Patient AcquisitionCase StudiesTransitioning to digitally-based patient acquisition from traditional media focus

Overview

• Company  is  a  multi-­‐state,  multi-­‐site  medical  provider  • Large  potential  patient  population  with  only  a  small  percentage  seeking  

treatment• Medical  condition  a  good  fit  with  consumer  marketing  principles:    self-­‐

identifiable,  treatment  is  safe  and  well  tolerated,  procedures  are  reimbursed

• Market  is  highly  fragmented  with  diverse  competitors  per  metro  area;  competitive  promotion  is  similar  and  lackluster

• Opportunity  to  implement  sophisticated  marketing  program  to  increase  inquiry  volume  and  patient  yield

• Outcome  was  an  increase  in  the  financial  performance  and  market  position  of  the  company  

Problem and Solution

• Problem:     How  to  control  patient  acquisition  costs  which  are  escalating  to  the  point  of  diminishing  return?

• Solution:     Increase  more  efficient  digitally-­‐based  patient  acquisition  to  lower  total  patient  acquisition  cost.  

Executive Summary

• Early  entrant  in  extensive  utilization  of  traditional  media  (e.g.  TV/radio)  for  patient  acquisition

• Competitors  imitated,  decreasing  share  of  voice  and  increasing  acquisition  costs

• Traditional  media  cost  per  consult  higher  but  driving  greater  volume

• Tactical  update  must  lower  acquisition  cost  while increasing  patient  volume

• Increased  digitally-­‐acquired  inquiries  by  82%;  decreased  acquisition  cost  by  18%

Brief History

• Early  entrant  in  extensive  utilization  of  traditional  media  (e.g.  TV/radio)  for  patient  acquisition

• Demonstrated  significant  early  returns,  positioning  company  as  national  leader

• Competitors  imitated,  decreasing  share  of  voice  (SOV)  and  increasing  acquisition  costs

• Needed  to  identify  scalable  and  predicable  alternative  to  supplement  to  traditional  media  promotion

Key Challenges

• Share  of  voice  decreasing  due  to  intense  fragmented  competition

• Very  low  cost  of  entry  to  digital  promotion

• High  organic  search  (SEO)  ranking  challenging  due  to  changing  Google  algorithms  toward  social  and  video

• Increasing  penetration  of  mobile  search;  current  website  not  mobile  optimized

• Traditional  media  driving  the  highest  volume  of  leads  and  works  in  conjunction  with  digital  promotion

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Financial Performance

• Escalating  acquisition  costs  due  to  increased  competitive  pressure  

• Traditional  media  cost  per  consult  higher  but  driving  greater  volume  than  other  tactics

• Reimbursement  decreasing  on  key  CPT  codes  putting  additional  pressure  on  acquisition  cost

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What did our data tell us

• Core  demographic  – Increasing  consumption  of  digital  media;  skewing  heavier  toward  

social  media– Most  likely  to  go  online  to  learn  more  about  their  condition

• Strong  digital  spend  correlation  with  inquiry  generation• SEM  and  Facebook  were  the  most  cost  effective  promotions  

(highest  indexed  effectiveness)• Over  50%  of  patients  accessed  website  via  mobile  device

Key Issues and Decision Criteria

Objective:    Tactical  update  must  lower  acquisition  cost  while increasing  patient  volume

• Need  to  decrease  traditional  media  spend  on  a  per  market  basis• Digital  programs  must  compensate  for  decreased  traditional  media  spend  

per  market• Need  to  ensure  acquisition  process  is  as  simple  as  possible  due  to  high  

competition• Need  multiple  levers  of  tactics  from  immediate  implementation  to  

strategic  investment• Meaningful  scale  required

Tactical objective is to decrease acquisition cost while increasing volume

Primary  digital  tactics  selectedScalable Predictable Reproducible Low  capital  

requirementTime  to  Market

New  responsive  design  website

✓ ✓ ✓

Optimization of  website ✓ ✓

Display  ads  with  dynamic  creative

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Facebook: ads,  Exchange,  retargeting

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

SEM  campaign  updates ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Expansion  of  social  promotion  incl.  blogs,  etc.

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Outcome: combination of all digital channels had a dramatic impact on patient acquisition cost

• Increased  digitally-­‐acquired  inquiries  by  82%  

• Webform  consult  requests  surging  to  50%  of  total  inquires

• Sustained  conversion  rate  from  inquiry  to  patient

• Decreased  acquisition  cost  by  18%

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