Everybody has done it at some point in their life. Nowadays, when we feel sick, sore, or notice something else that feels off, we’re going to Google those symptoms more often than not. Health companies have taken advantage of this trend for years now. It feels like every health website you visit nowadays has a symptom checker that you can use to figure out what you might have.
However, researchers recently found that symptom checkers only offer the correct diagnosis as the first result about one third of the time. That means you’re really not providing great value to your website’s visitors by building a symptom checker. It’s also hard to stand out by simply integrating the same ho-hum symptom checker that everybody else has on your website.
That’s why you should consider doing something different. Below, you’ll find three alternatives to symptom checkers that can really make your health website pop.
1. Live Physician, Nurse, or Healthcare Professional Chat
There’s no better way to provide your website visitors with accurate information about their health than to let them chat live with a healthcare professional. This is also an excellent way to turn the people who visit your website into paying customers. Start by providing them with the health information that they’re looking for and then tell them what your company can do to help them solve their problem.
The only downside to this tool is that the logistics of operating it could be challenging. Still, you may find that the tool is worth investing in — especially if you’re able to leverage it to create more business for your company. If you do decide to choose this tool, consider entrusting a multilingual individual to run it to increase your reach and opportunities.
2. Invest in a Telehealth Service
Telemedicine is one of the health industry’s hottest rising trends. It simply enables patients to access healthcare professionals from the comfort of home, their office, or virtually anywhere else they happen to be.
A good telehealth tool will do what symptom checkers do but in a much more effective way. Additionally, you can use this tool to create new streams of revenue for your health company. In that sense, adding a telehealth feature to your website is a win for your clients and a win for your bottom line.
If you’re considering adding a telehealth feature to your website, consider contacting Onsharp. We know what it takes to highlight new web features with compelling calls to action.
3. Help Patients Find Healthcare Professionals Near Them
People who use symptom checkers do so to get actionable information about their health situation. Instead of emphasizing the information aspect of this equation, your website could focus on the “actionable” piece. One of the easiest ways to do this is to make location-based recommendations for healthcare services that are close to the patient’s home.
You can do this by integrating location services into your website. Create a space where a visitor can input their zip code or address to find doctors in their area who can assist them with the specific medical issues that they have. You can even organize the results that the user is shown into specific categories to make it easier for them to find exactly what they’re looking for. This is another way that you can add real value to your health website without resorting to simply rebuilding a common symptom checker.
Let Onsharp Help
You can trust Onsharp to help you build your website’s alternative to the symptom checker. We know a thing or two about improving the user experience of health websites and would love to leverage that experience to help your company reach its goals. Get in touch with us to learn more about how we can do that.
