time. The overall patient satisfaction rate increases because they don’t have to wait long in line for someone to solve their problems. They will find it easy to call whenever they need anything. Read more: Call Center Customer Satisfaction: A Comprehensive Guide for Healthcare Providers Higher Lead Generation Another reason why your call center needs a low ASA is because it is good for business. If you can prove to potential clients that your healthcare center runs efficiently, they will easily trust your services, which further facilitates conversion rates. The more satisfied they are with your service delivery when it comes to receiving and handling their calls, the more they can trust you and are willing to do business with you. Agent Satisfaction Every healthcare call center wants to improve its call center retention rate, which reflects how long the company can retain its agents. When the ASA is low, the agents rarely deal with disgruntled patients and clients, so they stay happy and are able to focus on their job, which is listening and attending to the concerns of the callers. Talk to Medical Call Center Professionals If, for any reason, your call center is constantly dealing with high ASA, contact Sequence Health, a professional medical call center service provider, to help reduce the rates. By engaging the services of a professional to manage your medical call center, you will finally enjoy the benefits of low ASA, like low abandonment rate, customer satisfaction, and improved healthcare lead generation.
Benefits of Brand Strategy in Healthcare Marketing Written by Jeff Tormey on July 25, 2024. Posted in Healthcare Companies. Have you ever thought you had the right digital marketing strategy for your healthcare services, only for it to fail because it did not align with your brand? The audience should see your campaign and relate to it, understanding what you do and what your values are. That is why you need the following tips on how to develop an excellent healthcare brand strategy. Build the Foundation of the Brand You need a solid marketing team—from the content writers to the designers. You will all work together to come up with the foundation of the brand, finding your identity, voice, vision, and mission. Who are your target clients? What can they expect from you? Develop Brand Guidelines The marketing team is a crucial part of the process, and you want everyone on the same team, especially when you are planning to rebrand. Thanks to open communication and great teamwork in general, you can come up with a strong branding and digital marketing strategy together using guidelines like brand identity, visual style, messaging, and more. Find the Right Digital Channels Being in an industry like healthcare means that you must be very careful with the digital media that you use. You want to create an online presence, making sure that it is consistent and credible, with the goal being to come up with creative marketing campaigns with the highest client reach. For instance, large healthcare facilities benefit from channels like local SEO, websites, social media, and email campaigns, so find the right media and maximize it. Align the Content With the Message One of the main benefits of brand strategy in healthcare marketing is gaining an audience and increasing conversion rates. This is only possible if you can create content that matches the message. Over time, you want to create stories that relate to potential clients, focusing on aspects like trust or creating a memorable experience for everyone who walks into your offices. Consistent Branding The reason why voice and vision are important in brand marketing is that the audience can easily identify who you are and what you do because you have created a solid identity. To maintain this, it is important to stay consistent in all your campaigns. The message should be the same as it runs through all your websites, email marketing, and social media. Work on Your Brand Strategy There is a strong relationship between branding and successful digital marketing, and Sequence Health professionals ensure that this connection is leveraged effectively. Reach out to Sequence Health for all your marketing needs, including healthcare SEO services.
How to Improve Tone of Voice in a Medical Call Center Written by Jeff Tormey on July 24, 2024. Posted in Healthcare Companies. You want to offer your patients and clients the best service, and it all starts with using the right tone when answering incoming calls. Knowing how to improve your tone of voice in a call center makes your patients feel welcomed and comfortable seeking your services. So, how do you do that? Show a Positive Attitude People can easily read attitudes during conversations. Patients don’t want to call in and hear a robotic voice on the other end of the line. They want to feel positivity when communicating with someone who also shows empathy, especially during nurse triage service interactions. That’s why it is advisable to use phrases like “I understand” to make them feel connected. Read the Mood and Adjust the Tone Another trick when it comes to improving the tone of voice in a call center is to know how to approach different scenarios with the right tone. Know how to read the emotional state of the caller and approach them properly in order to help them. For instance, if the patient is calling to make a complaint and sounds frustrated, it will only get worse if they are approached in a casual tone. Stay Calm Staff who have worked in customer service for a long time know the ups and downs of their daily tasks. They meet all kinds of people, including rude and angry customers, and the only way to handle such cases is by staying calm. Being angry will show in your voice and tone, and patients will feel attacked and may escalate the situation. Stay Professional One challenge when learning how to improve tone of voice in customer service is finding the balance between being formal and casual. While you want to be friendly and understanding, also remember to maintain a high level of professionalism. When you have the right approach, it becomes easier to interact with patients and help them find solutions to their problems. This balance is key to delivering an effective solution for healthcare. Show Respect When you are operating a call center, including a multilingual one, patients can also detect respect in your tone. Therefore, make sure that you use the right words to show that you understand, and assure them that you will help them out. Remember to approach every client the same, even when they are rude and frustrated. Read more: What You Should Know About Multilingual Call Center Services Perfect Your Medical Call Center With Professional Help One of the most important aspects of operating a healthcare call center is to address the patient’s needs. Reach out to Sequence Health if you need a team with the right skill sets to handle all your patients and clients when they call in.
