Our vision is for pharmacies to become self-sufficient digital healthcare hubs within their community (and beyond). We’re supporting 1000’s of pharmacies on this journey by helping them digitise their businesses. This article covers some of the main areas we’re focused on improving in 2021, bringing pharmacies into the modern digital age.
Our focus in 2021
Comfort is the death of progress. For a long time, pharmacies were comfortable. Progression was slow. But the world moved on. And now pharmacies are uncomfortable, with increasing online competition and the well-documented decreasing margins for prescriptions. Much of the pharmacy focus in the mainstream media is on impending doom. Because, inevitably, if pharmacies fail to change, closures aren’t far away.
But our focus isn’t on the negatives of inaction. But on lighting the way and showing you the wealth of opportunity that exists along with the continuously evolving digital world. You can read more about our vision and mission here. The future of pharmacy is digital and we intend to lead the sector along this beautiful path.
The 3rd Edition of Mastering Digital Pharmacy is on the way and we’ll update you exactly when that is released this year. But this really does form the backbone of everything we do here at PM. Education and helping you understand why these wonderful digital tools and technologies are so important, and how you can implement them, will always remain a priority for us.
Framework & Best Practice
As well as delivering a multitude of digital marketing and development services, a big focus of ours is on teaching the industry of the framework and best practice which makes that transition smooth and profitable. And that’s what we’ll explore in this article. Incredibly important (but not all) aspects of the expansive digital model, how they work together and why pharmacies need to adopt this model for a profitable service-driven practice.
Pharmacy Mentor is helping pharmacies thrive in the Digital Age, but what are the most important areas of change? What are we doing to deliver the change to our clients? And what are we doing outside of this to bring our support to more pharmacies, whilst ensuring our high standards of service to our existing clients doesn’t drop?
It’s a challenge for sure. But we’re equipped with the right people to handle that, and we’re really excited about this year.
1. Supercharging Web Development
Websites are the central hub to the digital machine. They’re critical for local discoverability, as well as the convenience and functionality they offer. They unquestionably belong at number 1 on our priority list, because they should be number 1 on a pharmacy’s priority list. Let’s explain why.
An ever-increasing world of opportunity
A website is the digital representation of a pharmacy. A great website has the capacity to host the entire business (see online pharmacies and doctors), so it can help to take a huge amount of pressure off a physical pharmacy – if it’s set up right.
A great website gives a great first impression. It streamlines your business and reduces admin and time on the phone. They can reach a massive audience. Websites allow people to:
Nominate pharmacies for electronic prescription services
Reorder repeat prescriptions
Book and pay for private clinics
Order prescription treatments via PGD and/or their prescribing qualifications
Speak to your pharmacist via video
Shop and buy their GSL and P medicines
and much, much more…
They are not a “nice to have” thing anymore. It’s not something to leave until next week. You MUST treat your website with as much care and consideration as your physical business. It’s an ESSENTIAL part of your business model.
What we’re focusing on
We play a key role in helping pharmacies do all these things. Our focus is on delivering impactful modern websites with great value and a brilliant user experience. However, we’re also focussing heavily on development to evolve our sites so that they generate even more traction and revenue for our pharmacies with easier overall management.
You must invest well for a website and service because if you do, you can expect to see superb returns. Pharmacy Mentor websites are so in demand that since last year, we’ve grown the web team to 8 people. We’ve recently welcomed a new Head of Web Development and two web developers to our team, a massive catalyst for our website production and evolution.
We have extremely exciting development plans for 2021 (and beyond) and we’ll be releasing regular updates often.
2. High-performance keyword optimisation
Keyword Optimisation for Pharmacy Services will be critical and is a HUGE opportunity – Get in touch!
There’s no point in having a website if no one can find it.
If your website is the library you want people to visit, blogs & SEO are the books that they come in for. The more books you have, the more visitors your library gets. I mean, the words you’re reading right now demonstrate this.
Writing informative and keyword optimised pieces that offer value brings people to your website. If you’re talking about something they need to solve a problem, and you also offer the solution on your website, you can link them like this.
Linking a relevant service in this way is how you convert people from visitors to customers. Just like someone coming into your pharmacy because they want Ibuprofen for a toothache, but then a good conversation with a pharmacist or an advert on a digital screen lets them know they can consult with a dentist digitally.
SEO make sure that people come to your website for what they’re looking for, instead of someone else’s. And we’re going to make sure through brilliant planning and execution, that this happens more and more.
3. Raising the social profile
Social Media is about connecting with your community and once again, is a mandatory business tool. Communicating what you’re doing in a much more informal way. It works because people like to spend time on Social Media. People don’t enjoy Googling things. They do it because they need something. People spend time by choice on Social Media, so if you can connect with them, you’re guaranteed attention and develop a more loyal relationship.
It also still serves the purpose of driving traffic to your website, or getting people to call and visit your pharmacy…it’s just a different avenue.
A community pharmacy becoming a health hub for its community should have a strong connection to that community. It’s still a big focus of ours for this reason. The recommendations, photos & ability to communicate quickly with your patients and customers are all assets that will work for your business.
4. Data Collection, Email Marketing and Analysis
Email Marketing is one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing and something most pharmacies don’t utilise. Pretty much every retail store on the high street ask you to sign-up to their mailing list.
Why not pharmacies? They’re amongst the most trusted establishments on the high street. Patients and customers trust their data to companies they feel personally connected to. Ignoring the opportunity this presents is a massive waste.
We’re also focusing a lot more helping pharmacies understand analytical tools within all the marketing channels but also things like Search Console and Google Analytics. As any marketer would know, this is key to driving better strategies and growth.
