Narvar's 2024 State of Returns report is here—get your copy now!
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Narvar's 2024 State of Returns report is here—get your copy now!
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"When it comes to customer experience, consumers compare pharmacies with every other company regardless of industry," Ernst & Young reported in a study on the future of the pharmacy business. "This challenges pharmacists to not only provide a positive customer experience in person, but through digital channels as well.”
That same report also found that 75% of consumers expect the same level of service from healthcare providers (pharmacies included) that they receive from any other business.
As telehealth and mail-order prescriptions become more popular, pharmacies and drug-makers must adapt to the growing number of patients purchasing medicine and medical supplies online. To retain customers, they must deliver an ecommerce experience that rivals (or exceeds) the in-store pharmacy visit.
Doing so will require a combination of medical expertise and retail savvy. It will also require more technology, evolved policies (e.g., returns policies), and more efficient order fulfillment practices.
With that in mind, here’s how pharmacies can improve the post-purchase experience to keep the patients happy and loyal.
Whether filling prescriptions online or offline, patients want easy access to medical information.
But face-to-face contact and phone calls aren’t the only channels for patient education. Post-purchase communication via email and text message can put the same information at a patient’s fingertips.
In healthcare, a delivery confirmation should go beyond the delivery time to include all the instructions and enclosures a patient would receive at a brick-and-mortar pharmacy.
With more than 50 HIPAA-compliant post-purchase email notifications—and the ability to create new or custom options—Narvar clients can send that prescription and medical device information straight to a patient’s inbox.
Worried about open rates? Don’t be.
Even though the average person receives dozens (if not hundreds) of emails every day, Narvar emails outperform the industry average for open-rate by up to 4x. More importantly, they have a 10 to 20% average click rate on tracking page modules—5x to 10x greater than the baseline 2% “healthy” click-through rate.
Reminding patients to refill their prescriptions saves lives—20 to 30% of medication prescriptions are never filled, and 50% of medications for chronic disease are not taken as prescribed, accounting for an estimated 125,000 deaths each year.
Refill reminders are an effective way to keep patients on track with their prescriptions, even among older patients: A 2018 study found that senior patients who received a refill reminder had a 14.07% higher refill rate than those who did not.
Combining the power of pharmacy refill reminders and auto-refills with Narvar’s proactive tracking communications means patients know exactly when to expect their orders so they never miss a dose or skip a test.
Customers dread making returns which is why 76% of shoppers say they’ll give repeat business to a retailer that makes the return process simple.
With Narvar’s return portal, pharmacies can let patients focus on their health by streamlining access to returns, warranties, repairs, and recalls. Patients can initiate returns online regardless of where they purchased, and return via mail, curbside, in-store, or Narvar’s extensive partner network.
Post-purchase care improve the patient experience for pharmacies by:
In most sectors, a post-purchase follow-up is a pleasantry; a surprise and delight moment. In healthcare—when you’re dealing with the most personal details of a customer’s well-being—it can be the difference between life and death.
Pharmacies have an obligation to give patients the information and care they need, but improving patient care not only supports a patient’s health, it fosters loyalty to the pharmacy. When patients win, pharmacies win.
Consumer products retailers shaped the first generation of post-purchase experience with an emphasis on increasing profits and customer loyalty. Thanks to Narvar, these tools are being adapted to help pharmacies deliver a higher standard of care to patients as well.
Healthcare purchases are sensitive, life-critical transactions. Find out how you can build long-term patient loyalty through proactive communication and timely support using Narvar’s HIPAA compliant post-purchase solution.
