3 ways healthcare companies are improving customer experience

Healthcare workers were deeply impacted by the global pandemic. While other businesses shuttered their doors, hospitals and insurance providers pushed their limits to care for patients. Kind words and personal attention go far with patients, especially when they’re already stressed. People turn to healthcare professionals when they’re worried and sick, so great customer service is absolutely critical. But what does that mean in practice?

Personalized experiences are now expected, and impressing younger customers is an even tougher task. According to our latest Customer Experience Trends Report, Millennials and GenZers tend to have much stronger opinions about what a good customer experience should look like, and they are more critical of companies that don’t measure up.

With all this at stake, it’s critical to give your care team the right technology to do their job well. Read on to see how three healthcare companies are creating better customer experiences.

1. Adapt to changing patient needs in the virtual world

Some of the changes in healthcare over the past few years were temporary, but the rise of telehealth is likely here to stay. The number of patients using telemedicine has increased 38x since 2019, and 76 percent of patients say they want to continue using telehealth in the future. New tools are helping to take the sting out of managing care and changing the way patients and providers communicate with each other.

Saludsa, an Ecuadorian healthcare company, offers prepaid medicine and services to more than 200,000 customers. During the pandemic, the company’s telemedicine queries skyrocketed 400 percent as people switched from in-person to online healthcare visits. Because Saludsa had already implemented technology that allowed for automated workflows, it was able to scale its service seamlessly.

And increased efficiency didn’t disrupt patient results—the Net Promoter Score® (NPS) for its 24/7 medical service increased from 5 to 8.5 out of 10. Having the right tech ensured Saludsa was agile enough to react to big changes on a fast timeline.

“Our customers also know that they are not just another number and that we have a clear picture of each person’s entire story, without them having to repeat it to each person they come in contact with,” says Laura Lalama, national reimbursement manager at Saludsa. “Bringing human warmth to support, even when using automated tools, is something that customers value very highly and that we can offer them with Zendesk.”

“Bringing human warmth to support, even when using automated tools, is something that customers value very highly and that we can offer them with Zendesk.”Laura Lalama, Saludsa

2. Empower digital patient-centered healthcare with a human touch

Luma Health is a healthtech company that provides a modern, mobile-first communication experience for patients and providers. With its digital health platform, Luma Health boosts access to care and streamlines communications across the patient journey—from digital scheduling to automated appointment reminders to secure telehealth visits and more.

Relying on technology to collect key patient data saves providers valuable time. And it saves patients time, too—which creates better experiences. When patients can securely chat with providers about health concerns and check-in for appointments on their mobile devices, it makes the whole process flow more smoothly. As Luma Health expanded to larger customers with more complex needs, Zendesk helped the company drop its wait times by 30 percent, raise CSAT by 5 points, and maintain compliance.

“Zendesk is a BAA-compliant platform that expedited our workflows a lot,” says Leo Magalhaes, lead technical support engineer at Luma Health. “We don’t need external tools anymore to provide data or get data from customers. We can now do everything directly in Zendesk.”

“We don’t need external tools anymore to provide data or get data from customers. We can now do everything directly in Zendesk.”Leo Magalhaes, Luma Health

3. Streamline patient communications with secure technology

Omada Health takes an innovative, integrated approach to patient care. The San Francisco-based company delivers chronic disease prevention programs through web and mobile apps and wearable technologies, aided by human health coaches.

As the company grew, it saw a need to improve its internal systems in order to provide exceptional customer service. After switching to Zendesk, the company was able to boost its CX. Aided by the newfound ability to track metrics, like abandoned calls and time-on-ticket, and to prioritize tickets based on service level agreements, the Omada Health team now boasts a 95 percent first-touch resolution rate with phone calls and an 85 percent first-touch resolution rate across all channels.

The company also realized some impressive time savings. “We took a two-minute support process, identifying and validating inbound contacts, and reduced it to mere seconds,” says Bill Dougherty, VP of IT and security at Omada Health.

“We took a two-minute support process, identifying and validating inbound contacts, and reduced it to mere seconds.” Bill Dougherty, Omada Health

Agility has always been important, but now it’s an imperative

The ability to react to global events and changing customer expectations is key to success. In healthcare, teams also need to manage a growing number of data sources and complicated processes. Bringing together your patient data in a safe and secure way can help you provide stellar service to patients, and give you the flexibility to adapt to what comes next.