Education
Again, educating pharmacy owners about the opportunities available to them is almost as big a focus as delivering the services.
We did a couple of articles on both Data Collection & Email Marketing for pharmacies if you’re interested in finding out more about either.
5. Driving growth through Paid Advertising
A common fallacy of Paid Advertising on Social Media is that it’s for when you can’t do organic social media properly. When people think of Social Media, the thought of paying for it seems abhorrent, when you can post for free.
But the opportunities available through paid advertising are simply different (and better.) The difference is, they’re more expensive.
I won’t go into too much detail here, (for that you can read our articles about Google Ads and Facebook Ads through these links) but Paid Digital Advertising has a place in every digital strategy somewhere.
The question is HOW not WHY
Incorporating paid advertising as part of your digital strategy is a must (it’s that good), no matter what level you’re at. The big difference-maker with Paid Digital Advertising is in the how. As lots of companies try to do it themselves, get very little (if any) return and then throw the baby (paid marketing) out with the bathwater (their rubbish attempts).
Think if you were going to put an advert out on TV, or Radio. Would you try and record it yourself? Of course not! But people have this sense that they can do it themselves and get great results with paid marketing.
Our focus with Paid Advertising is to raise awareness of its true power and then harness that power for our clients. We’re opening up a whole new division within our company that focuses purley of paid advertsing becuase we know that this is such an important factor for pharmacy growth.
Want to talk about exploring any of these options in your pharmacy?
Get in touch! We’ll analyse your position in the market for the services you want to focus on, and give you a practical plan to make it successful.
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https://www.pharmacymentor.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Leading-the-way-for-pharmacy-digitally.png10801920Saam Alihttps://www.pharmacymentor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Pharmacy-Mentor-Logo-Header-Website-1030x193.pngSaam Ali2021-04-09 10:34:052021-04-16 14:38:10Leading the way for Digital Pharmacy and Marketing in 2021
Attention is an opportunity for relationship building, identifying problems, and presenting solutions. A well-planned email campaign gets you regular attention and the results that follow.
Sending emails requires email addresses to send them to. It also requires permission to comply with GDPR. We covered this in our article on Data Collection for Pharmacies, so we won’t include it here. But it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re serious about emails for your pharmacy.
Email Marketing for Pharmacies – Where to start
Probably the first thing to establish in your own head is that email has replaced post for most people. Mail used to be the primary form of communication to people. But the world has changed. If I wrote someone a letter nowadays, I wouldn’t expect a response within a week at least. There’s no interaction or functionality with a letter. I can’t touch it and visit a website. I don’t have to store it safely in my house if I want to refer back to it later. It’s expensive and time-consuming and it just can’t do what emails can.
That doesn’t mean there’s no room for letters in a marketing campaign, but if you sent letters as regularly as you sent emails, it would cost you a fortune and you’d probably get complaints. It’s a lot easier to delete an email than it is to throw away a letter.
Email Marketing for Pharmacies by Pharmacy Mentor
The benefits of Email Marketing for Pharmacies
Email marketing isn’t flash or showy, and that’s generally why it’s underused. It’s private, so it never really gets the publicity of a popular social media post, or a glamorous TV ad. Out of sight, out of mind. But here’s why it should be on your mind and on your to-do list…
Inexpensive
Even if you value time and have us do it, our admin fee and your email software are the only costs. There’s no additional budget necessary. Compared to paid marketing, another fantastic customer acquisition tool, email marketing is inexpensive and generally performs better than any other form of marketing for the investment.
Targeted
Splitting your customer base up to personalise and tailor your emails.
For instance, customers who come in for clinical services may not have prescriptions. If you’re sending them emails about prescriptions, they may unsubscribe. The same is true for any irrelevant communications. There’s only so much attention people pay to things that aren’t relevant to their interests.
Trackable
With most email software, you can track the number of opens, link clicks, and unsubscribes. All these help analyse the effectiveness of the emails. So if something isn’t working, you know about it and adapt. And if it is working, you continue doing what works. Combine this with Google Analytics on your website, and you can track where your website traffic comes from. Since marketing effectiveness varies for a whole host of reasons, tracking and analysis are massive.
Convenient for mobile and desktop users
Your market consists of both older and younger generations, each with their own preference for devices and software. Almost everyone has an email address and when people check their emails, they often have more time on their hands. (Checking emails replaces the time that less mail through the door has saved, which people only did when they have time to read full letters.)
Regular + Relevant = Revenue
For memory’s sake, you can break down the three key things you want from an email campaign into 3 R’s. Here’s why.
Regular
This doesn’t mean every day. Regular means predictable, and as you’d expect. I might expect to hear from a pharmacy once every two weeks. But if I signed up for a holiday deals bulletin, I expect a daily roundup of any deals. The right amount of emails for one person might be too many for another. Like anything in marketing, it’s worth testing to see where the sweet spot is in your audience.
Of course, you could have a great one-off email you send out and then not send another one all year. This isn’t a failure, but it’s not maximising success.
Relevant
In other words, not spam. Spam targets everyone and hopes it’s relevant for some people. You want your marketing lists as relevant as possible. You can segment your mailing list to maximise relevance. People engage more when they feel an email is really speaking to them as an individual. Targeting women for a period delay service? If you segment your mailing list, you can talk in a way women respond to, but men wouldn’t.
Revenue
If you’re not getting revenue, you might as well not show up. It’s last because you need the first two before you get it. But ultimately, revenue is the main reason you’re marketing in any form. Using call-to-actions is key here. Fortunately, people are familiar with taking action after reading an email, so you’re playing into an already existing mindset.
As with all aspects of your marketing, you want to be proactively pushing the right services at the right time. It’s no good promoting flu jabs in July. We have a Pharmacy Marketing Calendar which we use to develop strategies for your pharmacy if you need help structuring your campaigns.
Online Payments
If you’re not already set up to take online payments – you should be. Not accepting payments online nowadays is the equivalent of not having a card machine. You lose out on so much customer spend because you can’t take their money the way they want to give it.
Ready to adopt email marketing for your pharmacy?
Get in touch! We can help with everything you need to get started, including which software works best for pharmacies.
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The Patient Medication Record (PMR) world has long-awaited revolution. Is the solution (and the revolution) finally here?
PMR Systems – A critical analysis
A PMR system determines the Quality of Life of a pharmacy team. You don’t want something you use so frequently giving you headaches. But it isn’t just your experience that improves with a good PMR. Your patients’ experience is dependent on a system that enables both communication and efficient service. As we discussed in our guide to choosing an online payment provider, with increasing competition on prescriptions, customer experience is paramount to retaining their business.
The whole EPS system works better for patients, but there is a world of potential for PMR’s to grow to improve customer experience. With automated giants like Amazon Pharmacy wading into the prescriptions market, you can be damned sure they’ll have the best system in place for prescriptions. The focus on clinical services is pivotal. Your PMR should both free up Pharmacists’ time and make patients’ lives easier.
Industry-Leading Pharmacy PMR Systems in the UK
All the providers we’ll look at in this article are “industry-leading”, using their own words. So, it isn’t really clear who the industry leader is. Or what they even mean when they say that. Is industry-leading the best? Or is it the first to be released? Hopefully, our guide will provide direction and a bit of clarity with what you can expect from each provider. We’ll update this guide routinely so it’s always a useful source for you when you need it.
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Does any PMR System fit a modern pharmacy?
The name Patient Medication Record shows the focus of PMR systems. And this way of thinking, along with a lack of cutting-edge competition, held back PMR development (and pharmacies) for some time. You’re undeniably reliant on prescriptions as a baseline to your business and require a system to manage that. But the historic reality of PMR systems was no matter how good they are at managing medication, they’re focused on – and therefore limited to – managing medication. As a business, when your infrastructure is limited, so is the service you’re able to offer. If you want to grow (or you’re forced into it by ever-decreasing prescription margins) into something more than a dispensing pharmacy, you’ll naturally need more from the system you’re using.
There’s an issue with complaining about PMR’s when thinking about the system that a modern pharmacy needs. The intuitive thing to do is to think of what already exists and try to make it better, but that’s like trying to make a plane and starting with a car. You can slap a pair of wings on a car, but it’s going to take you a lot longer to make it fly than it would if you just started from scratch and designed a plane.
Think about designing a system from scratch to manage your patients now. How would it function? What is it capable of doing? Understanding that the focus of a modern pharmacy is now multi-dimensional, the chances are you wouldn’t even call it a Patient Medication Record System, but a Patient Management System. (Or a Patient Integrated Care System, if only for the abbreviation PICS)
With all that in mind, what’s the best existing PMR system on the market?
Which PMR System does the best job?
Whilst no system is perfect for every pharmacy (one size rarely fits all), which existing provider comes closest to ticking all the boxes you want?
The five PMR systems we’ll review all offer unique elements to improve your working life. However, there are unique aspects to each system making each more appealing to some pharmacy owners than others. We’ll also include the company’s own video (where available) to give them a chance to speak for themselves.
Please note: As of this publication, we are not affiliated with any PMR System provider and this has been written with no bias whatsoever. It is for information purposes and comprises of what we know when doing our research into them on a top-level, some feedback we’ve naturally been given from our clients and the experience our CEO has had in using some of the systems as a pharmacist himself. We are by no means indicating one is better over the other. It’s up to you to decide which will be right for your particular business. Furthermore, these PMR systems are in no order of priority and numbered randomly.
1. Invatech – Titan PMR
The Titan PMR from Invatech was created in 2016 by their CEO Tariq Muhammed to remedy some of the headaches he’d faced when running his pharmacy group. You can tell its creator has experience running a business, as it addresses a lot of business headaches. It’s a PMR, but crafted with business management in mind.
An immediately striking element of Titan is it’s clearly created to be used by anyone. One of the biggest issues in any business adopting new technology is “buy-in” from the staff, and the training needed to get them using it effectively.
Titan’s system undoubtedly reflects modern software expectations. Anyone familiar with using a smartphone will find the system intuitive.
The Titan system has individual logins that are completely customisable for the users too. This means that your pharmacy technician and Superintendent Pharmacist can work with information and functions that make sense to their job role, whilst working from the same system
The genius behind Titan’s PMR is that it brings in modern business solutions, such as the ability to monitor individual performances such as completion rates and mistakes. This allows for detailed performance analysis and gives good insights into where training is required. On the topic of training, the system has an inbuilt guide/tour of how to use its functions – so face-to-face training isn’t required. However, it’s important that staff understand the full functionality of what’s available to them. Quickly skipping through the tutorials will lead to inefficiencies down the line.
Integrations
It integrates, unsurprisingly, with Invatech’s Care Home Management system, Atlas PCS. If you already work with Atlas, it makes sense to adopt Titan too in the same way if you have an Apple or Microsoft laptop you’re better off with the same make of phone. The compatibility outweighs so many other pros and cons.
