Educating consumers is all about giving them the right information at the right time, in a way they can digest. An informed and empowered consumer will make better choices about the things they care about most: Picking better schools, choosing better healthcare, and using technology to the benefit of the brands or companies they’re using. In short, educating consumers can help you reach your revenue goals.
Today’s consumers have the choice to become empowered. They now have access to many new points of information. For example, when a patient is more informed about their medical condition, treatment methods, and options, they’re much more likely to make clear, educated decisions about their healthcare treatments. That benefits more than the patient. It benefits the medical provider, the physicians and more.
Check out these three tips for helping consumers find exactly what they are looking for.
There is a new consumer emerging because of this power, and they are serious about what drives them and the decisions they make. You can see this in action in several industries:
Financial
For banks, mortgage lenders, and other financial institutions, financial literacy continues to be a hot topic. If consumers understood their financial choices better, they would use the system more appropriately. In other words, they would save more, invest smarter, and borrow more responsibly.
Education
Selecting a school for your children is one of the most important choices facing parents today. From a variety of preschools to charter, private and public primary education, to a wide selection of colleges and universities, parents and students need the right information to understand the options, what the benefits are and what the costs will be.
Construction
Technology and big data have changed this industry dramatically in the last 20 years. As machines become more and more connected, it may be hard for consumers to keep up with the latest trends.
Healthcare
Perhaps no other sector has changed the need for a more informed consumer than healthcare. In healthcare, there is more emphasis on education and empowering consumers and patients, because the future of healthcare is patient-centered care (Empowering consumers to manage their health). But, what about the consumer who’s not as aware or informed? How do they cut through the noise?
Navigating the landscape
Healthcare consumers are often overwhelmed with complex terms and details in comparing plan options. Whether in the individual market, a private exchange, or working with a benefits manager, presenting your plans in a way that consumers understand, improves their health literacy and keeps them from making bad choices. It’s not an easy thing to do. Pharma and medical devices companies, when preparing for an FDA review for an OTC switch or getting a device ready for home-delivery, understand that if a consumer is going to use a treatment on their own, the instructions must be clear. If consumers don’t understand how to use something effectively—they may give up quickly, meaning they won’t repurchase and they won’t recommend.
Educating consumers in the healthcare industry
To illustrate the point: ThoughtForm’s work with Philips CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) Device indicated a level of understanding rarely seen in the approach to the transformation of a product and a brand. For some backstory, Philips Respironics is a healthcare arm of Royal Philips, a global leader in sleep and respiratory markets. Philips, renowned for its patient-centered innovations in sleep apnea management, oxygen therapy, and respiratory drug delivery, wanted to offer more support to their patients who use the CPAP device. Understanding that the device can be intimidating, Philips needed a way to make patients and their caregivers more comfortable during the therapy process.
ThoughtForm’s solution sought to define and expand upon the literature that accompanied the CPAP device. This information is vital to the long-term success and compliance of the patient, making it critical that the patient has everything they need to thoroughly understand it, so they can use it. ThoughtForm’s Welcome Kit guided patients through the process of starting CPAP therapy at home. This included setup of the device itself.
Informed consumers take full advantage of the wide array of information available. As a result, they demand better service, accessibility, and accountability. Companies should listen because it’s in their best interest. Informed consumers become better, more frequent and more interested consumers, willing to spend more. That’s a win for you and your bottom line.
Give your consumers the clarity they crave! Here are 6 clarity methods to help you defeat confusion.