The Art of the “Thank you”
Using old-fashioned snail mail to connect with patients in a modern age.
My spouse and I recently moved from a one bedroom apartment to a three-bedroom house. Suffice to say, we needed furniture...a lot of furniture. As a natural saver, immediately following my purchase of a new couch and bedframe, I was feeling frustrations related to sticker shock. On top of that, there was a mix up with the delivery dates that had resulted in not receiving our items for longer than expected.
Shortly after the delivery, once the dust had settled and I was happily enjoying my new furniture, I received a card in the mail thanking me for choosing this store and this sales associate. For some reason, this simple hand written card alleviated my former frustration and created a more positive attitude toward the store. Something so small, and obviously required by the store, yet it still felt like a great personal touch. Thanks to the card, I now even remember my sales associates' name, despite being historically terrible at remembering names. This was definitely not something I had received from previous dorm-room Ikea furniture purchases, so it made an impact.
You may think that a sale is complete when money has been exchanged for goods. However, in this modern age where customer loyalty is not inherent, we need to continue to build that trust well beyond the initial transaction.
As an audiologist, "sales" can be seen as a dirty word. We are not salespeople in the traditional sense, as we are providing a healthcare service that just happens to typically not be covered by insurance, and therefore requires a monetary transaction. However, we are in fact salespeople. Everyone is a salesperson. Whether it be selling a product, selling your service, selling your personal brand, or selling a patient on the idea that they need treatment that they otherwise would prefer to avoid.
A variety of fields and businesses use thank you notes to build relationships and create loyalty. A 2008 empirical analysis of customer loyalty programs found that retailers with the most used benefits were those that: demonstrate having the customer's interests at heart, provide financial incentives to selected customers, send thank you notes to customers, and identify customer preferences and record them to guide future actions (1). A thank you letter could even do double duty and be combined with a customer satisfaction survey, or a request for the patient to refer friends and family to your clinic.
Audiology is a rapidly changing field. We are constantly facing disruption and competition. Independent private practitioners especially understand that to stand above the fray we must provide an experience that keeps the patient coming back. However, we are not the only field in flux, and we can look to other industries to gain insight and inspiration.
What better example of a field facing competition and disruption than the coffee industry. Starbucks and Tim Hortons and Dunkin' Donuts, oh my! How can an independent coffee house stay open? A 2010 study examined the benefits of "perceived value" in relation to customer loyalty. They found that when customers perceived value in what they were receiving, they were more loyal to the brand. They also found that relational benefits, such as customer loyalty programs, increased perceived value. Coffee outlet operators who use customer's perceptions to differentiate themselves were able to win customer loyalty even in this aggressive market (2). So how can we create perceived value and change our patient's perceptions surrounding our services?
In this day and age, snail mail is no longer a popular source of communication. Picture receiving a handwritten card of gratitude, buried amongst a pile of junk mail and bills - What a wonderful surprise! Your letter may make your patient's day, and the return on investment far outweighs the time it took to write a simple "Thank you."
This form of gratitude can have a variety of benefits for both the patient as well as the professional. Not only do you get to use this time to express feelings of gratitude, it can create a positive shift in your mindset and help to avoid professional burnout. Over the past few months, I've set aside time to write personalized notes to each patient following their fitting follow-up appointment. This creates a time each day or month where we have the opportunity to reflect on the interactions we've had with patients, reflect on the positive impact we can make as audiologists, and connect with our patients on a human level.
As we well know, the cost of retaining existing customers is far less than the cost of acquiring new ones. A "thank you" note is a nearly effortless way to attach a positive memory to your patient interactions, and fundamentally change how people perceive your business.
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Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
1. Myron Gable, Susan S. Fiorito, Martin T. Topol, (2008) "An empirical analysis of the components of retailer customer loyalty programs", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 36 Issue: 1, pp.32-49, https://doi.org/10.1108/09590550810846983
2. Po-Tsang Chen & Hsin-Hui Hu, (2010) "The effect of relational benefits on perceived value in relation to customer loyalty: An empirical study in the Australian coffee outlets industry", International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 29 Issue: 3, pp.405-412, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431909001078