However, Invatech claim Titan PMR should be able to integrate with any healthcare app created using approved structures. This relies on other healthcare apps being built in the right way. So there might not be a raft of apps you can immediately integrate with, but it’s certainly future-proof.
Titan’s USP
Where it gets really exciting with Titan PMR though, is the “building blocks” approach to a tailored system. As much as one size can never fit all, this building blocks feature allows you to create different models of PMR for different models of pharmacy. As such, with a bit of time investment, you can mould your PMR system to your exact business model. Their claim “if you can imagine it, Titan can probably do it.”
A new player in the PMR market, Titan PMR has reimagined what PMRs should be. Whilst it might not be the complete package just yet, that might only be because other healthcare applications need to catch up to the level of integration that Titan can offer.
Titan’s offering is focused on helping Independent Community Pharmacies, mainly as that’s CEO Tariq Muhammed’s vision. “Leaving good pharmacists to do great services,” is the mantra behind his foray into technology in the pharmacy industry. So, provided you’re an Independent Community Pharmacy, Titan could well be the PMR for you.
Cool features
Integratable API – Allows for integration with other systems
Forward-Thinking/Future-Proof – The reason for Titan’s creation was a frustration with the existing systems. As long as Titan doesn’t become the very thing it set out to beat, it looks like a strong horse to hitch your wagon to. The way it’s designed stands it in good stead for the future.
Building Blocks Model allows you to model your system on your pharmacy model, rather than try and fit one to the other.
Flexible Support Channels including WhatsApp –Customer service is obviously a huge factor. Whilst we can’t attest to the service provided, the flexibility to speak to people is a good sign.
Considerations
Only recently released. With other more established PMR’s, it’s easier to find and read the experiences of people like you with reviews and testimonials online. Whilst there’s no telling if there are user issues, you’d be an early adopter at this stage, and therefore open to potential teething issues and bugs. It’s also unclear what the customer service is like. However, their eMAR product Atlas has positive Trustpilot reviews.
Cegedim Rx is already a big player in the PMR world when it comes to Medication Management. But the big advantage – the name. Pharmacy Manager. Not just the name, obviously. (Though it does sound like a fun computer game.) The benefit is more in how Cegedim Rx views Pharmacy Manager. Which is to say, they also view it as something that should reflect the whole of Pharmacy, including the incorporation of delivering services.
Switching PMR systems can be an administrative pain, so if you’re looking to switch to a new provider, it’s worth thinking about the future as well as the present. What’s the company’s vision for their PMR offering? Does their vision match up to your strategy as a pharmacy?
User Feedback
Cegedim Rx appears keen to listen to feedback from their users, and understand the direction Pharmacy as an industry is headed to develop their product into one that works for its users.
This is taken from the Cegedim Rx website:
“We have embedded our commitment into a product experience goal that commits to delivering products and solutions that precisely match our customer’s needs, enhance the UK healthcare systems, and facilitate improvements in patient care and outcomes.”
It’s promising to see both pharmacies and patients involved in product development.
Interface
Aesthetically, the Cegedim Rx is great to look at, having undergone a facelift in a recent update.
The dashboard design is useful, with a useful colour-coding alert system to prioritise tasks. It has good links to NHS services, including the prescription tracker and NHS mail within Pharmacy Manager, meaning find out what stage prescriptions are at without having to leave your PMR.
We know that Cegedim have big plans to advance Pharmacy Manager even further so in terms of innovation, they are helping community pharmacy evolve in its operations. This is a strong feature of the PMR and the company as a whole.
Integrations
As mentioned, Pharmacy Manager is integrated with the NHS Prescription Tracker, which makes handling customer calls a breeze, as you’ll always know exactly where a prescription is up to.
If getting and giving great customer service is your main priority, Cegedim might be your best option.
Cool features
User Interface – With a focus on making sure you never forget anything ever again by making the important things visible.
Reliability – Cegedim Rx support is widely praised for their communications and the system held up even during the Pandemic.
Updates –Cegedim Rx are constantly listening to customer feedback and improving the system with updates which improves the issues that people want fixed.
Considerations
Consider the functionality of this PMR and compare it to other PMRs. Does it have the required variety of spec to do what you want to do in the pharmacy?
Rx Web divides people more than pineapple on pizzas. Whichever way you slice it, (#PizzaPunIntended) Rx Web is a forward-thinking solution. But can they deliver? (end of pizza puns)
Cloud-based
A cloud-based platform enabling access from any PC or terminal instantly is a smart solution for pharmacies with more than one branch, or even just a large pharmacy with lots of terminals.
Cloud-based is so much better for so many reasons – there’s a reason Microsoft & Apple use it.
Imagine your pharmacy was broken into and your IT equipment was stolen. On the cloud, your data is still safe and accessible. Storing your data on your hardware isn’t secure.
Multiple pharmacies under the same umbrella? Working from the cloud makes it as though you’re working as one. Instead of your teams working in isolated branches, the cloud is a tree to connect them all. This means if you have a branch that’s busier than another, the one that isn’t as busy can be taking the prescription workload off the busy branch. Not only that, but the prescriptions will appear to be coming from the pharmacy they were ordered from. From the consumer’s perspective, it’s seamless.
Features
Rx Web gets a lot of praise for its range of features, even from its critics. It even includes some Clinical Service support, though the list of supported services is limited to basic services like MURs, Flu Jabs, and Health Checks.
It also integrates with Care Home systems and its features around Care Homes specifically are quite extensive.
