Cafes. Libraries. Retail centers. The Taco Bell down the street, the locally-owned liquor store on the corner. They all have something in common: a contactless consumer experience. Contactless is everywhere - for retail and food service, the transition to a more consumer-friendly, touchless shopping and check-out experience is the norm rather than the exception. A Mastercard consumer survey conducted in April revealed that a staggering eight in ten consumers are using contactless payment methods to safeguard their health. The service industry is adapting quickly to consumer standards, and it’s not a trend to be taken lightly.
There’s a good reason these businesses have been quick to adapt to changing consumer expectations: they all share the recognition that their services aren’t unique enough to win out to safer, more contactless alternatives to their products. Safety is the new guiding force in consumer preference, and when given the choice between a contactless and traditional service experiences, consumers are willing to sacrifice human interaction for their own health.
As we watch retailers worldwide respond to the COVID-19 crisis with swift changes to their operating procedures and customer care approach, it’s more clear than ever that healthcare must follow suit. If consumers consider interacting with the self-checkout terminal in their local grocery store an unnecessary risk to their own health, imagine how they feel being made to interact with service terminals at their physician’s office.
Change within the healthcare industry is arguably even more critical than in other industries. Not only are medical offices prone to more infectious traffic, they are bastions of community health and safety. Patients trust their local urgent care to keep them safe, and for an industry invested in patient health and wellness, these changes are long overdue. It is imperative that convenient care clinics nationwide take drastic measures to protect their patients from the spread of contagious disease.
Encountering a waiting room full of patients and having to interact with physical documents isn’t just an inconvenience anymore. Requiring your patients to put themselves at risk to receive care - more risk than they encounter ordering a taco down the street - is a major deterrent to the conscious consumer. Contactless is here to stay, and it’s time to make the switch or lose your patients to care centers that already have.
You don’t have to make these changes alone. Since our inception, Solv has led convenient care in consumer-facing innovation - bringing physician groups the latest in patient insight, consumer research, and customer care developments. We’ve been invested in modernizing the convenient care industry since day one, bringing you the tools you need to implement changes that improve patient experience while streamlining your clinic operations. We will continue pushing to change healthcare for the better, recognizing that, at its core, healthcare is about patient health, comfort and wellness.
On the cutting edge of modernization, we have always endeavored to actively listen to consumer demands - and many of the changes we roll out are directly in response to the changing needs of the community. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, consumer demand is reaching a fever pitch - within healthcare and without. At Solv, we’ve been listening. And we’re here to tell you change is no longer an option. It’s a requirement.