How Does Call Queueing Manage Call Center Flow? Written by Jeff Tormey on July 23, 2024. Posted in Healthcare Companies. Your healthcare call center should have a smooth-flowing system with high customer satisfaction rates and impressive feedback. That can only happen when there is proper call queue management. Take a look at how important the system is for your call flow. Reduced Hold Times What if you are dealing with an emergency and there is a patient waiting on the other end of the line? Having to deal with a long queue is the last thing you want your clients to go through, and chances are high that they hang up or consider changing practices. Make sure that patients are handled better when they call in and directed to the right responders who can help as soon as possible. Workload Distribution Another advantage of excellent call center queue management is that it also favors the staff. When you come up with a distribution system for all the agents, you effortlessly spread out the workload, so you never have to worry about a few staff members being overworked. In addition, you make sure that each call goes through to the right person so that there is no waiting for call transfers. Low Call Abandonment Rate Imagine callers hanging up because they are frustrated that they cannot go through to the right staff member or have to wait in a long queue. It means they are not getting the assistance they want. Better queueing management is needed, as the faster they are connected to the right person, the lower the chances of them abandoning the call, which is a win for your CSAT scores. Improved FCR Rates Your FCR (First Call Resolution) rates significantly improve when you learn how to manage your call queue. When patients reach out and have the staff pick up their calls, listen to them, and offer effective solutions on the first try, it earns you an excellent reputation among current and prospective clients. This also goes a long way to increase your revenue because customers are willing to work with facilities that prove to care about their needs. Read more: How to Improve Medical Call Center CSAT Scores Outsource Your Call Center Services From the Best There is a lot of solutions for healthcare to show customers that you care about them and their needs. With medical call center services, you have excellent call queue management, patients won’t have to wait long in line which helps reduce call abandonment rates and improve the FCR. Reach out to Sequence Health for more information.
Strategies to Optimize the Call Flow Process Written by Jeff Tormey on July 22, 2024. Posted in Healthcare Companies. There are ways to know that your healthcare call center is running smoothly, and it starts with the state of your call flow. When it comes to the call flow, the entire process involves the patients’ calls coming in and how the staff interacts with them to ensure that their issues are resolved. Considering how important the metric is, it helps to know how to improve the call flow. Simplify Call Rerouting If your healthcare call center uses IVR (Interactive Voice Response) to prescreen calls before rerouting them to the representative, you want to make sure that the transfer is smooth. For the best call flow, avoid having to take patients through an endless loop as they are trying to find a respondent. Check that the menu is short and easy to understand so they can get help within the shortest time. Read more: What Does IVR Stand For In a Call Center? Use Advanced Tech If you want to improve the call flow in customer service, make sure that you utilize technology. Apart from IVR, you can also use queueing and other routing strategies to ensure you make the experience better for the patients when they need assistance. You can also make use of call monitoring and real-time call recordings to identify issues during calls and make adjustments. Allow Flexibility to Go Off-Script One of the main challenges clients complain about is that the representatives sound too similar or almost robotic when addressing them. This can happen when there are strict rules to follow when it comes to the script. However, when you leave room for flexibility, the staff can go off-script when needed. Trust that the callers can detect when they are being addressed with empathy and the response is personalized. Provide Consistent Training and Mentorship The call center call flow is determined by the nature of interaction between the patient and the staff. Technology may be a huge part of the process, but since the center is run by humans, you want to invest in their training and skill sets. They should know how to actively listen, effectively communicate, solve various problems, and conduct themselves properly the entire time. Handling different people every day requires special skill sets that you can only support through continuous training. Optimize the Call Flow Process Imagine patients and potential clients calling the healthcare call center to find the tech working perfectly and the staff very helpful. If you want this for your facility, consider reaching out to our professionals at Sequence Health for exceptional patient conversion solutions.
Tips to Reduce AHT in a Call Center Written by Jeff Tormey on July 19, 2024. Posted in Healthcare Companies. Some of the most important metrics to measure in a call center are the First Call Resolution (FCR) and Average Handle Time (AHT). The AHT refers to the total amount of time the patient and the respondent stay on the call, including the talk and hold time. You’ll want to keep it at less than 6 minutes, so if your analysis shows a higher rate, then these tips on how to reduce AHT should come in handy. Use Call Routing Strategies You don’t want to lose patients because they get frustrated trying to talk to multiple agents about the same problem. Imagine having an Interactive Voice Response, allowing them to receive immediate responses before being handed over to a representative. Thanks to such a system, it is easier to assign calls to agents with the skill sets needed to offer assistance. This will significantly reduce the AHT. Read more: Navigating the Maze: Overcoming 3 Key Challenges in Integrated Voice Response Systems Use Call Recording and Monitoring Thankfully, most medical centers record all incoming calls, which makes it easier for managers and supervisors to conduct assessments. This is effective in how you lower AHT because the medical center can analyze how a patient was handled and detect any issues that could be contributing to high AHT. Feedback guides the team in making the necessary corrections and improving service delivery. Improve Training and Onboarding Strategies Sometimes, the reason why AHT is so high is because the agents don’t have sufficient skills to help the patients when they call in. It is important for agents to have the necessary training in operating a medical call center. Onboarding and continuous training methods should be thorough, including instruction in conflict resolution and effective communication. Provide Well-Structured Scripts Are you wondering why the customer satisfaction rate has been so low and are thinking about how to improve AHT in your call center? Why not try using scripts? These can work well for agents when used properly alongside thorough training when there is a need to go off-script. This way, the staff can provide accurate information to every caller. They’ll know how to phrase their questions for follow-ups and won’t have to spend a lot of time coming up with answers from scratch. Streamline Your Call Center With the Help of a Professional What happens when your staff is handling other matters and there is no one on the phones? You want to make sure your health call center is still running perfectly and at the best AHT rate. Contact Sequence Health to help you with providing comprehensive healthcare solutions.