Whilst it’s great that they offer patient communications, and even give you 200 free texts per month, but it feels like 200 free texts won’t get you very far. Meaning there’s almost certainly additional costs in there if you wanted to truly use this system. They also, bafflingly, offer fax functionality with this. I don’t know how many of your customers have a fax machine sat at home. But perhaps you’re a pharmacy set in the ’80s. If you are, look no further. Rx Web has fax support.
Price
Trying to get exact prices from PMR companies is a tricky task, especially as they often range based on individual needs. However, Rx Web has a reputation as the cheapest on the market, so if reducing your outgoings is your main priority, Rx Web might be your first port of call. We believe they only charge per pharmacy, so even if you have 10 terminals in your pharmacy, you pay once.
Reliability
Where Rx Web seems to fall down is on its system’s integrity. Whilst some users report no issues, there are a lot of negative comments around Rx Web’s ability to run properly at busy times, suggesting their server isn’t big enough to cope. The technical support also receives mixed reviews. Their contract claims to be simple, but there are reviews that claim there is also no cooling off period. So simple it might be, but make sure you check what you’re signing up to. All things considered, it looks like a bit of a lottery when you sign up with Rx Web. You might be a big winner, but you might be a big loser.
Depends if you like pineapple on your pizza, I guess.
Cool features
Low Fees – Users often remark on Rx Web being the cheapest on the market
Features –Especially considering the price point, Rx Web provides a lot of bang for your buck.
Considerations
Server unreliability is concerning – though apparently, the servers are better now than they were.
Ranging reviews on Customer Service implies it depends who you get through to on the day.
ProScript’s reputation is that they’re the best PMR system, but also the most expensive. Logically, that makes sense. If something frees up more of your time, it’s more valuable. But how exactly does ProScript Connect do this? And does it stand up to the new kid on the block?
This video isn’t a promotional video, and it’s four years old. But it’s the only thing available and might give you some idea of what to expect with ProScript Connect.
Works even when your broadband goes down
With even the best internet prone to disconnect for no discernable reason, the idea that your PMR system (and effectively with it, your ability to do prescriptions) is tied to such whims is less than ideal, to say the least. ProScript’s “Constant Connect” automatically connects you to your NHS network via a 3G/4G connection in the event of a broadband failure. Pretty useful, if things like working are important in your pharmacy.
Clinical Services Provisions
Helpfully, there aren’t specifications for exactly which PGDs are covered, but that suggests you could feasibly assume that all PGD’s are included. The fact that there’s a Service Hub included does make ProScript Connect a really useful engine if you’re big on clinical services.
Wide Range of Features
Many of the benefits of ProScript come through the many modules they’ve developed as a part of the software, as above. Without going through them all one by one, it’s safe to say that each one is useful and thought through.
Communications wise it’s the same as many other providers, where you are able to send email or text notifications to patients…but again, what we’d really love is the option to text message back. Whilst it’s not imperative for prescriptions, communicating whether a patient needs to cancel or rearrange an appointment is valuable automation that just isn’t catered for at present.
Multi-tasking
It seems simple, but the ability to open tabs and work with different windows is useful. It makes so much sense in fact, that it makes any system where you can’t do that, look a bit silly.
Interoperability
Does ProScript Connect play well with others? Integrations are a big feature of what ProScript is aiming to do, with a big focus on linking with NHS systems like GP Connect & SystmOne. It uses SNOMED CT, which is required now by all NHS systems and enables information to be shared accurately without duplicitous re-entry by hand.
They also have an open API, so any third-party apps can build their apps to work with ProScript. (whether or not they do that will be down to the third-parties). But it’s certainly a plus point from ProScript. Integrations are so important for saving time on tedious admin tasks.
Cool features
Integrations – With a focus on working well with NHS systems, there’s no doubt that ProScript plays well with other applications you might have or want.
3G/4G connection to cover internet failure is a big win.
Tabs! I get they aren’t the tidiest, but tabs are so useful to work with.
Considerations
Cost – ProScript is high-end, which means paying high-end prices. But you get what you pay for in life.
Positive Solutions isn’t just a PMR provider. Although their PMR system is a solid standalone offering, what probably makes them the right option for you is if you’re interested in their Integrated Pharmacy Solution. It’s a fairly comprehensive solution including an ePoS system that completely integrates with your PMR. They offer other products like Analyst Head Office, which gives analysis on things like retail sales, profits, dispensing volumes across pharmacies, etc. Or Analyst Handout, demonstrated in the video below, which takes the power of your PMR into mobile terminals.
Switching PMR systems can be an administrative pain, so if you’re looking to switch to a new provider, it’s worth thinking about the future as well as the present. What’s the company’s vision for their PMR offering? Does their vision match up to your strategy as a pharmacy?
No Dispensing Downtime
Just like ProScript, Positive Solutions understand the frustrations with system downtime on a PMR, and provide 3G coverage if and when your broadband fails.
Incorporates Delivery Mates into your PMR
Your driver simply scans all the prescription bag label barcodes with the eDelivery app and the app does everything else.
Maps the best route with all traffic information for the driver and this includes keeping your patient informed of estimated delivery times. A dashboard in the pharmacy gives you all the information you need. It’s especially useful managing volunteers, proving you have a robust system to protect against fraud.
Extensive training
Most PMR suppliers tend to opt for either face-to-face training or online training. Positive Solutions have both. Face-to-face training upon installation, and an eLearning platform for training whenever it’s needed.
Integrates with your Robots
If you’ve got a robot or an automated collection point, Analyst PMR can be synced up with them so there’s no gap in your workflow.
Cool features
Services Functionality – With a focus on making sure you never forget anything ever again by making the important things visible.
Good All-Rounder – Positive Solutions provides almost all the benefits and features other providers offer. Sometimes not as good, but at least the functionality is there.
Reliable Customer Service – With instant responses during working hours, so if something goes wrong it can get looked at straightaway.
Reports – Included in the price, unlike with some PMRs.
Considerations
Some of the extra products in their ecosystem appear to come as standard in other PMR packages.
That’s the golden question. Which one is right for your pharmacy business?
It depends on how your business operates but we think the following are major reasons to influence your decision:
Customer service – Stuff goes wrong. It’s inevitable. The PMR record will not load or the system my go down. And making sure that the PMR company are responsive and accessible is key. If providers have limited access or don’t get back to you, simply avoid them.
User reviews – Does the company have social proofing? What do your colleagues say about them? Word of mouth goes a long way but if they are actively generating reviews online, this is a very good indication to go with them.
Integration – Does the software integrate with other third-party providers? Or is the software totally inflexible? If providers aren’t collaborating with other companies or their software/hardware does not integrate with other solutions, you’re limiting yourself.
Innovation – If when having a demo of the PMR provider, the user interface still looks like that from Windows 95, it may be a sign that the company lacks forward vision. Is the PMR provider using cloud-based or hybrid solutions, modern interfaces and state of the art software and hardware? If yes, then this is a green light.
Time-saving – The ultimate limiting factor for a pharmacist today is time. Will the provider will save you time in your operations and streamline workflow? This is an extremely important factor. More time = less admin = more room to develop and grow your business.
Have you been using a particular PMR system for your pharmacy? Finding a solution useful or poor? We’d love to hear from you.
If you’re looking for help in selecting the PMR for your pharmacy, please get in touch with us. Our Director, Saam, is a pharmacist of 15+ years, accompanied by the fact that we speak to literally 100’s of pharmacists every week using a variety of different PMR solutions, we’re in the know.
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“A Pharmacy Mentor website will attract far more visitors than the pharmacy itself”
A Pharmacy Mentor website makes your life easier
Unless you’re planning on becoming the Starbucks of Pharmacy, you won’t always be the closest pharmacy geographically to people.
But if your pharmacy website is built right, you’ll be the first place people see when they start searching for anything you offer. Having a website and digital presence that is optimised correctly is one of the most important things to do for your business but it is totally neglected.
Built right, they’ll find it easy to navigate. They’ll be clearly directed to relevant actions to take. Whether that’s:
Booking appointments through a booking calendar
Filling out risk assessment forms for your PGD’s
Paying for medicines or services online
Re-ordering their repeat prescriptions
Leaving their details for you to contact them
Contacting the pharmacy team over the phone
Or visiting the pharmacy
There are, of course, websites that don’t do these things. There are old cars that break down all the time and cars which race for 24 hours in Le Mans. Not all websites are created equal. Pharmacy Mentor websites work because they’re purpose-built. Making your life, and your customers’ lives, easier.
Get customers you’d never get without a website
A busy mum decides to find immediate help for that migraine they’ve been getting for the last two years. She can’t wait for a 2-week appointment at the GP. She turns to Google for help.
If you don’t have a website or have a poorly-optimised website, they either don’t find you for help, use your online competitor, or they’re forced to use the GP – which burdens the NHS and is detrimental to her health for waiting so long.
We flip that script for you.
They search “migraine relief South Manchester ” on Google. With a properly-optimised website, your pharmacy website shows up with your page on Migraine Relief. You recommend OTC medicines and prescribe a prescription-only medicine that can be paid for online or in-store. However, you advise that if the migraines continue to get more frequent, they’ll need to book an appointment to see their GP. Now they feel cared for. People remember that. If you call them when they asked, they’ll remember you’re reliable and trust you.
An open conversation about someone’s health is a great opportunity to build a relationship with them. Tell them about your other services, or just that they should come to you first if they aren’t feeling well again. They could even follow your social media for health tips and updates on your services.
You got yourself a new customer for life.
All because they found you online first. All because your pharmacy website was built with their experience in mind.
https://www.pharmacymentor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Screenshot-2020-10-14-at-10.21.55.png20083446Saam Alihttps://www.pharmacymentor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Pharmacy-Mentor-Logo-Header-Website-1030x193.pngSaam Ali2020-11-12 10:33:142022-02-08 13:49:31A Pharmacy Website built with the consumer in mind
Google Ads for pharmacies. They’re happening on a small scale right now for Travel Clinics and Private Services, compared to the rest of the business world. But they’re growing, as people realise how much money they can make using them.
How do Google Ads work?
Even if you appear at the top of the page organically, companies and pharmacies using Google Ads appear above this because of the way the Google results are laid out. (Strangely, Google rewards people giving them money?)
They choose search terms to target, such as “Travel Clinic.”
Then when people search for things that are related to Travel Clinics on Google, e.g., Travel Vaccinations – the ad appears like this:
Ads display at the top of Google for the search terms they target.
It might seem like a waste of money to pay for ads to appear when you are already ranking at the top organically, but if you don’t, you’re giving advertisers an opportunity to appear above you and steal the customers who were looking for you.
Especially when they’re searching for something like “Travel Vaccines.”
I don’t know about you, but I don’t go home and search for Travel Clinics to relax. It’s because I need one. Now assume I don’t care where I get my vaccine from, I just want the damn thing. So I’m going to click on the first relevant thing I see.
And if that’s an Ad, that’s exactly what I’ll click on. If they make it easy for me to book on their site, and they’re the price I’m expecting to pay, then I book my appointment and go on with the things I actually want to be doing.
