- Pramod Goel
- Apr 15, 2024
Patrick Thomas, a 37-year-old businessman from Connecticut was suffering due to overweight issues. As suggested by one of his friends, he started accessing an online medical tourism directory to find effective and affordable bariatric surgery options abroad. After a few days of research, he contacted a representative of an obesity surgery clinic in Mexico via direct chat option.
Patrick had several questions in his mind. He asked things like:
- What type of obesity/bariatric surgery is suitable for my condition?
- How much I have to pay for the treatment?
- How many similar surgeries the doctor has successfully performed?
- What will be the treatment plan?
- Can I speak with some patients who went through the same procedure at your clinic?
The representative got to know Patrick’s doubts, questions and symptoms and suggested gastric sleeve surgery. The best thing about this conversation with the provider representative is that Patrick developed a sense of trust. If the patient is convinced by the information provided by the representative, he/she will start developing trust and reliability without even visiting the clinic in person. This is one of the many ways how direct chat option is helping the medical tourism industry to serve patients in a better way.
The emergence of medical tourism is a boon to the people who want to access quality healthcare abroad at an affordable price. In order to provide convenient services, many medical service providers are now offering online chat or instant messaging services. This powers the medical travelers to talk directly to the medical experts, learn more about treatment packages and/or other associated factors fast and conveniently.
WHY DIRECT CHAT IS ESSENTIAL FOR MEDICAL TOURISM?
In order to improve the relationship with the patients, the medical tourism providers have introduced a number of patient-friendly tools and instant messaging is one of them. Patients can connect to the providers’ representatives directly and exchange information in the most convenient and easiest way. This serves their purpose to get the right information or fix an appointment without waste of time. That is why it is important for the providers to give priority to online chat option.
Direct chat can minimize the communication gap between patients and providers. This real-time interaction enables the medical travelers to get answers for all their queries. The instant messaging option does not only help them to interact with medical professionals but also helps the providers to learn more about patients’ needs and preferences.
NO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-REAL EMOTIONAL CONNECT
The option of instant chat or live chat is not like interacting through a chatbot where people can communicate after downloading and installing an app that is powered by Artificial Intelligence. Live chat gives the ‘human touch’ where people can talk to the representatives of the providers who can connect to their emotions and serve accordingly. The process does not require any download or installation, as the patient can get all the information they need at that moment through a convenient chat box. Have a look at some key advantages of live chat option in the medical tourism industry:
- Real-time interaction between patients and providers
- Builds strong relationship
- Minimizes communication gap
- Eliminate the possibility of miscommunication
- Enables better patient engagement for the providers
- The patient can get instant information on treatment costs, medications, appointments, package inclusions, exclusions, etc.
- Instant advise for the patients on emergency and many more
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A PATIENT-FRIENDLY FACILITY
Service providers in the medical tourism industry always care for their reputation and they should try to make it easy for patients to get everything conveniently. Although text and email remain an effective communication option, instant chatting facility helps patients to get real-time information.
Through the live chat box, patients can establish communication with the clinics they prefer for a particular treatment. Patients often ignore the long content published by the providers and enjoy talking to a representative who can provide them with all important information.
24×7 LIVE CHAT OPTION
24×7 live chat option is beneficial for international patients, as they can communicate with the well-informed representatives whenever they want. Patients do not like waiting when it comes to get valuable information about the treatment, price, duration, medication and many other issues.
Patients will definitely enjoy chatting to a help desk representative and such practices will help them to develop trust and reliability. Patients often need suggestions on medications prescribed by their doctors. If the provider comes with a highly-responsive live chat option, it will be easy for the patients to inquire about the right medication.
Representatives are trained and well-informed about the doctors and medical staff. Thus, they are capable to provide all important information to the patients through the live chat box.
FOR SUPPORT AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Many medical institutions working within the industry are now adopting effective methods to improve their customer care services. Live chat box is one of the most effective mediums to reach patients or people seeking the right information. Patients can directly learn about the treatment package they are seeking. There is no need to search and dial the number of the provider to address the issues or queries. Getting an instant response to the queries like how to get a prescription, how to reach the clinic, or the availability of the doctors is now easier with the live chat option.
BOOKING AN APPOINTMENT GETS SIMPLE WITH LIVE CHAT
People always prefer the providers that respond to their queries quickly and effectively. Booking an appointment is one of the most important factors and every provider is careful about it.
Patients do not like to go through a complex booking process and they always expect the provider to come up with a short and convenient booking option. Here also, live chat supports as the best option. Well-informed representatives can help the patients by booking appointments conveniently and faster.
IT HELPS SERVICE PROVIDERS TO GENERATE LEAD
Providers in medical tourism always seek a steady stream of international patients to stay afloat in this highly competitive market. An instant chat option is a form of medium that attracts their potential clients. A live chat box can play a major role in improving lead generation. It can increase the level of client engagement. The providers can post plenty of text, images, and videos on their web pages but the fact is that patients often only seek information they need at that moment. Email and SMS work only on business hours when the live chat box serves 24×7, which the medical travelers can access using their smartphone or laptop.
LIVE CHAT –GOOD FOR THE GROWTH OF MEDICAL TOURISM
Live chat box is a convenient option that allows the providers to communicate with the patients directly and know about their demand and preferences. It develops trust and reliability and creates a strategic relationship between patients and providers. Thus, better communication means improved conversion rates and healthy generation of leads.
Live chat improves patient-provider relation by improving patient care and overall experience. With open, direct, instant and transparent communication, customer satisfaction gets a boost, which also leads to the growth of the industry.
At PlacidWay, we also believe in patient-provider direct communication. Thus, we have recently rolled out chat functionality.
If you want to know more about how our chat functionality can help, click the button below:
