How content affects patient perception w Jackie Bebenroth

Jackie  00:00

It’s important to your points really survey your customers or prospective customers. So we recently invested in a proprietary study of 500 Functional Medicine Patients, we wanted to know what they were searching for when they were looking for a functional medicine doctor, what kept them satisfied through the experience, what communication techniques helped with their success, of achieving their wellness goals, and then what they wanted from their functional medicine doctors, because my agency really wants to specialize in that area. And I wasn’t confident just in the small group of functional medicine doctors, we were working with it, I had those answers. So we invested something like $18,000 in a study, in this report, so that we would know. And so I always recommend that for brands if you have the time and the budget to do so do an external study. And then also if you have a database, a simple online survey goes miles to validating or discrediting the assumptions that you’re making about your consumer mindset.

Misbah Haque  01:03

I love that you did the study with functional medicine doctors because it makes it a little bit even though they’re medical professionals. And that part might not be relatable. There is this one-on-one and experience-driven element there that is relatable for a lot of other service industries, that survey technique seems like something that I mean, I started using it, and maybe I should have done it way earlier on. It’s it’s really how you get the most out of that survey, I think, is by asking the right questions. Because if you make the questions too complicated, I found that most people won’t answer it. Or it’s just you won’t get the right response. Right, your waist. One of the questions that can’t be too long, right? If it’s 10 questions, I’ll bounce. But if it’s three quick, Hey, check this off, instead of maybe a long answer. Sometimes I’ll do it, especially if I can relate as like, especially if it also seems like you’re going to do something with i t.  Like, if it feels like maybe kind of this automated version, which, of course, we all want to do. But if you like let’s say a functional medicine doctor or something you, you called me or you texted me. And even if it was like your assistant who did it one on one, and it was like not the unsubscribe thing. And you’re like, Whoa, this person actually reached out to check-in, that would be a game-changer, it would completely change my experience. So I just want to say that. And then one of the things I didn’t want to gloss over, I want to ask you, first kudos to you, too, for investing in the study. You mentioned proprietary study, what does that mean?

Jackie  02:44

So that is something that we did not do any secondary research for we created and designed the survey ourselves, we design the questions. And then we went out to a panel. And we qualified each and every one of those people and made sure that data was pure, created a report that was very unique and exclusive to our company. So as far as we know, no one has done a survey like that. And I’m now using it as a way to sort of shop around to different conferences because I believe that these physicians have plenty to learn in terms of their clinical knowledge, but they also have to learn business knowledge, and there’s just doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of that in that field right now.

Misbah  03:25

My next question, of course, is what did you find?  So this is very sophisticated how you did it? And I’m also very curious how you replicate this. So do you have intentions of like, doing more studies? Or? Because the avenue you went there, I think is inspiring. And maybe if it’s not more studies that you do somebody else’s out there is like, Oh, I’ve wanted to test this out. I mean, you said it took $18,000 I think it’s fascinating to at least put a number to it. You’re like, okay, that’s what it would cost to prove this. But you put a lot of money into this put a lot of time and energy. What did you find were? What was kind of? I’m sure there was a lot, but what kind of the preliminary findings? And are you able to share that right now?

Jackie  04:08

Certainly. So the most fascinating point and epiphany that kind of came out of this was the role of process communication. And I think that this not just applies to functional medicine and its patients, but to transformative brands. Overall, The finding was when you communicate your process for transformation upfront on your website, and you use that process throughout the patient experience and align specific metrics to that patient experience. In that program, you are going to have a more satisfied patient. First, you’re going to increase your conversion rate. To get new patients you’re going to have a higher satisfied patient who stays with you longer and is more likely to refer your business and I had this assumption because I’ve had a functional medicine experience where I went in and the doctor was like, tell me about your And I was like, here’s my goals. And she’s like, Okay, here’s a bunch of supplements. And then I need you to get up in the morning and do like, all kinds of energy work and these crazy energy work things, standing to the east at sunrise.

Misbah Haque  05:18

Here’s a compass.

Jackie  05:20

So I dropped a couple of 100 bucks up in the morning, like, 5:30, or whatever, doing these crazy things for 20 minutes a day. And then like, I get, like, a couple of weeks into this, and I’m like, what is happening? What am I doing? Why am I doing it? Where are we going? And she couldn’t tell me. She just could not tell me she couldn’t give me any metrics to show progress to my goal. And so I left and I could have been a high-value patient. I could have been there for many years, but I was only there for a couple of months. And so this process, it’s like, okay, define like, Okay, we’re going to heal your body, then we’re going to do this, then we’re going to do this. And then these are the measurements, we’re going to take through your blood panel, we’re going to look for these. So you actually have it’s almost like a roadmap. So you have a start and you have a finish. And here’s what you can expect along the way. You have to do that for people who want a transformational journey and who need to know where they’re at, so they don’t feel lost. And I just think that’s super important for any wellness brand. To understand, you know, help people understand the method to your madness.