And that’s it. Deal done. Transaction over. It cost that business however much Google charged them for a click, which on average is between 50p-£1.
How can you get a piece of that sweet, sweet Google Ads pie?
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ’em. Funnily enough, it’s really simple.
You choose search terms to target, such as “Travel Clinic.”
Then when people search for things that are related to Travel Clinics on Google, e.g., Travel Vaccinations – the ad appears as above.
If that all sounds familiar, it’s because it’s exactly the same process that they used to get all the customers unchallenged. Except now you’re actually competing for the business, not just standing by and letting them take it.
We know the ads that work, the best times to run them, and the way to set them up for success. Your ads will attract clicks, even when alongside another ad.
Unconvinced by Google Ads?
You’ll likely want to understand how this happens, to get similar results for your pharmacy.
You might have tried Google Ads for your pharmacy and not seen much success from them. You might have heard horror stories of people pouring thousands of pounds down a black hole with no return. This is entirely possible, when Google Ads are run without the proper knowledge of how to get results.
But our results speak for themselves. Here’s an Ad we pointed towards a website. Note – we are showing you SMART Campaigns here, not Advanced Campaigns. We’ll be adding info about Advanced Google Ads at a later point.
Example SMART Google Ad Campaign
It gave the option to call immediately or visit the website for more information, as well as links to book appointments for that service. 50p/click which is the low end of average. Think we’re showing off? I literally just picked a random ad. Here’s another one. (This was the second one we looked at, I can’t even guarantee it’s the best performing.)
This Ad targeted flu jabs and averaged approximately 30p a click in North London.
This second Ad was promoting a Flu Jab service (the Pharmacy forgot they’d asked us to do it and were wondering why they were getting private flu jab enquiries!) They got an even lower cost per click at 30p! This one was aimed at driving calls to the pharmacy and physical visits.
The search terms this ad got results for.
You lose customers by not showing up when they’re searching online.
Exceptional results even without a massive budget.
Both of these ads are LOW budgets. And we don’t recommend that. For multiple reasons.
Our management fee remains the same regardless of your budget (unless you want super serious Ads). So the more you spend, the greater the value is.
The same is true of Google’s charges. The more you budget, the lower your average cost per click is. It’s the equivalent of buying in bulk.
A limited budget means that your ad switches off during the day when the daily budget runs out. This means lots of people could be searching for your service and your ad stops displaying whilst your competitor’s ad keeps going. And they go back to winning all the business.
Also, please note that the above ads were run on SMART campaigns which is the basic form of Google Ads. Advanced Ads require more budget and management fees because of the data we are gathering. We’re learning exactly how to make the best ROI from every pound we spend.
Want to increase clinical bookings with Google Ads? Book a call and we’ll get you up and running.
https://www.pharmacymentor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Untitled-design-1.png10801920Saam Alihttps://www.pharmacymentor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Pharmacy-Mentor-Logo-Header-Website-1030x193.pngSaam Ali2020-10-29 18:36:552022-05-16 14:15:33Google Ads for Pharmacies: How to advertise your pharmacy on Google
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a massive period of uncertainty for pretty much everyone. But where there is chaos, there is also opportunity. In this particular case, for pharmacies, the opportunity was marketing PCR Tests.
The Opportunity
The demand for PCR tests quickly picked up when lockdown was lifted and people were allowed to travel again.
This graph shows the popularity of the search on Google over the past 12 months.
The Results
Pharmacy Mentor harnessed this demand for our clients who offered PCR testing. We also recommended that other pharmacies begin to offer PCR testing through their pharmacy as a result of the trend analysis.
Here are the stats for one of them:
Off the wall statistics for an independent pharmacy website.
This reads like a marketing symphony. Imagine for a second that this was a physical pharmacy…
New users: – 28,702 people have walked into your pharmacy off the street. 28,702 people.
Sessions: – Those people came into the pharmacy on average 1.54 times.
Page Views: – Of the 90k page views, the consultation form page had 18.5k views. So, of those 28,000 people who walked into your pharmacy to ask about PCR tests, 18,500 signed up for a consultation.
Good Problems
It’s really been a bit of a problem. Because it’s not easy to cope with such demand.
Fortunately, the fact we have Telegram & WhatsApp support for our clients means they get instant support whenever they need it. And this did need quite a bit of support!
A separate phone-line and email had to be created for PCR requests and all other requests on their website. Fortunately, having created their website too, so we could do this immediately.
On-site consultations needed to become online consultations to make room for flu jab appointments. I’ll say that again. To make room for flu jab appointments. The pharmacy was wall-to-wall booked with PCR consultations.
Then online consultations booked up. We had to turn the form off temporarily because there was too much demand and people couldn’t book appointments.
We’ve had to evolve the website to be able to accept online payments to streamline the money coming into the business. Not a bad problem to have.
“Please help, I have so many calls and requests per day, I can’t process it all.” At its peak, marketing PCR tests was making this pharmacy £5k/day.
How we did it
You’ll likely want to understand how this happens, to get similar results for your pharmacy.
Two words. Keyword Optimisation.
Understanding how Google works, we created and optimised two articles for their website (yes, you need a website for this to work). Our keyword research found the terms that people mostly used to search. We published each article – making it both user-friendly (easy to read, easy to use) and Google-friendly (clearly optimised for keywords and formatted well).
A couple of weeks later, due to the lack of competition, the articles topped Google for the relevant keywords, beating the Government websites.
We created a digital form on the site for people to fill in so they could book everything online, as well as a payment mechanism. Two reasons for this:
It’s easier for you as a pharmacist to manage.
