Improving your customer experience improves the bottom line

Customer experience (CX) provides the foundation of the impression families and residents have of long-term care facilities.  Delivering an outstanding customer experience is critical to maintaining and growing census, even in the face of pandemic challenges.  That sounds expensive, though, doesn’t it?  In reality, exceptional CX can improve the bottom line for long-term care communities.  Diving deeper into the benefits and identifying a focused number of strategies shows the way to a better bottom line through solid CX.

Hitting the top line

Exceptional customer experience drives both top line revenue improvements and lower costs.  These benefits continue throughout a resident’s stay.  Positive experiences encourage residents and their families to provide better referrals and online reviews.  Those positive comments help reduce the cost of new resident acquisition, stretching marketing budgets.  When residents and their families feel appreciated, they are more willing to pay premium prices for services.  According to a study by PWC, the payoffs for valued, great experiences are tangible: up to a 16% price premium on products and services, not to mention increased loyalty. Read the study.

Expanding the bottom line

One of the most tangible benefits from outstanding customer experience is the reduction in cost per contact with the residents and their families.  In particular, providing self-service options and consistent communication can reduce the frequency and length of in-person contacts with staff.  One study determined that good customer experience can reduce the cost per in-person contact by $11.  That might not seem like much, but translated into wages, that could represent 30 or more minutes of a staff-person’s time.  Imagine what else that staff member could be doing with that time.

Keys to improving your facilities’ customer experience

A stable customer experience plan has three legs:

  1. Create and share a comprehensive CX strategy

Customer experience doesn’t start and end at the reception desk.  The entire organization must be included in the planning and execution of a sound CX strategy.  Every resident and family member’s touch points with your facility must be analyzed and optimized for the best customer experience.  How are people treated?  How easily can they access the information they need?  How frequently and conveniently do they receive information from the facility?  All of these questions must be incorporated into a robust CX strategy.

  1. Gather multi-faceted feedback

The voice of the customer is essential in analyzing resident and family satisfaction.  This can be as simple as a 1-10 Net Promoter Score rating question:  “How likely are you to refer us to a friend or family member?”  Asking this question on a regular basis can give a real-time view of customer satisfaction.  Open-ended questions can provide an expanded view of what’s driving customer satisfaction or dis-satisfaction and identify specific areas for service improvement.  These feedback inquiries can be delivered on a regular, formal basis, or through simple pop-ups in an app or on your facility’s website.  The key is to ask – often.

  1. Use technology to enable self-service and speed information delivery

According to that PWC study, nearly 80% of American consumers say that speed, convenience, knowledgeable help and friendly service are the most important elements of a positive customer experience. Facilities should prioritize technologies that provide these benefits rather than adopting new technologies for the sake of being cutting edge.  Putting residents and families enable them to serve themselves will make it easier for them to answer their questions, reduce the frequency of in-person conversations and improve their overall impression of your facility.

How's Mom Can Help

The How’s Mom app and Connections Hub enable organizations to streamline feedback solicitation and communication with residents and family members, with a full suite of tools, including chart views, mass notifications, visit planning, family feedback and more. This convenient software makes family communication a powerful – and easily manageable – tool for improving customer experiences and building census.

An Ongoing Process

Building census is an ongoing process.  With the challenges facing the Long Term Care industry, it’s more important than ever.  Providing a positive customer experience; listening to residents, families and referral partners and acting on that feedback are foundational elements of a census-building strategy.  With technology like the How’s Mom app and Connections Hub, long term care facilities can improve their customer experience and communicate readily with their key constituents.

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Contact us today to learn how the How’s Mom Family App and Connections Hub can help you comply with the Cures Act, easily and efficiently.

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