SMS survey campaign case study
by Sam Turner 01/10/2023
There’s been a lot of discussion, over the past few months, on leveraging data to boost campaigns that focus on customer retention to mitigate the impacts of 60 day dispensing.
In the September issue I wrote about the specific opportunity to boost Gross Profit dollars by focusing on new customer opportunities, where increasing the retention rate of these customers by just five per cent in on month could be worth up to $59,000 per annum for your business.
But when it comes to engagement strategies that rely on digital communication channels to achieve this, it’s important that the information we have is clean, accurate and timely, if we’re to get the most out of these campaigns.
Using the example of a simple welcome or follow-up SMS for new customers is only possible if the mobile information of that customer is provided upon their first visit.
But why are more pharmacies now considering SMS as their primary form of communication?
SMS is consistently our best tool for engagement with customers. More and more patients are listing Mobile/SMS as their preferred contact method
Why is it so effective?
Research estimates that more than 98 per cent of SMS are opened (compared to less than 20 per cent for e-mail), and approximately 90 per cent of these messages are read within three minutes of receipt.
The same studies show that SMS is also a great way to get feedback via surveys. On average, 31 per cent of customers will respond to a survey via SMS, with an average response of around five minutes.
This is a useful tool that some pharmacies are now using to gain important customer feedback on a range of subjects to better guide where to improve their business.
Examples of where surveys are successfully used include:
- Patient satisfaction (e.g. between 1-10) post service, visit or even staff interactions.
- Event feedback post health awareness campaigns or clinics.
- Clinical follow-up (e.g. post-vaccination or medication initiation).
- General service or product feedback, either specific or overall experience.
If you’re considering an SMS survey campaign, it’s important to remember a number of key components:
- Be clear and concise, both with the objective (what you want to achieve) and the question being asked (don’t be ambiguous).
- Be recognisable by using a dedicated number for your business and making your message relevant to the recipient (e.g. by using their first name).
- Ensure privacy by ensuring there is implied (or express) consent and always include the ability to opt out.
- Be timely by either automating certain campaigns (targeted) or scheduling when appropriate.
- Be ready to act on insights – there’s no point running a campaign if you’re not going to do anything with the result.
If you have a particular campaign or service, or you are looking to improve customer experience and think SMS surveys would be useful, contact the team at Scrypt who can show you how to effectively implement this in your business with the use of automated and bespoke services.
Sam has 15 years’ experience within the pharmacy industry, including in the community, policy/advocacy and now digital health.