With the current world events it’s no surprise there’s been a surge of health practitioners now wanting to offer Telehealth, or virtual appointments. But setting up the functionality of Telehealth is just one part of the process.
Only those who take their Telehealth offering seriously will stand out and win in the coming weeks and months. So let’s talk about a few things that can help your website’s Telehealth landing page rise above the growing market for this online offering.
A large chunk of our clients at NCC are in the allied health sector and we’ve had many requests come through to add this largely untapped Telehealth service to their websites. This is a big deal for a number of reasons.
Practitioners and health clinics are being forced to pivot, in part, their entire business model. With in-clinic consultations now being so limited, they are now desperately turning to digital online consulting to keep momentum in their businesses. And we think this is great. What a time to be alive and what an opportunity to be had!
However, in the midst of the rush to get Telehealth to market, we’ve found some key areas are being neglected. And it’s these areas that could be the difference in those online appointments flooding in on autopilot, or not. So let’s talk about how to create a Telehealth landing page that will convert.
Landing Page Communication:
Let’s start with the actual name. Telehealth. We’re finding that this is very much an ‘inside’ term or a jargon phrase, and the general public just don’t have any idea what it means. We had to ask the Clinic Mastery team to explain it when it first came to our attention. So our advice would be to call it for example, ‘Online Podiatry Consulting’ or ‘Virtual Appointments’. From our research, ‘Online Consulting’ is the most popular search term. It places you instantly as a professional, people can understand at a glance what you’re offering, and it makes sense from an SEO perspective too.
It also makes more sense to use this term in your emails, social media and Google Ads – say ‘Book a Virtual Appointment with us today’ rather than ‘Book your Telehealth Appointment now’. That makes me ask the question, are they going to call me on the ‘Tele-phone’?
On the website side of things. Most people are simply adding a Telehealth page to their website, slapping together some words and thinking that’s the solution. And most of the copy that has come across our desk has been so overwhelmingly long, we know people won’t sit there and read it all. Telehealth landing page copy should be helpful and to the point.
And we say this over and over again – keep the jargon to your in-house jokes. People are not going to connect to your use of medical terms, your technological advancements and scientific language. The majority of people have a problem, like a sore knee, and they want to know that you have a solution that you can walk them through, from the comfort of their own home. They don’t care how much you know about the Anterior Cruciate Ligament, they just want to know how they can bend down and squat again.
It also goes without saying that if you don’t already, then you most definitely should have live chat on your landing page. This is a fantastic conversion tool that helps you connect with visitors instantly. We highly recommend this one as they offer the most comprehensive user experience, and they have a ton of ‘bot’ options to help your conversion rate sky rocket.
It’s worth pointing out that if you have an existing ‘Book Online’ page then you should put a notice on that page saying something like: ‘Looking for Online Consultations? Click here to find out more & book’. Directing them to your landing page will also help with retargeting if you are running that sort of strategy (you should be).
Telehealth User Experience:
This is really important. If Telehealth ‘just seems too hard,’ to your visitors and there are a ton of steps that a potential client needs to do just to get in front of you on a computer, then they will most likely not bother. KISS it = Keep It Super Simple! We’ve seen some instructions come across our desk that look like this:
All you need to do is follow the link below that will take you to a Google form, then go through the booking process, then we will reach out to confirm the time with you, then you need to download this app, then you need to create an account, then you need to login at the right time, then you need to bank transfer us the money or go to this page to pay…
I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty exhausting. Cliniko announced this week that they are fast tracking their Telehealth sub-service including payment at time of booking for their Telehealth consultations. It will be free for a limited time and in future will incur a cost.
Do you know what that means in terms of user experience for Telehealth booking? One platform will handle and hold the entire service from start to finish. No more third party Video Communication softwares, app downloads and complicated instructions. Most people just want to book & pay, click the link in the email they receive to start talking with you. So make sure your Telehealth functionality is simple, streamlined and you can relay the steps easily to a client.
Another PRO TIP: Embed your booking form on the landing page! Nothing is more frustrating than getting pushed away to a third party window (Even for Cliniko users). And the more clicks a client has to make to find what they’re after, the less likely they are to convert.
Landing Page Images or Video:
Give the user an inside look into what they could expect for their virtual appointment. What does the ‘cyber room’ look like? Take a professional photo of it and place that on the landing page. Why not make a video from the perspective of what they will see when they join you online? This is a great way to introduce yourself too.
Relevant images or videos on your landing page will help it look more professional too. If your page looks like it was just slapped together yesterday, clients won’t have much confidence in using your service. If you need help creating a professional landing page with embedded booking options, reach out to us for help.
Check out one of clients, The Body Institutes‘s landing page, who has ticked all of the above boxes:
Offering Discounts:
We get it, you are loosing bookings. But offering a 50% off Coronavirus Special will hurt you more that it will benefit. It also comes across as panicky and desperate. Don’t undersell your services. Just because you are offering your expertise over a computer, it shouldn’t devalue what you are advising.
Also don’t place Coronavirus as the reason why you are now offering Telehealth. Leave this language totally out of you services page. Communicate Telehealth like you’ve always had the service. It’s just that now it’s even more convenient than ever.
Create Awareness!
Now this is important. LISTEN TO US HERE. Just because you create a landing page, don’t expect your books to be filled up overnight. We always say, if people don’t know about you, then they can’t book with you. You need to market your service! There are a number of ways you should approach this.
Firstly, tap into your current database. Once you have set up your killer converting landing page, your copy is easy to understand, the ‘onboarding’ steps are as simple as possible and you’ve written up some FAQ’s. Then (and only then) should you push it out to your database via socials, email, snail mail and carrier pigeon. These people are already aware of you, they are comfortable talking to you, and they are the most warm leads you have.
Secondly, advertise! I know I know, you’re cutting back costs. Like we all are. But here’s the thing. How are you going to keep the cash flowing if your service is not in front of people’s eye balls? Just like a farmer can’t expect a crop if he doesn’t sow seeds, you need to invest in advertising your service if you want to expect an increase. Even if that means redirecting (a portion) of what you would normally spend marketing your physical location to your Telehealth landing page for a few months. Remember things will return to normal.
Now we are going to give away a red hot tip that could be a little controversial… Don’t throw money at a campaign that is going to target the nation. Just because you can now offer Telehealth to the whole of Australia (or whatever country you live in), it doesn’t mean you should! For a couple of reasons:
1. This ‘Telehealth Consultation’ service just became a very competitive keyword. That means you are going to spend more money than you need to. You are now in competition with the 100’s of 1000’s of other allied health practices in Australia for this same service.
2. Continue to keep it local! Remember – you are a local business after all. This works in two ways. By default, you already have a local audience. So, your local audience will already trust you simply by proximity (and it’s how Google has been reading/crawling your site forever). The other awesome aspect of this is when all of this craziness does dissipate, you don’t have to lose a client to their own local clinic who can offer the hands on treatment that they will need! You can welcome that local person back through the doors of your own local clinic for that ‘hands on consult’.
Ready to start taking online bookings?
So now you have the foundations for a fantastic landing page that is informative, easy to understand, offers a superior user experience for ease of bookings, where you could (potentially) get paid instantly and track true conversions. The books are bound to start filling up again.
It’s worth pointing out that if your website is not up to scratch, isn’t user or mobile friendly then the likeliness of missing out on capturing this new market is very high. If you haven’t already, head on over to our Test Your Site page and get a free comprehensive website audit.
