Integration extends digital experience to engage consumers when they search for care
Loyal, the preferred digital health platform for the nation’s leading health systems and hospitals, today announced its ability to support Google My Business and Google Business Messages. This integration will extend the reach of Loyal’s digital platform directly to consumer devices as they search for care, enabling seamless conversations and end-to-end support.
Between 5-7% of all Google searches are healthcare-related, representing over a billion health questions per day. Additionally, research shows that 80% of patients prefer to use digital communication, such as online messaging, texting or virtual visits, to interact with healthcare providers and brands – compared with 58% in early 2020.
Loyal’s integration with Google Business Messages enables consumers to start a conversation outside of a health system’s website – and intelligently maintain that conversation forward. Using conversational deep linking, Loyal seamlessly carries the dialogue to another channel, such as a hospital’s website or patient portal, without losing any of the discussion. For example, a consumer can start a dialogue on Google Business Messages about a heart condition, and Loyal’s chatbot will analyze the intent of the conversation with its AI-powered, natural language processing capabilities before redirecting the consumer to the healthcare provider’s cardiology webpage.
“The healthcare consumer journey often involves extensive research. Consumers rely on search to find care, and health systems need to offer an omnichannel experience that reflects this reality,” said Chad Mallory, CEO of Loyal. “By being the first digital health platform to support these integrations with Google, Loyal is helping healthcare organizations extend their digital front door directly to patients’ screens.”
Conversations conducted with Google Business Messages are asynchronous and maintained by Loyal via conversational deep linking, which allows the thread history to carry through to other channels. Secure and HIPAA-compliant, this technology creates a frictionless omnichannel experience for the many healthcare consumers who begin their patient journey with Google. Loyal’s digital health platform enables a more connected experience, driving higher patient satisfaction, increasing appointment volumes, reducing no-shows, and helping to create healthier communities.
HonorHealth, a Phoenix-based health system with six hospitals and more than 70 primary, specialty and urgent care clinics, is one of the first health systems to go live with Loyal’s Google Business Messages integration. Over the course of five weeks, with over 120 conversations total, beta testing of the integration led to 97% of successful conversations. These lasted an average of 67 seconds each, indicating users were able to quickly find answers to their questions. Since launch, HonorHealth has maintained a 36% conversion rate from conversations begun in Google Business Messages, and 21% of conversations have led to a live chat. The most common topics included speaking to an agent, scheduling an appointment, and using HonorHealth’s clinical symptom checker. The quick implementation and use of this new tool gives health systems the opportunity to increase top-of-funnel engagement early in the healthcare consumer journey.
“With the help of Loyal and Google Business Messages, we’ve successfully expanded the reach of our chatbot to connect with patients as they search for care, making it easier for them to quickly find the information they need,” said Craig Kartchner, AVP of Marketing & Customer Experience, HonorHealth.
To learn more about Loyal and its full range of healthcare consumer experience solutions, visit loyalhealth.com.
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