As modern customers grow to expect more convenience and ease of use from their purchases, remote care, also called teleaudiology, offers new ways to attract and serve clients. Remote care has come to the fore recently with the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the reasons remote care has been so crucial during virus lockdown make it a hugely appealing approach even during more normal times.
- 51% said that remote care was part of their strategy moving forward for follow-ups and counselling.
- 45% said that it was part of their plan for the fine-tuning and adjustment of hearing aids.
- 86% of polled organizations adopted telehealth programs to improve patient engagement and satisfaction.
- 87% cited patient convenience as a primary motivator. Responding to the changing landscape with a clear strategy to offer remote care for those who want it will be a boon to both your clients and your business.
Remote appointments can be useful for upkeep such as fine-tuning or adjustment of hearing aids, and can even be helpful for larger-scale projects such as counselling sessions and the ongoing support of tinnitus therapy clients. Simply put, offering remote care helps attract clients, increase inquiries, and lower costs per customer acquisition.
These same concepts help frame how to approach remote care opportunities. Solving problems quickly and offering convenience are two key ways to promote client loyalty. Remote care allows you to more easily meet their needs for convenience and rapid response. While remote care will not replace every appointment and cannot meet every need, it does allow providers to respond rapidly when the opportunity arises. Integrating remote care into your offerings requires close attention and a careful touch.
Remote care may also be helpful to attract and keep the younger clients who represent a steadily growing segment of your business. Also consider other things that may be attractive to this demographic, such as early or late opening times that will not interfere with their work schedule.
Sources:
The Hearing Review, Results of the Covid-19 Impact Survey #2 (April 9-17) for Hearing Healthcare Practices: https://www.hearingreview.com/practice-building/marketing/surveys-statistics/results-of-covid-19-impact-survey-2-april-8-16-for-hearing-healthcare-practices
mHealth Intelligence, Survey: Telemedicine Helps the Patient More Than the Provider: https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/survey-telemedicine-helps-the-patient-more-than-the-provider