What is the Secret to succeed in an e-commerce Healthcare business?
E-commerce turned the tables for retail marketing and in recent years, it has grown incredibly. Compared to 12 billion dollar business in 2015 e-commerce has reached to 32.7 billion in 2017 and is expected to touch 76 billion dollars by 2021 in India ( data source: Euromonitor). With the surge of online retail websites and mobile apps in e-commerce, even the healthcare industry is facing the heat.
E-commerce completely relies on the internet and the digital world; the mobile penetration and internet is the backbone of the growth of e-commerce. Hence pharmaceutical companies, non-profit organizations etc are all coping with the challenges stimulated by the internet and the digital world. The demand for an elite quality of product be it electronics or household or healthcare is a consumerâs first priority. Healthcare has become the next big affair in e-commerce since it has the colossal potential to offer.
With features like video conferencing, online consulting, telemedicine etc healthcare saw new breaks for evolution. Healthcare went from maintaining âpatient recordsâ to âpatientâ biographiesâ. Looking at the industry tenors, the healthcare e-commerce will have an amplified growth in the coming years.
The head and front carters of the online healthcare
Time and cost: The presence of healthcare e-commerce has eased the day not only by saving time but also money. Consumers can now access these facilities sitting at home and none the less keep their privacy.
Call for personified products or services: The healthcare e-commerce endows the consumers to get the products or services personalize as per their needs.
Technology: Technology has provided the paramount tool to move out of the paperwork. It is a simpler job to maintain online histories, records of patients, prescriptions etc and even share the same with them.
With the advent of e-commerce, arose the e-commerce development services in India, creating an immense requirement for retail websites and mobile apps. Pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, healthcare clinics etc are all digitized now and stemming and maintaining user friendly websites and apps to offer their services. Hence almost all of the healthcare service providers are approaching mobile app and website development companies in India and across the globe to set in motion their healthcare e-commerce facilities in the form of apps and/or websites.
Success in healthcare e-commerce can be a stout investment in infrastructure, technology and business models. To succeed in healthcare e-commerce, there are a lot of best practices that can be followed. Following are some pointers that can help you beat the game of healthcare e-commerce.
Healthcare industry paradigm and market research:
This is the first and foremost step in starting a healthcare e-commerce business. Even before approaching an e-commerce development services in India or anywhere, you need to do a research to find out what the trend is and what the top genres of healthcare e-commerce are. You will sell successfully once you know what you want to sell. Hence study about the best healthcare products, services etc online; you can also read about what people are talking about healthcare on Facebook or watch about it on YouTube.
With that being said, also collect details about what are the offers and the best selling healthcare products. Following are some top genres that consumers look for today:
- Skin care
- Weight loss
- Diabetics
- Heart concerns
- Natural care
- Diet
All in all, the business objective should be clearly defined before the play starts.
Exhibiting and portraying the products:
Consumers or patients canât check each product or service physically and hence they rely on the information provided on the internet about the same. Hence provide enlarged images or detailed information about the products and the services. For example, when buying a product from Amazon or PayTm or eBay, they have a section for the product called âProduct Detailsâ which provides detailed information about that product. If possible provide contact details of the right person so that consumers can reach out for queries and clarifications.
Intent of your e-commerce application:
Every website or app has a purpose to serve. Defining the purpose and prioritizing the offerings of your website or app will help the team provide an eminent solution. Judge and map every goal of sections of your application so that consumers can take the best advantage of all your offerings. This will help your organization achieve its goal. The intent of an online solution always is not to increase sales or sign-ups but also to how consumers are engaged with your brand online.
Tie up with existing brick and mortar of Healthcare:
When patients approach hospitals, not every hospital has a healthcare app or website; hence you can approach them to publicize your website or mobile app. You can have the doctors give information to their patients about the same. On similar lines, you can also have these well established hospitals, healthcare clinics publish information about your brand or products on their existing websites etc. It is a boost to your business and helps in building trust when the bricks and mortars of healthcare promote your products or services.
Design of the e-commerce website:
The design and flow of the website or mobile app should be kept as simple and fluid as possible. Avoid creating too many flows because that creates complexities and thus loss of consumer interest. Emphasize the crucial functionalities of your application to attract consumers and increase your business. Like links to listing best healthcare products can be provided on every page with loud colors to grab the attention of the consumer. Avoid adding functionalities which are not very related to your healthcare business and are likely to be not visited (or used) by consumers.
Design of the e-commerce mobile app:
Like the website, mobile apps are also very crucial tools in the success of your healthcare e-commerce business. Hence the app also should be designed simple and straightforward. The mobile app should be designed for the most commonly used OS and their commonly used versions. The landing screen of your app after signup or login should always be the listing screen of the products or services. While designing mobile app keep the fact in mind that not everyone is using the latest OS.
Loyalty Programs:
If we look at Amazonâs âPrimeâ program, it helped them increase their business by providing special facilities who subscribed to their Prime program. Similarly provide special facilities like within 24-hour delivery, discount on products, free first checkups etc for consumers who have accounts and are regular users.
Fitting content to get on the beam:
Content is a very important contributor to your success in e-commerce. The content of your application should convey on the dot your offerings. Search engine ranking is based on the content quality and is very vital in enhancing your marketing efforts. The right content should not only be devised but refreshed with changing trends and enhancements in your e-commerce application; in short, the content should be fresh and not outdated.
Using the best technology solution:
There is a vast availability of technology solutions for designing the application and it poses a question about which one to use. Choose the technology that will best suit your purpose and need. Like there are apps designed in Java, HTML, PHP, Ruby etc but not every technology is the best suited for every need. The choice should be such that it will provide a robust and handy solution resulting in consumer satisfaction.
Digital marketing:
Digital marketing is the elemental strategy followed by all kinds of businesses small or big to match the pace of the growing market. Digital marketing is not only adaptive but the results are assessable. Digital marketing offers you a platform to tell stories of your brand(s). This doesnât mean that traditional marketing is behind the times but compared to digital marketing it doesnât reach to every individual.
Digital marketing gives you access to mass media at a very affordable price and hence prove to be an effectual tool for starting a business. It also helps you obtain elaborate information about how your consumers are using your brand website or reacting to your promotions. It not only helps in the initial stage of starting a business but even well-established businesses get the maximum benefit of digital marketing to enhance their consumer experience.
Might of Social media:
Social media allows you to connect with your potential consumers, who can, in turn, promote your brand and offerings further on social media. It also helps you to watch for what other competitors are offering, what the society is talking about healthcare etc. It can be used as a powerful tool to improve your offerings, marketing and consumerâs experience. Being active on social media will help you seize the attention of the consumers.
If you are offering any discounts or special services make sure you are advertising it on all social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc and on the contrary if you have tie ups with retailers like Amazon, Flipkart etc channel these advertisements on their landing pages of websites or apps. This will help consumers notice your offerings.
Take Away:
Technology has changed the face of retail marketing and is offering a great platform for healthcare e-commerce to grow. It has created a platform that offers a comprehensive range of brands of products and services to the consumers and patients. When looking for the best medical facilities, with the presence of feedbacks and tools to compare the products it becomes easy to quickly search and conclude what will suit a consumerâs need.