A key element of any project is setting goals. Why are they so important and how do we set them properly? Here, we share our experience setting goals in digital healthcare projects.
When setting goals, there are no strict rules that you need to follow, but we like to work with SMART goals. This helps everyone involved better understand the purpose of the change and the motivation behind it.
The number of goals will vary depending on the project— from our experience, 3 to 5 is a good number to aim for. But don’t worry if you come up with too many or too few. Try to focus on quality rather than quantity. Think of what your business actually needs and imagine the desired outcome.
Goals set up at the beginning of the project will guide you throughout the whole process and help you make the right decisions. They will bring your team:
A clear vision
Having your goals established early will give you a clear vision of how you can achieve them. They will be your map to success.
Saying, for example, “We need to increase the number of completed interviews,” outlines the direction you’re moving toward but doesn’t result in planning appropriate actions to reach your goal. Instead, you should say, “We want to implement a symptom checker as an optional tool within our healthcare platform to increase the number of appointments booked online by 2,000 within 90 days of going live.” These concrete ideas will allow you to distribute your resources, effectively measure success, plan marketing strategies, and take any other necessary steps.
Better communication
With precise goals, you can better communicate with your team, stakeholders, and partners. They will also help your marketing and sales teams pick up the project during and after its implementation and properly present it to your end-users.
Using the example above, your team could easily plan the next steps:
- Evaluate the various symptom checkers on the market and choose one
- Determine the team to implement it
- Introduce KPI metrics and measuring tools, like Google Analytics, to determine the number of finished interviews and those that were dropped or failed to convert
- Promote the new tool among your users
- Verify and optimize the new tool’s performance
Specific goals will also help determine an accurate time frame. For example, the initially assumed 90 days could need to be changed to account for bank holidays, weekends, and vacations.
Effective tool assessment
Measuring how well you meet your goals is also vital. Metrics to measure outcomes will validate and improve your tool’s performance in the long run. Comparing before and after results is a good way to demonstrate your tool’s usefulness throughout the duration of the project.
Implementing a symptom checker is only the first step. Ultimately, it’s a way to improve your business by improving user engagement, sales volume, user satisfaction, and retention. Digital healthcare tools that are well-configured and connected to existing patient journey steps can be the way forward for your business.
Check out our list of possible goals and KPIs ->
AKw, NBo