Scheduling regular checkups, committing to prevention screening, pursuing different opinions before a procedure, trusting a physician, or avoiding doctors altogether have one thing in common: attitude proclivity, according to a new research report by LAVIDGE, a leading marketing agency with a healthcare specialty. Demographics play a lesser role in predicting patient decisions and trends.
After an analysis of more than 45 attitudes—which each respondent rated in terms of agreement or disagreement—four distinct consumer attitudinal segments organically revealed themselves: Team Player, Boss, Bystander, and Crusader.
“These attitudinal segments help healthcare providers and their marketing teams focus on patients as people, not just numbers,” said Stephen Heitz, LAVIDGE’s Chief Innovation Officer. “Knowing why people are choosing to stay with their healthcare providers or are willing to try someone new is invaluable when trying to both maintain relationships with current patients and attract new ones.”
LAVIDGE conducted this major research initiative over several months to help healthcare companies gain better insight into the motivations of their consumers. This comprehensive report also includes findings collected after the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States.
For example, and notably, LAVIDGE was able to determine that hair stylists enjoy more consumer loyalty across all four attitudinal segments than healthcare facilities. LAVIDGE partnered with Audience Audit Inc. to design and field their custom quantitative attitudinal segmentation study of 1,000 American healthcare consumers who match overall U.S. demographic profiles based on age, gender, ethnicity, race, and income and who make healthcare decisions for their households. Each study respondent reported accessing healthcare services within the previous six months, and 95 percent have health insurance.
“By looking at how these four attitudinal segments share similarities and differ from each other, healthcare marketing teams are able to focus on the root of a patient’s attitude to provide more relevant and meaningful messaging,” said Tim Trull, LAVIDGE’s Managing Director of Strategy.
The 82-page report, including a breakdown of each attitudinal segment’s key motivations, is available through free private video conferences with LAVIDGE. Request to join a private video conference here.
