ER Wait Times: To Text or Not to Text?
That is the question and the answer is very simple. If your hospital is focusing on ER admissions and generating ER wait times under the staggering national average of 4 hours, then yes, by all means, let people know about it. Texting ER wait times is one of the strongest arrows in the healthcare marketing quiver.
In 2009, over 1.6 trillion--with a "tr"--texts were sent and received in the United States alone. People are texting more than they are talking or e-mailing. Texting enables people to make a quick decision about which hospital provides the shortest ER wait time and that in turn enables people to begin their positive patient experience.
Studies show that many hospitals that market their ER wait times have shown double digit increases in ER admissions. Although this has generally meant a combination of tactics such as billboards, web site postings as well as texting, the anecdotal evidence is there: people waking into the ER, cell phone in hand, asking if the wait time is "really just 22 minutes?"
And s
peaking of people walking into the ER: some hospitals servicing larger populations have worried over the idea of creating a further burden on their already strained system. But think about this: marketing the text code 4ER411 to the marketplace is totally controlled by the hospital. The hospital chooses who learns of the text code, how they learn about it, when they learn about it. It can be geo-targeted, age targeted,
Hogan Interactive Shoes, demographically targeted, so the hospital can maintain better control of their overall ER targeting.
Hybrid Mode
