Are you an IVF Clinic?
Looking to understand buyer behaviour online?
Around 48,000 couples per year in the UK receive IVF treatment. My wife and I are one of those 48,000.
Many people don’t like discussing the fact that they are going for IVF as the subject does seem to have some taboo surrounding it.
My wife and I have been trying for a baby for two years with no success and we are about to go for IVF treatment. This post came about because of our frustration on the lack of credible information out there.
As the owner of an inbound marketing agency this also had me thinking about how IVF clinics could be doing so much more to attract the right kind of people to their clinics.
A Lack of credible information
When my wife and I were looking for information on what is involved in IVF we found very little professional information out there.
We had to read unofficial blogs and forums just to get answers to some basic questions.
Some of our questions:
- What’s the difference between ICSI and IVF and which one is best for us?
- Do I have to inject myself during IVF treatment and is support given for this?
- What are the chances of IVF working for me?
- What kind of drugs do I have to take and for how long?
- Are there any side effects and indeed long lasting effects of taking the drugs?
Some people can find the process of going for IVF very lonely. Couples can be made to feel isolated, thinking that no one else feels the same way as them.
After a while most friends have successfully created their families and tend to meet up with each other, often leaving the childless couple out, not wanting them to feel…em…. awkward.
I’m sure these childless couples would rather be there enjoying the company of their friends rather than sitting at home feeling left out. It’s difficult for the families with children too though, they’re not sure what to say or how to help as no one ever talks about it!
When I did a Google search for each of these questions only 8% of the search results were IVF clinics, the rest were unofficial blogs, the NHS and forums. The other thing I noticed was of this 8% a very small amount were even in the UK.
What IVF clinics can learn
If you want to reach your patients and become a thought leader in your industry, you must start creating content that helps to answer their most common questions.
Most healthcare websites use content that is ‘salesy’ and talks about their services to acquire patients through their website.
It would not surprise me if these websites have low conversion rates. Don’t get me wrong, you need this kind of content but don’t rely on it to create relationships, thought leadership and to help your patients.
Create videos explaining the process, blog content that answers people’s fears, list support groups and meet ups where people can go to discuss these things. If this is not happening already, then host these groups yourself.
When I did a search on Google for “IVF clinics” none of the clinics listed had a blog that answered patients’ most asked questions. Two sites do deserve a mention: Midland Fertility Services did have an active forum that at least offered some help and London Women’s clinic did answer some of the questions on their website so a least they were trying to be helpful.
What the healthcare industry can learn
If you want to acquire more patients then you need to start being more helpful in the content you create on your website. This will have a major positive effect for your business.
It will help with:
- Increasing humility to your brand
- Answering the most frequently asked questions
- Reaching more people who are interested
- Becoming a thought leader
- Acquiring more patients
Sit down with your whole team and brainstorm ideas for questions that your patients have had, and create content around answering these questions. This could be helpful blog content, videos or social media updates.
This helps to draw in your buyer personas and increases your leads and the amount of patients you receive.
How can inbound marketing help
If creating all of this kind of content sounds impossible then I know what you mean, I have worked with many businesses in the healthcare industry and they struggle to find the time because they are just so busy.
Inbound marketing can help you to identify the questions you need to be creating content on and if you hire an agency they can even help you to create this content.
Inbound will help you to attract the right kind of people with helpful content. Turn these visitors into leads and patients, delight them so they are extremely happy.
Key take aways
If you, the experts, are not the people creating helpful content that helps your patients to make their decisions, then you run the risk of losing out on a lot of business.
Your prospective patients are crying out for this kind of information and as I have demonstrated here today, your competitors are not doing it either.
Isn’t it time you did?
For more in-depth guidance on how to successfully carry out digital marketing strategies for your business, click here to learn about our free ebook: “Digital Healthcare Marketing in a Nutshell”.
Now it’s your turn
How do you market your healthcare business? What part does your website play in your healthcare marketing? Let me know in the comments below.