How to Get Better Patient Engagement with a Consumer-First Approach

Welcome back to our series on developing your dream practice – The Better Practice Roadmap™.  In today’s article, we’re going to talk about how to increase patient engagement using a consumer-first approach.

So, what exactly is a consumer-first approach? It’s pretty simple but you’re probably not doing it because you’re so busy being a healthcare provider, you forgot that your patient is not only your patient, but your customer — a consumer.

Providing patients with what they want from you is really simple but it requires an experience in your practice that meets or beats the experience that patients get from their favorite products or services – like Amazon, Instacart, Instagram. That’s who you’re actually competing with, not the provider down the street.

How can you create this in your practice?  This article will cover all you need to know.

First of all, you need to provide great care.  But it’s going to take much more than that. Other providers are already doing that too. That’s expected.  A consumer-first experience requires additional experiences and touch points that empower and support patients throughout their health journey. And most of this can be put on autopilot, to delight the patient while taking the workload off of you.

Consider this: your patients get personalized recommendations all day long on what to watch on Netflix, what to buy from Amazon, what posts to like on Instragram.  Their experience with your practice should be just as accessible and engaging or else you’ll be forgotten as soon as they leave your office.

Your patient (customer) came to you looking for help reaching a goal – better health through weight loss, hormone replacement, lifestyle change, etc.  You need to be in front of that patient at the right times to be a part of their daily life if you’re going to compete with everything else that’s holding their attention.

So what can you do?  Give your patients an app that puts your care program in front of them, along with the tools they need to stick to that plan, the support they need from you, and touch points that provide the same delight and instant gratification that they’re getting from Amazon, etc.

Let’s break down exactly how you create an experience that feels more like a consumer-friendly service—one that fits naturally into your patients’ lives and empowers them to take charge of their health.

Let’s start with the basics: patient engagement and monitoring. For your patients to truly feel supported, they need a way to interact with you and their care plan between visits. This doesn’t mean endless phone calls or more paperwork—it means leveraging technology in a smart way to build that connection.

As we unpack this, consider the Amazon effect.

When you order something on Amazon or make that impulse purchase on Instagram, it’s often because it was suggested to you. When you place the order, what happens? You immediately get notified that your purchase was complete with an email confirmation. Additional emails are sent to confirm when to expect the item, when it’s shipped, when it’s on its way to you and when it’s delivered (often with a picture of the product on your front porch). And then, they ask you for a review of how you liked your delivery and the product.  All the while you’re often also getting push notifications. And you love it.

That’s what consumer engagement looks like.  Let’s do that for your patient engagement.

Instantly Confirm the Product or Service -> Your Care Plan

Your patient just purchased care in some form from your practice.  Maybe the patient joined your medical weight loss program, purchased a concierge subscription or a package of services like injections, healthcare visits, etc.  What happens next in terms of communication to the patient should be no different than what we’ve just described.  The patient is going to leave your office and expect that you’ll confirm what happens next.

What is the plan? What are they supposed to do when they get home, tomorrow and for the next week?

Put the plan into a format that immediately welcomes the patient. This can be done by having a digital drip campaign that lays out what you’re promising to them (visits, products, follow ups) and describes to them what to do each day for their part.  For example, if your patient just joined your 12-week Weight loss program, the digital drip campaign should start with a “day 1” or an introduction that summarizes what the plan includes, what products (if any), they have just received or will receive, and what steps will follow over the coming days and weeks.

But most importantly, at the moment that patients complete their “purchase” from you, or shortly after, they should have an immediate confirmation in a form that goes beyond the receipt for payment or a confirmation of the next visit.  Now they’re expecting a deliverable as in our Amazon example.  And that deliverable is a summary of what they can expect from you and what you expect from them as their care plan unfolds.

Enroll them into a digital program or content sequence in an app that sends them an email asking them to activate an account with you and to begin their program, their plan, their course.  It’s like the unboxing of a new product or a gift. It provides the instant gratification they were expecting whether they knew it or not. And it includes a sense that there is an ongoing relationship, and not just the two disconnected points of last encounter and next encounter.

To set up a plan like this for any topic or service, refer to our article about  How to Scale Your Practice with Automated Patient Education.

 

 

Provide Ongoing Communication Easily and Securely to Keep Patients Engaged

Patients can reach their news, social media and other consumer apps with a tap on the screen of their phone. Compare that to their experience with healthcare software, which most patients find intolerable or often just ignore.  An article published by Kaiser Health News described the typical EMR relationship for doctors and patients as, “Death by A Thousand Clicks”.

Experiences in most EMR’s focus entirely on the recording of the encounter, storing data to be retrieved later, and not at all on what happens next.  Difficult log ins, a lack of proactive communication and UNfriendly consumer experiences prevent patients not only from getting answers to important questions after they leave your office, but also a feeling of disconnection as soon as they leave your office.

