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Jan. 2005

Increase Marketing ROI by Establishing Metrics and Testing Your Tactics

Pretty is nice, but does it get results? That is not necessarily a rhetorical question. If your strategic marketing plan has determined that these advertising and collateral tactics are indeed the right ones, then the brilliant production of these pieces is paramount to achieving results.

The production is only part of the equation. Without reliable metrics to measure whether those materials are pushing your message, then all you end up with are boxes of pretty paper.

Most campaigns fail. Smart marketers establish and test different versions of campaign pieces to assure that the most actionable ones are implemented.

Metrics

Campaigns, if designed correctly, will cause some action to be taken. So your first step is to design campaigns that have a call to action where results can be specifically captured:

• Campaigns directed to a Web response should each be designed so that people are sent to a unique, specific domain before being redirected to your main site. Domain names are cheap. Set a new one up for each campaign so that you can measure it.

• Each response card in a direct mail campaign needs to be similarly coded to a specific campaign.

• Print ads should have separate phone numbers set up for each ad. It should be transparent to the end user from a customer service standpoint, but for you it is invaluable in tracking what ad is drawing the best. If multiple phone numbers are not possible, then code each ad and ask for the code from the responder.

• Bottom line – specific, unique feedback loops tied to each part of a campaign will tell what is working and that will help you in future campaigns when choosing messages and tactics.

The results of the campaigns--phone calls received, cards received, unique visits or perhaps people who showed up for an event--might indicate success to some based on the volume of response. That is premature. Your work is just beginning:

• Each respondent needs to be input into a database that has functionality with your hospital's admission system and the ability to run revenue reconciliation reports.

• A detailed customer record needs to be established so it is important that you solicit as much information from responders during campaigns. Have they used the hospital before? If so, what were their service preferences? Are they affiliated with a hospital physician? What specific interests do they have? The more detail, the better you can target future contacts.

• Each direct responder should have a follow-up action that needs to be taken on their behalf. For example, someone may indicate that they have a physician, just not one of yours, and further indicates an interest in learning more about menopausal issues. You may send them the literature desired and send them to web resources as well. But then also send a profile of one of your own physicians who specializes in menopausal issues. That physician should receive notice so that they may further contact the patient. That completes the loop.

• Healthcare is something people do not want and may not need for some time so the key becomes tracking that person in your system beyond certain arbitrary end dates like one year out. It may be two years before that person shows up in your hospital admission system.

• When they do, it is important to establish and then implement revenue reconciliation programs that track how much revenue was tied to that patient.

• No system is perfect. And so many factors influence hospital choice. Patients who have used the hospital in the past may use it again and their response to your campaign may have had no significance. That being said, adjustments factors need to be agreed upon that narrow the true value of the customer.

Long-term Metrics

Two metrics – awareness and market share – can only be tracked over time. While your campaigns may have generated buzz, and maybe you have tracked people through the system and seen results, the big numbers are more elusive. Market share is passive. Awareness is another story. Unless you budget for and conduct surveys, you may never know how you are positioned in the mind of your potential clients. You cannot act on something of which you have no knowledge.

Experience Metrics

In a time when people expect the latest technology, the best doctors and a great clinical outcome, a marketing advantage sometimes comes down to the whole experience of using your healthcare system. Were patients "wowed" by the experience? If so they will tell others. You need to measure this and act on the information.

• How was overall satisfaction compared to expectations going in? How were those expectations set? What part did marketing have in setting those expectations? Did the hospital deliver on the marketing promise put forth in materials?

• Who were the first time users of the hospital? What did they specifically like or dislike about the experience? What did they say? What words did they use? If they were passionate about the experience, can you cultivate these people to become promoters for the hospital?

Tactical Testing

Assume that the tactics you have chosen are based on sound marketing data. How can you set them up for success?

Retail marketers often test three or four versions of an advertisement, sometimes as many as 10. Nine out of 10 might fail, but the tenth might cover the losses and make a profit. Doing only one advertisement and seeing it fail, assuming metrics are in place, might cause you to say that advertising doesn't work. Create multiple ads and test them. So what do you vary in your approach? Everything from headlines, to envelopes, formats, copy, sales pitch, mail lists, prices, offers, guarantees, terms and anything else that can generate a larger response. Using direct mail as one example:

• Send a letter with an outside teaser on the envelope and one without.

• Vary whom the letter is sent from. A letter addressed with the CEOs name might draw better than a letter that just states it is from the hospital.

• Try a plain envelope with a return name and address versus one on company stationery.

• Try white versus color.

• Vary the size of the piece.

• Try stamps, indicia and metered mail. What pulls?

• Enclose an object to "bulk it up" thus increasing the odds of opening.

Marketing metrics in any organizations are hard to establish and track. In healthcare it is even harder. You have something that may not "sell" for some time. Yet it is important to start establishing metrics as imperfect as they may be. When accountability is everything and the CEO demands more, making an attempt to document your return might be as important as the actual numbers you end up tracking.

Anthony Cirillo, CHE, ABC is president of Fast Forward Strategic Planning and Marketing Consulting, LLC in Huntersville, NC. He is an immediate past board member of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, a Diplomate of the American College of Healthcare Executives and an Accredited Business Communicator of the International Association of Business Communicators. You may reach Anthony at Anthony@4wardfast.com

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