Patient vs. HCP communication – individualized content solutions matter

In the healthcare industry, targeted and differentiated communication with patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs) is essential to effectively inform and convince. The needs of patients and HCPs are very different. While patients often look for simple and understandable information, HCPs need detailed and specialised information. This mean it is very important to adapt your content accordingly, addressing the needs of your target groups. Let’s look at where the differences in communication lie, what kind of information tends to resonate more with each, and some tips on how to create optimal content for both target groups.

Reading time: 9 min

Differentiated communication : know your audiences

A meaningful message is the key to gaining the trust of patients and HCPs and building long-term relationships. Often times, however, what is meaningful to one is irrelevant to the other. Each target group has different information needs and expectations, which means that communication must be adapted accordingly. By creating content tailored to the needs of the respective target group, you stand a better chance of cutting through the noise.

Really knowing and understanding the needs of the target group precisely is the first and most important step for meaningful communication and serves as the basis for a sound communication strategy. The first important step is to gather information about the needs, interests and preferences of the target group in order to adapt the content, accordingly, making the messages more personal and relevant. Empathy also plays another major role in content creation – more about that here.

What distinguishes patients from HCPs?

Patients and HCPs needs obviously differ in many ways. Their educational background, prior knowledge and communication needs are just a few of the factors that make differentiated communication necessary. A deep understanding of what both patients and HCPs need to know helps us create content that is tailored to the needs of each target group.

Optimize content for patients

Patients are often worried, confused or overwhelmed by what may be a new situation in their lives. They are usually laypeople in the field of medicine and need simpler language and easily accessible information to gain a deeper understanding of their health needs and treatments. The creation of content with a clear and understandable structure that concisely presents the most important information and benefit-risk information is of great importance. Keyword storytelling, for example: the use of relevant examples and stories also helps patients to identify better with the information provided and to understand it more easily, may be helpful in supporting them through communication materials.

Some other tips:

Always use easy-to-understand language, avoiding jargon and abbreviations that could cause more confusion
Structure the information into short, easily digestible sections
Present the benefits and risks of treatment clearly and understandably
Use graphics and visualizations to simplify complex information and convey it visually when possible

Optimize content for HCPs

Healthcare professionals need specific information to make decisions about the treatment of their patients, and ideally, they need it fast. Creating content with scientific data, clinical experience and reference information can help meet the needs of HCPs. A clear and concise presentation of benefits and risks is also important for HCPs to make decisions in clinical practice. So it’s very important that all your figures and facts should be clearly structured to make it easier for HCPs to grasp the information quickly. Comprehensive and professionally sound information can thus enable them to advise their patients optimally and give helpful recommendations. Get them to the bottom line, and then let them go back through the data once you’ve hooked them.

Some other tips:

Provide scientific data and research results
Present clinical experiences and case studies for insights into the practical application of treatments
Refer to relevant guidelines and guidelines to substantiate and document decisions
Provide reference information and further resources
Present the benefits and risks of your product or service quickly and clearly

Optimizing content for both target groups

By now we understand how important it is for companies to consider the needs of both target groups and to tailor their communication accordingly. And we see why it makes sense to create separate content for patients and professionals, tailored to their respective needs. However, once in a while we need to create content that must relevant and interesting to both patients and HCPs. In this case, we need to identify common topics or questions and to address them in the content. Here’s a few ways we try to make content relevant for both:

Simplify! Use one message that is clear, concise and understandable to both target groups.
Use visual aids such as graphics, diagrams and images to make complex information easy to understand and more appealing
Incorporate a combined HCP & patient story to illustrate and humanize the information
Try to avoid medical jargon or abbreviations that can be difficult for laypeople to understand. When necessary, explain the term.
Structure the content into clear sections that may be of more interest to each group – enable both patients and HCPs to quickly access what information is relevant to them.
Use positive language and examples to inspire and motivate both patients and HCPs.
Make your content available in different formats, such as text, video or infographics, to increase the attention of your target groups and reach them on different channels
Involve the target groups and encourage them to interact with your content - interactive content such as quizzes, surveys or similar interactive tools can help here
Creating content the HCP can go over together with the patient and then hand off to them to continue the journey gives you content additional reasons for being.

The Importance of Feedback and Success Measurement

Finally, it is important to gather feedback from patients and HCPs and to measure and optimize the success of communication strategies. One way to do this is through surveys, feedback forms, or focus groups. Through direct feedback from patients and HCPs, we can better understand what works and what doesn't, and make adjustments to the communication strategy.

It’s good to have real data to help measure the success of communication activities. Success measurement can be based on various metrics, such as the number of website visitors, the interaction rate on social media channels, the number of contacts, and the conversion rate. Careful measurement of communication results can help identify trends and evaluate the effectiveness of the communication strategy over time, allowing for adjustments along the way.