In any industry with long consideration and buying cycles, determining accurate return on marketing investment (ROMI) takes time – and for business leaders, having to wait for results can be unsettling.
For hospitals and health systems trying to acquire new patients, the marketing department plays a crucial role in targeting and engaging with consumers to attract them to their facility or facilities. To reach potential patients, healthcare marketers typically launch marketing campaigns, which can include traditional and digital methods – and track engagement actions such as opening an email, calling the call center via an 800 number on a direct mail piece, or clicking through an online campaign (via email, social, survey, etc.). As you can imagine, a marketing campaign targeting 3,000 individuals in a geographic area for a particular medical specialty might take weeks, or even months to start to deliver results in terms of downstream appointments and procedures. So how can marketers deliver interim results to hospital leadership that are a leading indicator for future ROMI without having to wait?
As ROMI can make or break a campaign, cost per acquisition (CPA) can be an early indicator of long-term campaign success. CPA is on par with ROI, though not synonymous, as it’s the measurement of the cost of acquiring a customer who clicks on a website link or completes any action. With the help of a customer relationship management (CRM) system, marketers can see where CPA is lower over time, which will ultimately indicate long-term ROMI success.
Why do CRMs play a role in CPA?
Because CRM systems track marketing campaigns and correlated activities for patients and consumers, they can help report on CPA and longer-term ROMI. A CRM platform helps attribute engagement from consumers at that initial point of contact (whether it was through search, an email, or an ad) and every other marketing interaction thereafter. Understanding this information helps the marketers identify the campaigns that are most cost-effective at converting consumers to patients as quickly as possible, as well as those that are most effective at engaging patients for follow-on and additional services. Marketers use this valuable information to optimize their campaigns for both acquisition and nurturing, thereby driving CPA as low as possible and driving longer-term maximized ROMI.
How to maximize CPA?
To fully understand where the opportunities are for saving money while building revenue, marketers must be knowledgeable about every tactic in the marketing toolbox that is available to them to engage with consumers and patients. While it may seem like focusing heavily on one or two elements or channels for the campaign is a good optimization technique, marketers should ensure they bring focus to all elements of the campaign – SEM, display, social, email, etc. – to ensure comprehensive optimization. If all elements and channels aren’t given the appropriate amount of attention, CPAs will never be as low and conversions will never be as high as they could possibly be. Optimization is a constant task that should be managed multiple times a day.
How is CPA tracked?
CPA is calculated off web leads and through call centers – web leads are easy to track via the form submission process captured in the CRM. Call centers on the other hand sometimes present a problem if they are disconnected from the marketing campaign – which is often the case. By designating trackable 1-800 numbers, hospitals can direct information into the CRM system to track back to the specific marketing activity and/or campaign. CRM systems that include call center functionality are invaluable in this respect as they provide the facility to track the calls into the call center and attribute them back to the marketing campaign – essential for CPA and ROMI calculations. Further, because offline marketing channels (print ads, TV/radio, etc.) still account for more than 30 percent of campaigns, it’s essential that these conversions are being captured to accurately calculate CPA and ROMI.
Final thoughts
Ultimately, looking at CPA metrics throughout the campaign lifecycle can help marketing departments position themselves as a revenue-generating entity – a change from being viewed as a cost center. Continually optimizing for lower CPA can help healthcare marketers respond in an agile way based on campaign performance, leading to more successful campaigns overall. And, it helps them show early results around marketing efficiency and effectiveness which garners just enough goodwill within the organization to help them keep going with their efforts. Ultimately, focusing on and optimizing for CPA will lead to the longer term return on marketing investment that all healthcare marketers strive for.