The World's Shortest Marketing Survey: One, Four-Word Question

This is a quick post about a clever little idea. Healthcare marketing professionals can use this powerful four-word question to engage patients and inspire instant, on-the-job comments from the public. Here’s how it works.

The four words are: “How am I doing?” Put this question and a brief invitation immediately below your signature block for all your business email…and then link it to a short online survey form such as SurveyMonkey. It might look like this:

• Carol R. Marcom, VP Community Relations
• Our Group Medical Practice
• phone number
• email address
• website, blog, etc.

How am I doing? Patients and customers can acknowledge any employee for doing a great job or for going above and beyond. It’s easy to use the following link to tell us how the employee exceeded expectations. We value your feedback. Click on this link to let us know: [LINK TO WEB FORM]

The embedded link connects directly from the email to your online research page. The web-based survey form can be as simple as three questions and space for a response on a single page.

1. My name:
2. Email address:
3. How did our employee(s) exceed your expectations? Please be sure to include employee name(s) and date of visit with your comments.

(Note: There are several web-based survey tools available; many are free or low cost. Their silly name aside, SurveyMonkey is one; it's a reliable and well-established company that we’ve used previously.)

Here are some additional ideas to leverage this concept for patient or customer engagement and feedback.

• Solicit positive comments, but respond with thanks to all, and resolve any complaints.
• Share comments and survey results with staff, management, physicians, etc.
• Devise an internal recognition program that salutes the good work of individuals.
• Use the survey link on everyone’s email as well as your website, Facebook page or blog.
• Results are real-time, so monitor regularly and respond (as needed) promptly.
• As appropriate, post (with permission) comments, suggestions.

Medical groups, hospitals, physician practices—everyone in the healthcare delivery system and medical marketing—is looking for ways to further engage patients. This simple system provides customers and patients a quick, convenient and immediate channel to communicate their thoughts.

And by the way, this little question fits into almost every, in-person conversation. Try it: “How am I doing?” Little things mean a lot, and people like to be asked.