by John Minahan, CEO of Mindful Health Solutions
One of the most impactful ways to attract new patients to your services is by being recommended by someone they trust. To help companies track how well they are recommended to others by patients or customers, they must utilize Net Promoter Score (NPS). Read on to learn more about what the NPS is, the power behind it, and how we use it to enhance our operational improvement at Mindful Health Solutions.
What is Net Promoter Score?
NPS is a metric that measures how likely a patient (or customer) will recommend a service to another person. The concept behind Net Promoter Score is the understanding that if patients have a great experience (score 90 or above), then they will not only remain a patient, but they will become promoters. They will tell friends and family that they had a great experience and a great outcome.
Learn how we foster a “Patients First” mentality at Mindful Health Solutions.
In my experience, when an NPS of 90 or above is achieved, your marketing budget will see some significant changes. In fact, marketing spend on advertising essentially goes to zero. Specifically, the pay-per-click (PPC) advertising costs. This change is caused by the net promoters (in our case, our patients) becoming the marketers. Now, you should still have a strong SEO and marketing plan. You just won’t need to pay for clicks anymore. But let me emphasize: the benefits of NPS are only possible with a strong NPS of 90 or above. Let me give you an example of when a company does reach that score.
The Power of Net Promoter Scores: An Example
Almost 10 years ago, at a podiatry healthcare company where I was working at the time, we implemented NPS. Our NPS survey contained 20 questions with five separate sections, and it went to patients after each visit. When we started tracking NPS, our score was in the low 60s. At that time, around 12% of our leads came organically from our website or were referred to us by a friend or family member.
After a few months and much effort, we began reaching consistent scores above 90. In a meeting, I declared that the number of leads from the website and referrals would double now that we have a score above 90. I even went so far as to say that if that percentage of leads increased from 12% to 30% in the next 60 days, I would wear a foot costume (again, a podiatry company) and walk around the office handing out candy.
Well, never underestimate the power of the NPS!
Never Miss an Opportunity to Listen to a Patient
Some companies’ NPS survey will just ask the simple question, “Would you recommend us to a friend or family member?” and give answer options such as “yes,” “no,” or “maybe.” While this might seem helpful, I don’t believe it is.
You have sent a survey to the patient. They have opened it and want to provide feedback. Why not ask them how we are doing as a company in more detail? Never miss an opportunity to listen to a patient. If a company is willing to listen, you can work to improve patient experience, but you can also find holes in business operations much faster.
Using NPS at Mindful Health Solutions
Because we understand the enormous value of NPS, we put a lot of thought into how we implement our NPS process at Mindful Health Solutions. We send out 20 questions to each patient after each visit. Then, we have a team of people who work to identify operational issues and create an action plan based on patients’ survey responses. We also have a dedicated person who reaches out to any patient who gave us a low NPS score. It is important for us to contact them to let them know we care, and we also work to get them back in and ensure they have a much-improved experience.
This process is not easy. It requires a lot of time and hard work, but we listen to what our patients are telling us. Patients want to be heard, and we are listening, which allows us to move faster with operational improvement. Our marketing budget has also been impacted by our NPS process as we no longer need to pay for clicks. The power of NPS really does work, and we feel that investing in operational excellence instead of pay-per-click has a much greater return on investment.
While having a strong NPS is great for business, it also aligns with our “Patients First” mission. We work hard to transform suffering so every person can live a joyful life, and understanding the patient experience is essential to fulfilling that purpose. We will continue to listen to our patients to do the best we can to help them feel better.
