chosen to develop their own online-
bookingsystemsareflounderingand
failing to deliver value to their clients,
as customers want the convenience of
being able to find and book all of their
accommodation needs in one place.
making the booking process easier and
more convenient for consumers, who
now derive benefits from using these
sites, saving time, often saving money
and always gaining convenience.
Consequently, those hotel-
management systems that chose to go
it alone have lost a battle they could
never have won. Freely obtainable
data suggests that around 80-90% of
the bookings for these hotels are not
done through their own websites but
via aggregate sites such as wotif.com,
expedia.com and the like.
as realestate.com.au. As recently
as 10 years ago consumers visited
the local real-estate window or that
agent's company website to view
properties they were interested in
buying or renting. In less than three
years, however, realestate.com.au
has changed the landscape of online
property searching and is now one of
the top go-to websites for property
buyers and sellers alike.
become redundant and irrelevant to
their customers? Even major chains
such as LJ Hooker and Ray White
struggle to get consumers to visit
their sites, despite having millions of
marketing dollars at their disposal.
want the convenience of being able
to find all of our accommodation or
real-estate needs in one place (this
obviously applies to other industries
as well). That is the value portal sites
deliver to us all.
industry? The first step is to accept
that convenience is a consumer
demand that healthcare practitioners
cannot deny or ignore.
sites offer i.e. a consistent single
place where we can go to find, book,
and/or buy all of the services and
products we want. Why shouldn't
booking a healthcare appointment
also be this easy and convenient?
that your patients will want to find
and book healthcare appointments
conveniently online. But do you
believe your own medical website will
be able to offer and manage such a
process in the medium to long term?
If the major real-estate and hotel
chains, with their access to significant
resources, cannot compete with their
equivalent online portals, then what
hope have you got?
essential that the insight gained from
the experience of other industries
helps healthcare practitioners to stay
ahead of this trend.
professionals themselves sometimes
are wouldn't you want the
convenience of being able to book your
healthcare appointments online 24/7?
practice's capacity to offer
online appointment booking
there are some key capabilities
you will want to question:
chosen practice-management
software support it? Your
front desk staff will be very
unhappy with you if it doesn't
integrate or is not supported.
through the same system?
This will drive maximum
value for the practice and, in
particular, drive strong referral
business if this is desired.
should you divert marketing
investment to this more
measurable approach?
We all know this is what
patients will mostly want.
viewing by competitors and
patients? It can present
real threats if it isn't.
an online portal to maximise
efficiency and convenience?
And can they see just your
appointments or will they see
your competitors' too? As this
would be your new practice
front door, albeit digital and
accessible 24/7, it should
be taken very seriously.