Website views, the number of new connections made, and income gains or losses are metrics we use to classify success when discussing data analytics and to analyze ROI. These metrics are beneficial and should be considered in a marketing report. However, there are a ton of different metrics for predicting performance in digital marketing, and success varies from sector to sector, especially in the healthcare sector.

Many marketing strategies in the healthcare industry focus on attracting and retaining new clients. Also, your data analysis concentrates on the patient (customer) acquisition and retention to successfully improve your digital health marketing approach over time. So, without further ado, let’s get started:

8 Metrics Every Healthcare Marketer Should Track

Here are the top eight metrics you must evaluate regularly based on our significant experience in the industry. Consider this the data foundation on which healthcare marketers construct a truly successful marketing approach.

Patient Retention

Getting plenty of new patients is essential, but you must keep them returning. Your bottom line will benefit more from one devoted customer than ten new ones. If you continue to please your loyal patients with your care and services, they will likely suggest you to their friends and family. Loyal patients also spend more money overall. Be careful to draw attention to returning patients in your analytics.

Acquisition Cost Per Patient

A vital component of a healthcare marketing plan is the acquisition cost per patient. Tracking the effectiveness of your healthcare marketing initiatives begins with knowing the costs of attracting new clients through different marketing techniques and channels.

This cost primarily informs you of the amount spent on each new patient. Referrals from patients and physicians, paid advertisements, websites, social media, and other marketing channels all affect your costs and improve the effectiveness of your marketing effort.

Determining the cost per acquired patient for each marketing channel is preferable. Still, most marketers divide all marketing expenses by the number of new patients obtained over a certain period. This enables you to identify which marketing initiatives are most successful and which calls for a more aggressive approach.

Search Engine Rankings

One of the critical components of any digital healthcare marketing plan is search engine optimization (SEO). You want to be listed first when potential patients seek a healthcare provider. For any healthcare practitioner, ranking highly in organic searches is essential because it is an excellent method to draw leads to your business and bring in new patients. Local listings have sway since they include patient reviews and star ratings. The listings with the top star ratings and favourable patient review consistently receive the most clicks from organic visitors. The significance of digital content becomes apparent in this situation.

Payer Mix 

The payer mix refers to the proportion of patients your organization treats who have private insurance compared to those who do not. Because commercial-payer reimbursement rates are much higher than Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates, it is crucial to understand your payer mix when calculating ROI. The lesson here is clear accepting commercial insurance for treating patients yields higher returns on investment, and maintaining a good balance is essential.

Due to the substantial difference in public and private payers, a slight shift in payers’ composition can significantly impact revenue. Reporting on the payer mix can help you forecast future sales and gather knowledge about improving your payer mix to increase ROI.

Customer Service Response Time

Maintaining positive patient connections is essential if you want to win their loyalty and their future business. Patients anticipate you will prioritize their issues and respond to their inquiries immediately. A patient service staff dedicated to enhancing patient experience and service must be part of your healthcare marketing campaign. That team’s priority should be to swiftly and effectively fix problems.

Leads Generated

When calculating ROI, one crucial indicator is the lead quantity in marketing. Show the number of leads per current campaign and indicate their “Funnel Stage,” which is their completion stage (engagement, acquisition, or conversion). It’s crucial to comprehend lead creation from the standpoint of the channel used to make the initial contact. What channel results in conversion, then? You may enhance efficacy and the speed at which leads move from the top of the funnel to conversion by making changes after you better understand lead interaction with your business.

Engagement

Engagement indicators are frequently regarded as “soft measures,” which means they don’t demonstrate a clear ROI. However, engagement metrics can be quite helpful in assessing the level of market penetration of your message and overall brand awareness. Additionally, using marketing automation tools, you can trace the origin of patients in your database and attribute them to specific sources.

Effectiveness of Premium Content

Regularly analyze your most successful premium content while producing compelling content. Which ones are most downloaded? Which of them has the highest lead-to-customer conversion rate? Your understanding of the lead-to-customer conversion rate will guide your future content strategy. It can also assist you in determining which resources need to be updated or retired.

Conclusion

Making sense of the vast amount of information on digital healthcare marketing that is out there may seem a little intimidating. The finest actions specify your marketing objective, establish your plan of action, and choose the marketing metrics to show you how effective you were.

Different marketing initiatives will achieve various ends and produce various outcomes. To be prepared and to plan for more effective campaigns. However, it is essential to establish your healthcare marketing goals before any campaign. Regardless of your efforts, you must take the time to assess your success and record what you learned after each healthcare marketing campaign.