Competitive analysis refers to assessing the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors to your organization. This technique can prove to be very helpful for a healthcare business as it allows you to compare your organization with your competitors. 

Steps involved in Competitor Analysis 

You need to select a service line before starting a competitor analysis. Once you have chosen the service line you ought to improve, follow these simple steps to get the most out of your Healthcare business:

Step 1: Identify your Competitors 

The first step in service line competitive analysis is to identify your competitors against which you will be comparing your organization. The departments usually have more competitors as compared to an organization at large. 

In order to conduct a competitive analysis, you need to research different healthcare organizations in your town, county, state, or region. It would help if you remembered that your patients would be willing to travel distances for specialized care. Now, you need to prepare a list of organizations that may pose current as well as potential threats to the services provided by your organization. 

Step 2: Interview Stakeholders

The next step is to interview stakeholders of your organization. The departmental heads of your organization possess subtle knowledge about the services being offered by your organization, how your patients, as well as community, view your organization, and the competitive landscape in your area. You may ask them profuse questions such as:

• Where do your patients visit if they don’t come to you? Here, you need to confirm the details from the list that you created in the first step. Now you need to collect information about their service line and their strong and weak areas? How do your competitors potentially threaten your business?

• What’s unique about your Healthcare? What services make you outshine other organizations in your area? How can you differentiate your services and your team’s approach to care from other available organizations?

• What are the qualities of your organization that you want your patients to share with others? What is your patient’s opinion about your organization? Do they view your organization as community healthcare offering one-on-one attention, the academic research center with cutting-edge technology, or a one-stop destination for primary and specialty care?

• Who is your typical patient? You need to describe in detail their demographics, preferences, as well as interests. Additionally, you need to understand what they like most about your services.

Step 3: Understand your Target Audience 

The next step is to understand your target audience. It would help if you got answers to who they are, what they care about, and their standard questions about your organization from your targeted audience. This will help you create engaging service line content and make you outshine your competitors. 

You must gather information about your targeted audience, such as their preferences for your service line and what more they expect from your service? This information is easy to collect from your past or current patients of your department. If your department consists of feedback forms, do look into these to get an idea about what they think about your organization?

Basically, you need to collect information about whether they like your service or are not satisfied with it? Most importantly, you need to understand what made them choose your organization over other available organizations in your town. 

Step 4: Analyzing your Competitor’s Online Presence

The final step in the service line competitive analysis is to analyze your competitor’s online presence. You need to visit your competitor’s website and get answers to the following questions: 

• Is their content easy to understand or a complex one? Have they used more layman language or medical jargon to display their content? What is the grade level of content available on their website?

• Is their content personalized to the user, and how can they benefit from getting their care? Or whether their content reflects organization-focused logic?

• Does their website reflect more sensitive and empathetic experiences of patients, or is that judgmental and overly negative?

• Is their website Mobile-Friendly? Mobile optimization is very crucial for this technology-driven world.

• Does each web page have user-friendly metadata? Have they used relevant keywords in the copy to support Search Engine Optimization?

• Can you observe relevant Call-to-Action buttons on every page? Or have they made it unclear about the next step in the process?

• Is their website reflecting their patients’ feedback or not? Do they comply with federal guidelines?

After getting answers to the above questions, you need to compare your competitors’ websites with your organization’s website. You will be able to point out the strengths and weaknesses of your website as compared to your competitors. You need to provide users with a hassle-free online experience, and in return, they would reward your website with increased conversions.

That’s how competitor analysis can help your Healthcare business to outshine other healthcare organizations in your area. We hope that this comprehensive guide would have helped you in getting a fair idea about competitor analysis. For more details about marketing and analysis tips, please stay connected with us.