Identify your target groups
A target group is a particular group of people that will use your solution or service (e.g. symptom checker or intake tool). Identifying this group (or rather groups, as it is almost always more than one!), as well as learning its characteristics is crucial for building effective communication. It is also important for driving adoption and further adjusting your products or services to your target audience’s needs.
Target groups can be described as Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs)or personas - fictional profiles of your customers or clients - and are a handy alignment tool for all of the departments and levels in your company, from higher management to commercial teams and administration. ICPs help you to stay laser-focused during marketing campaigns and adoption activities - regardless of whether you need to release a new feature, launch a new product, or open up to an entirely new market segment.
Where to start your target audience research
- Demographics: gender, age, country, language. If possible, try to research and consider cultural backgrounds, socio-economic situations, and other aspects relevant to your healthcare service.
- Pain points, goals, and motivations: we recommend considering both personal and professional aspects, even if they don’t seem to be directly linked to your service or product at first glance. Perhaps the currently available care services are too expensive or unavailable at convenient times.
- Competition and alternatives: what product(s) is your target audience currently using instead of your upcoming solution and why? Keep in mind, it is not always a competitor - in many cases people resort to DIY alternatives, which always come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages.
- Preferred communication channels: is your target audience mainly online or do they prefer in-person contact? Find out which channels they use on a daily basis and think of ways you can reach them where they already are.
- Preferred communication style: is your target audience younger or older? Did they pursue higher education? Multiple factors can impact our preferred style of communication: some groups will require plain language and very transparent storytelling, others will appreciate short messages and bullet points.
After collecting your target audience research, you can prepare personas. Alternatively, you can move straight to mapping the benefits and values of your product or service with the needs, goals, and motivations of your target audience. This will help you create a unique, compelling message for each ICP.
Examples of target groups in healthcare
Most often, your target group will be related to and consist of end-users, customers, and members with access to your medical services.
- Digital patients - all genders, 16-35+ y.o., accustomed to mobile technologies, seeking medical help products, googling their symptoms, not afraid of virtual contact with a physician. They will most likely be using social media, communicators, and mobile apps for communication.
- Patients of your medical center - all genders at various ages, not necessarily fluent with digital technologies, preferring in-person contact. Speak with them through your nurses, collateral exhibited in a medical center, inviting them to simplify their access to medical services through digital communication.
- Immigrant communities - all genders at various ages, probably not fluent in your native language, who seek medical help and need support in cross-language communication. They might present via digital channels but also via local community centers.
Another important group of users is healthcare professionals working at your organization - you must not forget about them! From symptom checkers to patient triage enhancements, your employees will most likely use new features and products even more frequently than your patients or members. Without their buy-in and openness to adopt new solutions, your new investment might not pay off.
Examples of internal healthcare target groups
- Doctors and medical experts - professionals of various ages with various levels of familiarity with digital tools. Focused on providing patients with the best medical care possible. To do so, they need complete information on the patient’s overall state of health. They have little time, are often stressed, and are burdened with many tasks. As such, communicating with them through an internal messaging system or with printed materials is recommended and should be complemented with training that includes information on the medical background of the new solution as well as information that they can leverage during consultations.
- Call center agents - professionals of various ages who manage large volumes of calls. They use digital tools on a daily basis. Use internal communications, such as newsletters and employee communication networks, to distribute information about new solutions. Provide them with training on how to use the new tool and let them teach the patients.
Worth remembering: most tools available on the market today provide analytics features, which can be a valuable source of insight into your target audience.
For example, all Infermedica solutions allow you to collect anonymized health information about your end-users. Used properly, they not only help you verify and understand your target groups but also open up new opportunities: assessing future service demand, reassigning resources in advance, or creating personalized campaigns focused on how users interact with your symptom checker, intake tool, or other.
Learn more about analytics within Infermedica tools here ->
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