Remember the classic skateboard chase in the iconic 1985 film Back to the Future, in which Marty invented a homemade skateboard in 1955 by stealing a soapbox scooter to outrun bad-guy Biff Tannen? Nobody around him knew what this “board with wheels” was, but it worked as predicted because the premise was fact-based.
The Promise of Prediction
Enter predictive analytics data. After decades of “backward-looking” marketing, healthcare organizations with an eye on the future want to know more than what happened in the past. Now, predictive analytics enables companies to look forward with numbers also based on fact in a way scoreboard-style tools can’t.
Identifying Future Scenarios
Through the use of analysis, statistical algorithms, and machine-learning techniques, analysts can identify the probability of certain future scenarios based on historical data. The goal is to go beyond knowledge of what already happened, to delivering a “best assessment” of what could happen in future.
Using the Patterns
Healthcare companies are shifting toward using regression analysis to spot patterns that can predict future behavior. While there are multiple ways predictive analytics are revolutionizing healthcare itself, marketing can also benefit from the science with:
#1: Behavioral Modeling
Modeling customer behavior and preferences gives companies the ability to segment their audience based on former behavior. This provides intelligence on:
- potential lifetime value
- probability of brand engagement
- chance (%) of conversion
- likelihood of purchasing
- risk of customer churn
It’s useful for recommending products and services based on past purchases and for upselling, cross-selling, and next-sell recommendations.
#2: Lead Qualification
A 2016 study by Forrester showed how predictive analytics in healthcare marketing allows qualification of leads. While this is based on their likelihood to take action, organizations can also use those leads to create lookalike audiences. This helps marketers extend their reach to other prospects with similar attributes.
#3: Data Visualization
This is a valuable tool guiding healthcare organizations with launching products and services needed by customers. Companies can determine nuances between similar market segments, their buying habits, and changes in demand based on location. This also benefits operational issues like supply chain management by ensuring demand matches supply—without excessive stockholding.
The Key to ROI
The key to increased marketing ROI is knowing who and where customers are, what they want, and how to reach them. Predictive analytics can help you achieve these insights by leveraging demographic and psychographic data, communication preferences, lifestyle interest and buying habits. This allows you to create and deliver targeted messages about the right products, which reach the right audience at the right time, through their preferred channels. Like the skateboard, it works because it’s based on facts!
Contact Wax Custom Communication at 305-350-5700 or visit waxcom.com for more information.