You need to push proactive messaging to the patient about their program and also provide an easy way for you and the patient to message each other instantly, like patients expect to do on their iPhone or messaging apps.  One hurdle is ensuring that conversations are more secure than a text message or an email. And to be honest, email and texts are never fully secure. You should be able to message patients easily—check in, offer encouragement, or answer questions—in a way that’s HIPAA compliant.

Imagine your patients having a question about their care and being able to shoot you a message right from their phone, much like they do with customer support for any other service they use.

Now, you might be thinking: I don’t want my patients bothering me at all hours of the day and night. Messaging can be automated or limited to certain hours of operation so patients can only message your preferred hours.

But as long as messaging is direct and easy to access, giving patients the peace of mind that they could directly reach you is absolutely a competitive advantage. 

How You Can Implement This In Your Practice: 

• Allow patients to message you or your team using a HIPAA compliant messenger (like BodySite)
• Check in on patients’ progress, offer encouragement, or answer questions quickly
• Set clear boundaries for messaging, such as response times, to maintain professionalism while remaining accessible
• Provide automated replies for common questions to keep patients feeling supported, even outside office hours

Empower Patients to Track Their Progress and Make it Fun

Think about the fitness apps and meal trackers that millions use daily. They’re popular because they’re simple and rewarding. Your patients should have an easy way to track their meals, steps, sleep, water intake, and other exercises, right inside their care plan app.

It shouldn’t feel like a chore—when patients log these activities, they should see instant feedback or encouragement, making it feel like a supportive partnership. The easier it is for them to record their health data, the more likely they are to stick with it, just like with their favorite consumer apps.

Whether it’s weight, blood pressure, or blood sugar levels, patients want to track their progress in a way that feels empowering. They need a place to log their biometrics where they can see trends and insights, which in turn will motivate them to continue.

When patients see their weight drop or their blood pressure improve, it’s no different than getting a reward in a game—they feel accomplished and driven to keep going.

Practical Ways to Apply This Approach:

• Encourage patients to log daily activities, such as meals and steps, with an easy-to-use interface
• Offer visual feedback, like charts and badges, to make progress tracking rewarding
• Integrate with popular wearables or apps to make data logging seamless and fun

Create Opportunities for Reflection

Journaling is a powerful tool in any health journey. Patients should be prompted to write about their experiences—their challenges, their victories, and their goals.

You need to make it easy for them to keep a journal, with gentle reminders to reflect on their thoughts and feelings. This process helps them connect with their journey on a deeper level, transforming what might seem like small daily tasks into meaningful progress.

A key component of patient success is consistency, and one way to ensure this is by prompting patients with reminders. These prompts need to come at just the right time, nudging them to stay on course.

Think of how e-commerce brands remind you of an abandoned cart—that same level of gentle persistence can make a big difference in patient outcomes.

Practical Ways to Apply This Approach: 

• Encourage patients to digitally log their experiences at specific milestones
• Provide journaling prompts that help patients explore their emotions around lifestyle changes
• Allow patients to share journal entries with you for more personalized guidance
• Use smart reminders to build consistency

Facilitate Virtual Meetings for One-on-One and Group Support

Patients crave connection—not just with you, but also with others going through the same experience. They need a space where they can meet with you virtually for individual support, as well as a group setting where they can share experiences, much like a virtual support group.

This could be as simple as having regular group video calls or a community chat where they can celebrate milestones together.

Ways to Make This Work for Your Patients:

• Offer regular one-on-one video calls for personalized guidance and encouragement
• Set up group video sessions where patients can discuss challenges, share tips, and celebrate progress
• Create private group chats to foster a community of support among patients with similar health goals
• Create a social experience via forums for better engagement

People love sharing their progress, especially when they’re proud of it. Give your patients a place to share their photos, discuss their progress, and even post questions to others—like a health-focused social feed.

This could be a group chat similar to what they’d find on Facebook but dedicated to health. The more social and interactive the experience, the more engaged they’ll be. This turns their health journey into a shared experience rather than an isolated one.

Steps to Put This into Practice:

• Develop a patient social feed where they can share milestones, photos, or tips they’ve found helpful on their journey
• Encourage patients to comment on and support each other’s posts to create a sense of belonging
• Use social challenges—like a step count competition or a water-drinking goal—to increase engagement

Make Everything Accessible in One Place

Patients don’t want to juggle between different apps or websites to manage their health. All their information—tracking data, journal entries, messages from you, and reminders—should be accessible in one easy-to-use platform. Imagine your patients opening a single app where they can see everything they need for their health journey, just like they would with any consumer app that makes their lives easier.

When you incorporate these elements, you’re not just giving patients a care plan—you’re giving them a true consumer-first experience in their healthcare. This is the standard that patients have come to expect, and by meeting it, you make your practice more appealing and effective.

If you’re looking for a solution that provides these services under one roof, be sure to check out BodySite and take advantage of our 30 Day Free Trial.