August 8, 2012 •Brian Watson
In the ultra-competitive world of real estate, curb appeal is crucial in getting potential home buyers in the door of a new property. Buyers often make a snap-judgment decision in the first few seconds upon arriving at a home that will define whether they’re ready to learn more, or just signaled to peruse the next property down the block.
Although point-and-click instead of brick-and-mortar, EBPP patient billing and payment portals tend to face the same underlying curb appeal issues.
Like a spacious, amenity-loaded home with a shaggy lawn that drives off interested buyers, online pay solutions that that fail the patient credibility and accessibility tests face an uphill climb in securing acceptance and use.
Nailing the First Impression
In other words, deploying an eStatement application that puts its best foot forward with patients is critical for solution ROI; especially because EBPP usage tends to lag significantly behind online billing figures posted by similar industries. To take full advantage of the impressive deliverability, cost, and patient satisfaction advantages provided by best-class EBPP, you need to make sure your patients are actually, you know, using your solution.
Fortunately there are several site design and usability elements that you can implement to make the periphery of your eStatement platform just as patient friendly and easy-to-use as the rest of its internal billing and payment tools. My humble suggestions include:
1). A Branded Portal. Brand identity is crucial for any website. But it’s especially important for an eStatement application where patients will be asked to view sensitive transaction details and enter credit, debit, or bank account information. That’s why you need to ensure that your EBPP portal is branded appropriately. As always, the goal should be usability. Your website shouldn’t be confused for your homepage. The idea isn’t to sell the hospital or practice (from which the patient has already received treatment), but to make the transition to online billing seamless.
And remember: although most of us may be more than familiar with eCommerce and online payment, your site needs to appeal to the entire spectrum of EBPP users, from neophytes to experienced vets. That means taking an approach to portal branding that reduces any lingering doubt or confusion that patients may have about going to the web for payment. To accomplish that goal, closely mirror the look and feel of your existing website in color scheme, logo, brand elements, and web style sheets.
2). A Mobile Friendly Site. Mobile devices are everywhere. A 2012 Pew poll reports that users of smartphones recently became the dominant cell phone technology among consumers. And tablets aren’t far behind. Forrester Research predicted in a study published earlier this year that tablets will supplant laptops as primary computing device for consumers by 2016.
With that kind of usage spike, it should come as no surprise that best-practice EBPP solutions have become decidedly mobile-friendly. Mobile payment applications are the next frontier for all-access online billing and payment, enabling online payments to be made from a self-contained device app.
But given that those tools tend to be really costly and lacking anything but early-adopter-only patient buy-in, ensuring that your base EBPP website is mobile-ready is a smart low-cost, high-impact alternative. And that means designing specifically with mobile users in mind: employing simple navigation, finger-friendly links and buttons, and mobile-optimized forms that ensure patients accessing your site on a tablet or smartphone receive the same patient friendly experience as their larger-screen comrades.
3). A Simple User Registration Process. Let’s face it: registration forms aren’t fun. With few exceptions, they’re time-consuming, boring, and tedious. Not to mention a significant barrier to EBPP usage. For example, a Blue Research study for JanRain reports that 75% of users are bothered by registration and will change their behavior accordingly (even enough to leave the site altogether).
What can you do to fight form fatigue? First off: sell the benefits of EBPP usage. Patients are far more likely to trudge through a multi-page registration if they know the time and money they can save by managing the payment process online. Next: make the steps as simple and streamlined as possible. Forms should only contain fields that are absolutely essential. Auto-filling (of information from previously completed forms) and breaking down long signups into manageable forms also helps shorten the process.
Finally: plan for errors, because they will happen. Error handling should be both clear (i.e. faulty fields highlighted in red) and clarifying (providing an explanation as to what’s wrong, not just that there is a problem).
4). Easy Password Recovery. Success! A new patient enrollment! Although great news, that means that the usability tug-of-war has only just begun. One thorny challenge: passwords. Because healthcare isn’t a month-in-month-out billing experience, time between patient visits can be anywhere from several years to a few minutes. And that means forgotten passwords (and patient bounces) are likely: Janrain reports that 45% of users will leave a website after forgetting login/password information.
To make things extra easy on returning users, your password retrieval process should be up-front and easy-to-complete, but still very secure. To ensure the right balance, use a multi-step registration that first asks for simple information the patient should know (i.e. email address, last four social security digits, zip code). Then takes then to a screen to answer a pre-set security question. And finally enables them to set up a new password that takes effect immediately. That ensures optimal security but should take no more than a few minutes for patients to complete.
Other smart password ideas include “Remember Me” checkboxes for frequently returning patients and, if you have multiple web applications on your site, providing a single sign-on for all website tools.
Those 4 strategies should provide a good start to help you upgrade the curb appeal of your eStatement application and ensure patient use. As for the “interior” billing and payment tools? We’ve got best-practice ideas (loads of them). If you have an EBPP question or are simply looking for a place to start, get in touch with us today.
Have any EBPP curb appeal questions or additional suggestions? Let us know!