Marketing and selling services are very different from physical products. This statement is especially true for services targeting the physical health or well-being of your customers. Health tourism offerings are based mainly on highly subjective, intangible features and benefits, which are personal to every individual. Guests or patients may be very sensitive to the details of the medical or wellness services they are purchasing and experiencing. For example, a woman deciding to have a feature of her face or body changed will be very sensitive to what others think of her decision. This person may be traveling to a distant location exactly because she is looking for extra anonymity or the privacy offered by a particular service provider.
Intangible And High-Impact
In health tourism, there is a wide range of services based on person-to-person physical contact, like massages or face lifts, as well as those which leave the guest with permanent results like breast or buttock augmentation. The physical quality of health services and the roles of the highly skilled professionals involved makes marketing health tourism services distinct from most other service categories, like banking or accounting.
Health customers’ expectations almost always go beyond the conventional. Health tourists are always looking for discreet, competent, and personally satisfying experiences. This is particularly sensitive because of the global pandemic. Consumers may want personal contact, yet be afraid of becoming ill.
Customers and patients have historically been more focused on the benefits derived from, and their experiences during their treatments. Because of COVID-19, consumers who once had limited understanding of, or interest in the technical details, like medical equipment or treatment rooms, are now very interested in safety and cleanliness.
Gone are the days when consumers would accept sterile, functional health, dental, or medical environments. The search for better experiences is not limited to high-end luxury spa and wellness services, but also applies to healthcare providers. From a marketing perspective, medical, dental, and wellness providers tend to give too much attention to technical features. Customers and patients are far more focused on the benefits derived from, and their experiences during the treatments. They tend to have limited understanding of or interest in the technical details like medical equipment or treatment rooms.
While health tourism providers want to be paid for the services they perform, guests and patients are paying for the outcomes and experiences they receive from the hospitals, spas, or therapists. These results are often highly subjective, sensitive, and personal, such as improved self-confidence, lack of pain, or smoother skin.
Co-Creating Experiences
In some health tourism markets, customers want to be involved in the creation of the service. In wellness tourism, the customer can have significant input and influence for example by bringing his / her preferred music or essential oil for the treatment. Medical treatment plans are traditionally more defined and leave less to the patients’ discretion; however, offering options when possible is an excellent way to engage the patient in his / her treatment. In cosmetic and certain dental interventions, the patient’s direct involvement may be an essential part of the treatment plan. Something as simple as offering options for rooms or times for procedures will help patients feel that they have certain engagement in and control over their experiences.
Experiences As A Journey
It may be helpful from a marketing perspective to think of the customer or patient’s experience as a journey5 (See Figure 6: The Customer Journey). And in any type of journey, there are several different kinds of experiences. Not only good and bad, but also memorable or even optimal experiences. Many of your customers’ experiences happen without your direct involvement. All around the direct service provider, there are customer experiences occurring during any visit, or journey. For example, a kind word in passing by a taxi driver or a smile by a clerk at a shop; there are dozens of these customer service “touchpoints” during your customer’s journey. To the extent possible, the entire customer experience needs planning, precise delivery, and measurement. And because of consumer concerns raised by COVID-19, the entire experienced journey must be safe.
When your customer’s journey is planned and delivered properly, any concerns or worries that s/he had before s/he arrived will fade into the background during her journey. The goal of customer experience management is that your customer’s concern for “self” disappears during the process of the journey. Afterward, the sense of self re-emerges stronger.
During such experiences, the customer’s sense of time may be altered. This aspect of customer experience management is especially relevant for health tourism since:
- Medical tourists may worry about the procedures or treatments they are about to go through and need extra help (physical and emotional) before, during, and after the treatments.
- Wellness tourists want immersion in the experience. They seek and expect an altered sense of time (and perhaps space).
Consider these questions to be answered about your Health Tourism offer:
What are the key points/stages of your guests’, patients’, or clients’ (customers’) journey?
- What do you do to assure customers about their expected outcomes?
- At what stages do you involve customers in making decisions about their treatments?
- Which elements of the treatments / experiences can customers control or influence?
- How do you monitor and measure your customers’ journey?
Interpreting Experiences
Health tourists have a wide variety of expectations and needs. These expectations include existing physical needs (for example, mobility, vision, or hearing impairment), psychological needs (search for entertainment, social interaction, or self-image), cultural expectations (trying new local food or treatments), lifestyle expectations (a hotel with large wellness centre), or simple curiosity (first visit to a thermal bath). For each of these motivations (and more), a customer journey should be mapped, identifying each point along the entire experience.
Marketers need to understand the full range of needs and expectations of their targeted market segments, and the ways guests interpret these experiences. Interpretation refers to how we translate the experience into messages (words and images) and engage current and prospective customers.
Case Study
Translating what bathing means to some guests may not be an easy task, especially if you must introduce and interpret bathing traditions and rituals to guests whose culture and tradition are not familiar with such practices.
In ancient Rome, there were excellent bathing establishments for everyday leisure and wellness called “thermae” and others for medical and healing purposes called “balnea.” In German-speaking markets, facilities using hot (or heated) water are all called “therme” or “bad” (bath in German), following the Roman tradition. Such a facility is rarely referred to as a “spa.”
One such exclusive bathing experience follows the ancient Roman bathing rituals. Guests at Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden, Germany, follow 17 stations of bathing. The staff carefully guide and curate the guests’ experience, whether the focus is on health, wellness, or medical treatment. With such a unique value proposition, guests’ experiences of Friedrichsbad support the very well-defined and established brand.
Consider the challenges of introducing potential new consumers to the 17 stations of bathing if they have never heard of this concept or understand its features and benefits.
Points to Remember:
- How can we involve guests through first-hand (personal) experiences with different dimensions of health, combining the physical, as well as psychological benefits?
- How do we affect the behavior and attitudes of guests toward the traditions, rituals, technologies that are at the foundation of what we do, for example, local healing assets and rituals?
- How do we provide and support an enjoyable and meaningful experience, including fun?
- Are we increasing our customers’ understanding, awareness, and appreciation of their own health by keeping in touch after their treatments, for example, or sending updates on healthy food options?
Mapping The Customer Journey
It may help to visualize the journey each health tourist undertakes in order to identify how you can improve the customer experience. In the figure below, we have identified six touch points along this journey. From inspiration & needs to post stay follow-up, each of these points along the customer journey presents an opportunity for you to improve the customer’s experience.
To get the free exercise, email etrask @ stackpoleassociates.com
About the Marketing Handbook for Health Tourism
Health tourism and wellness travel markets are in turmoil. The marketing challenges and opportunities for health tourism destinations and providers of health, wellness, dental and medical services have never been greater – or more complicated! Established destinations and providers of health, wellness, dental and medical tourism are looking for ways to remain competitive, and new entrants to these competitive health, wellness and medical travel markets are looking for the path to success. The Marketing Handbook for Health Tourism offers practical, applicable insights for all these audiences.
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