A digital-first approach to perfecting the client experience.

By having certain digital-first business systems and marketing in place and paying attention to the details, you'll be able to make a lasting impression throughout that person's client journey.

We'll cover three absolute must-haves and some simple changes you can make that will significantly impact the client experience. Of course, you will have heard of some of these examples before, but that's because of their importance. Overlooking them may cost you. And while the more 'outside of the box ideas' may seem a little overboard, they can turn your clinic from being pleasantly memorable to being utterly unforgettable.

Going in with a plan Branding is the best way to improve the client experience as it allows you to have a clear and consistent look, feel and message wherever people may discover you.

Having a strong brand is a critical part of creating a fantastic client experience because when someone meets you or steps foot in your clinic for the first time, they will instantly form an impression. Their impression may be of how caring you are, how professional you look, if your clinic feels welcoming or reassuring.

Whatever that is for you, you need to take that impression you want people to have and project it across all your digital (and non-digital) platforms. Branding allows you to achieve this high level of consistency. So, if you want to plan, build and establish an excellent client experience, branding is your first step.

Must-haves

Your digital presence must be seamless so you can provide a great client experience—all the way from understanding if you're the right practitioner for them through to booking an appointment.

People can get to know you through your consistent look, feel and message (branding), building what I like to call 'digital trust'. There are many ways to build digital trust, but let's focus on a tried and tested trio of combining a powerful website, online booking and Google My Business.

The key word here is 'combination'. By creating and optimising your Google My Business, having an SEO-driven website and making online booking easy, you can turn searchers into clients automatically. Your ability to get clients from Google is strongest when this chain is intact.

The core of this combination is your website. It's your most effective digital marketing asset. Therefore, you must update your website so it can continue to rank highly and attract suitable clients into your circles automatically.

Digital-first care from a mechanic

My mum has taken her car to the same mechanic shop for years, and her latest registration check was no different. However, there was something new about this years' check.

Instead of taking her car in, then pick it up the following day, this time she dropped it off, and by the end of the working day, she received a text. The text contained a video from the mechanic who serviced her car. "Hello, Mrs Winbow. Your car is ready to be picked up at your earliest convenience. Here's what I've done with it." He then explained everything he checked and fixed, all in easy to understand terminology that even my knows-nothing-about-cars mum could understand.

Well, you can imagine my mum's excitement, going around telling me, my family, basically the entire street! The mechanic providing a simple 2-minute front-facing camera video had turned my mum from an already loyal customer to a walking advocate. By over-delivering on expectation, my mum, in turn, unknowingly rewarded them by showing off the quality of the customer care experience she'd received.

The mechanic's explainer video is an excellent example that we can translate into healthcare. We can also use a digital-first approach with the technology at our fingertips to excel for our patients.

For example, if you prescribe exercises via email or text, using a system like Physitrack or your own YouTube exercise videos is a hugely valuable tool for clients to access at any time effortlessly. Or have an automatic email go out to every new client three days after their appointment to answer any questions they may have had during their expected 48-hours of treatment reaction.

Thinking about scalability

While you're thinking about digital-first changes, it's essential to think about how they give you the ability to scale. For instance, if you had 100 new clients in a month, could you handle calling every one of them? What if you had 200?

Going back to my mum's mechanic, they could only continue to offer after-inspection videos as they grow their business by hiring more mechanics. Therefore, we need to provide an excellent client experience that works no matter how busy we get. Having automatic emails or text messages to check in with your client on your behalf allows you to manage an unlimited number of new clients.

Summary

The client experience can be perfected by integrating digital-first business systems and marketing methods into our practice. First, establish your foundations with branding, then combine SEO-driven website with Google My Business and online booking. If you do this while thinking about scalability, you can create a seamless client-centric experience no matter how rapidly your clinic grows.

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