It’s better for the customer/patient – because when people are searching the internet:
They aren’t always in a position to pick up the phone
Phone lines might be busy
Your pharmacy might be closed when they’re searching for the service (in the evening!)
You lose customers by not allowing them to do everything online.
Able to act with our finger on the pulse
There was obviously the matter of timing, too. That’s why we’re the perfect healthcare partner. We know the heartbeat of healthcare when it comes to marketing throughout the year.
Overall, the investment on this project from the pharmacy was around £500. This resulted in making £1,000’s/day.
When the opportunity knocked, we answered.
Our monthly marketing packs give you access to what is essentially a remote marketing department. With constant dialogues from our team, you’ve got instant access to the trends and the tactics that maximise impact – from those trends, for your pharmacy.
PCR testing is an exceptional bubble, for sure. If you do offer PCR tests, get in touch nowbecause we can maximise your impact.
But this strategy works for all the PGDs and on-site services you offer, as well as eCommerce. There’s a massive vacuum on Google in the world of healthcare. Waiting for pharmacies like yours to fill it – and fulfil the demand of all the thousands of searches happening every day.
Looking for help in marketing your services better and building an online presence? Please get in touch with us. We’ll be glad to help.
“We had no digital presence before we used the services provided by Pharmacy Mentor and our profits were being eaten up by ridiculous fees. Now, we’re generating over 100 bookings per month through our own slick and seamless, money-generating automated system.”
Pharmacy Owner – Edinburgh, Scotland
About
This pharmacy is a local independent community pharmacy serving the populations in Edinburgh. They are a popular, long-established chemist who understands that innovation is the only way forward in this tough, competitive climate.
Challenges
The challenges that they faced were:
He knew the pharmacy had the potential to deliver many more pharmacy service consultations but he didn’t know how to achieve that.
He wanted to avoid giving half of his profits away to the company that provided the PGDs for him.
He had no marketing strategy of his own. The pharmacy had no digital presence.
Building their own online booking system with integrated Pharmadoctor PGD consultations
Integrating the online booking system into their pharmacy website
Building a dedicated Travel Clinic website to dominate keywords associated with their Travel Clinic
Develop and execute an organic social media strategy through Facebook, Instagram, and Google My Business
Drive higher numbers of bookings through paid Google Adwords
Results
With the entire scope of marketing conducted, we have transformed the business in terms of the pharmacy services they offer, their Travel Clinic in particular. We have significantly increased monthly revenue and profits for them.
Notable outcomes of marketing efforts:
Positioned on page 1 of Google for most search terms associated with their pharmacy services in the locality, organically. This was achieved 3 months after the build and optimisation of their new website. The website is generating over 300 new users and >1000 page views per month, organically.
Our marketing efforts have now begun to generate well over 100 bookings of various pharmacy services every month. The Travel Clinic and Medicspot being up there with the most popular:
Total bookings generated in September 2019
Google Ads have been performing very well over the last two months with click-through rates (CTR’s)averaging 16% and average conversions at 22%, which is much higher than the industry average.
If you’re looking for help in marketing your services better and building on online presence, then please get in touch with us and we’ll be glad to help.
https://www.pharmacymentor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Edinburgh-Case-Study.png10801920Saam Alihttps://www.pharmacymentor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Pharmacy-Mentor-Logo-Header-Website-1030x193.pngSaam Ali2019-11-27 18:40:202022-05-03 08:01:16How we’re helping a pharmacy in Scotland generate over £15k per month in Pharmacy Service revenue
Is your pharmacy catering for the digital behaviour of your customers and patients?
In a world where we’re online more than we actually sleep, where online retail sales are breaking records year on year and where 40 million of us in the UK are now active on Social Media…have you considered what kind of presence your pharmacy has online to cater for this behaviour?
Having a digital presence is just as important as having a physical presence these days and there are so many tools you can use that will help market your services better, create stronger business and customer relationships, and help drive pharmacy footfall and website traffic.
So, in light of this, I wanna help you understand the current health of your pharmacy online and what kind of opportunities lie ahead of you through what I have coined as the “Pharmacy Digital Diagnosis”. Let me explain what this is in a bit more detail.
What is a Pharmacy Digital Diagnosis?
An example shot from the digital diagnosis of a chemist in Nottingham
Essentially, a Pharmacy Digital Diagnosis is where I screen your pharmacy business to help you realise:
What your current online presence is like
How well you’re marketing your pharmacy online, and
What opportunities exist for your business in terms of digital marketing
Through screencasting and voiceover, I will examine each of the digital marketing channels you’re using and the strategies you may be employing, and advise you on:
What’s good about them
What’s not so good about them
And what can be done to improve them, which will lead to better results
All of this is then packaged into a short and concise video which I will send you via email so you can watch, learn and digest in your own time.
I conduct each and every Diagnosis for free of course and what you do with your video is completely up to you. But, if you want to talk to me about how you can improve your presence online, market your pharmacy services better or would like me to implement and manage a more powerful digital marketing strategy for you, then I’m all ears! Get in touch with me by phone, Whatsapp, Email, Skype, FaceTime, LinkedIn, Facebook (you get my drift), and I’ll get back to you right away 🙂
https://www.pharmacymentor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/The-Pharmacy-Digital-Diagnosis.png13422560Saam Alihttps://www.pharmacymentor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Pharmacy-Mentor-Logo-Header-Website-1030x193.pngSaam Ali2018-02-12 07:25:472018-02-14 06:43:40The Pharmacy Digital Diagnosis – How digital is your pharmacy?
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