But where and how does personalization fit into the medical product vertical? Sure – you can leverage the typical personalization strategies listed above, but additional complexities reign true when you add in HIPAA and PHI. These consumer and patient safeguards can make personalization challenging. That being said, there are still ways that medical device organizations should and can leverage personalization efforts to provide patients and consumers with the right types of content to help educate and inform decisions in a category that is more important than any other: our health.
Here are three ways personalization can and will help consumers find medical products that will help them live healthier lives:
Guided Selling Workflows
Before brands look to put products in the face of consumers that hit their eCommerce site, it’s a good idea to provide a workflow that asks a few questions about the consumer and their condition. This can be done through a guided selling workflow in which a digital experience does just that. Asking questions around the condition of the consumer and the varying levels and severity of that condition provides some baselines that can be leveraged to put that customer in one type of medical product vs. another. This approach also provides an added level of trust with the consumer who may be visiting this digital experience for the first time or is still new to their or a family member’s condition. The most important element of the guided selling workflow is to give consumers options. At the end of the questions, suggesting a product is ideal – however, if certain criteria aren’t met, suggesting that the customer call into customer service is a fantastic way to build trust and provide conversational support.
LEARN MORE: Impact decision-making, engage audiences, and drive conversions with our Guided Selling Commerce Experience Solution
Condition-Specific Education and Content
One of the more challenging elements of eCommerce is getting consumers to sign up and create accounts. Sometimes guest checkout is just easier, right? However, within the medical product space – asking a customer to create an account may be easier than it’s ever been. Why? Because brands can incentivize consumers to build an account to have curated education, content, and products based on their condition. This is a fantastic way to leverage some elements of the guided selling workflow but pivot it to “tell us a bit about you.” If someone has diabetes, asking them questions about their activity levels, diet, and medication provides the brand with a persona type that can be leveraged to drive personalized elements. Additionally, as this consumer purchases and digests content, the personalized journey will and should change – which is why brands must leverage personalization engines to help drive this omnichannel content curation.
Personalized Product Builds
Finally, personalization goes way beyond just experiences on-site or in-store. Personalization plays a role in the actual product itself. Consumers should have the ability to customize whatever medical product they are purchasing. Here’s an example. According to the Wheelchair Foundation, over 131 million people in the world need a wheelchair. This holds massive importance because all 131 million of these people are their own person, have their own stories, and want to live their own life. With that, they should be able to have the option to customize the wheelchair that is part of their life. Allowing consumers to customize and personalize medical products they need to use daily, often publicly, allows them to be who they are and leverage a level of expression through a medical product they need to live.
Whether you’re a B2B or B2C brand, the above elements can be leveraged in your business to drive higher adoption, customer satisfaction, and revenue. The world as we know it has become extremely personalized and will continue to do so as consumers demand products and services tailored to who they are. When looking to add elements of personalization within your medical product mix – consider the three approaches above to get started. As you move down this path, always remember that the products you make or sell are helping to allow people to live better, healthier lives. Keeping this in mind will always ensure that you have the customer’s best interest at the forefront of your strategy.
Need help getting started with personalizing your medical product experience? Contact us.
