Competition is fierce in the pharmacy industry. As a community pharmacist, you face it more than ever before. It doesn’t matter if you’re new to the pharmacy scene or well-established, marketing is extremely important for your business’ success. But time is of the essence and money doesn’t grow on trees, so it’s hard to prioritize marketing effectively without shelling out your already limited resources. The good news is there is a way, and it lies within your pharmacy management software.
Request Google Reviews Regularly
Believe it or not, word-of-mouth marketing and customer reviews are preferred. Plus, they carry more weight with other consumers than other types of marketing. According to the stats, more than 90 percent of consumers read reviews online before purchasing what they covet. So, if you’re lacking reviews or your rating is low, there’s a good chance they’ll go to one of your competitors to get their medications.
Regularly ask customers to write a review for your Google Business profile. Google is the most popular and trusted search engine. Plus, more positive customer reviews will help you with boosting your online positioning. The higher your pharmacy ranks, the more relevant Google assumes your listing will be to searchers.
You’ll also get a better star rating. Your star rating is your average customer satisfaction score. So, the higher the rating, which is typically between 4 and 5 stars, the more people will click on your Google Business Profile.
Multiple positive reviews will also help you spot the areas where you can improve in order to better serve your customers. You can thank the continuous stream of feedback you’ll be getting through Google for that.
Provide a Patient Portal and Mobile App
In today’s world, millions of apps are available. The average person has around 40 apps installed on their smartphone. If you don’t have an app for your pharmacy, what are you waiting for? Customers want to be able to request refills and communicate with their pharmacy whenever and wherever they are.
With a patient portal and mobile app, you can provide your customers with:
- convenience and better access to care
- a simplified prescription fulfillment process that enables patients to request refills with a few clicks
- automatic routing of prescription requests to your pharmacy’s refill queue (doing away with manual entry by your staff)
- the status of all their medication requests at once
All of this will enable you to provide guidance on medications and electronically respond to customer questions. In addition, you’ll reduce the amount of time you spend on the phone.
Set Up a Customer Loyalty Program
Do you have a program that helps you maintain an active customer base? If not, it’s time. A customer loyalty program is a great, inexpensive way to:
- improve customer retention rates
- encourage repeat business
- build stronger, long-lasting relationships with customers
- provide added value and differentiate yourself other pharmacies
- grow your revenue
If you’re still questioning whether a loyalty program is something your pharmacy needs, the answer is yes. Larger chains have them, and your customers want them. In today’s world, customers want to feel connected in some way with the businesses they frequent. Starting a point-based customer loyalty program is a simple solution for independent pharmacies like yours.
If you don’t see marketing your pharmacy as a priority right now, ask yourself if you really want to miss out on growing your customer base. This is the time to use all of the tools you have to invite new customers into your store. Apply strategies to boost your online presence to encourage repeat business and strengthen your reputation in your community is vital for long-term success. Plus, there are more ways than one to market your pharmacy by using your pharmacy software—and without adding expenses.
A Member-Owned Company Serving Independent Pharmacies
PBA Health is dedicated to helping independent pharmacies reach their full potential on the buy-side of their business. Founded and owned by pharmacists, PBA Health serves independent pharmacies with group purchasing services, wholesaler contract negotiations, proprietary purchasing tools, and more.
An HDA member, PBA Health operates its own NABP-accredited secondary wholesaler with more than 6,000 SKUs, including brands, generics, narcotics CII-CV, cold-storage products, and over-the-counter (OTC) products — offering the lowest prices in the secondary market.
