The rapidly changing circumstance in medical service demands a consumer(customer)-oriented management and marketing strategy of clinics with the shift of market from supplier control to consumer control. It is crucial that a medical institution prompt...
The rapidly changing circumstance in medical service demands a consumer(customer)-oriented management and marketing strategy of clinics with the shift of market from supplier control to consumer control. It is crucial that a medical institution promptly find and prepare the need of changing medical market and customers and carry its plan into effect. However, in the current system of medical laws which limit the advertisement and active PR marketing, the WOM(word of mouth)l transmission of service users is a determining fact that contributes to the marketing of medical institution.
This research finds out the various factors that affect how the customers choose and decide where to receive the medical cares, and what causes change in their decision. It also includes an analysis of WOM(word of mouth) transmission of information (satisfaction/unsatisfaction) that may affect people's choice of general hospital, which, thus, provides a strategic point in effective management of general hospital.
The research is planned to understand the content, course and type of WOM(word of mouth) communication of medical service users, evaluate satisfaction rate for different types of service, analyze how WOM(word of mouth) communication affects other users' choice and provide productive data which contribute to establishment of effective marketing strategy of medical institutions.
The types of WOM(word of mouth) communication of medical service users who are to provide information about their medical institutions include sender, receiver, sender/receiver, and independent. Sender refers to a person who offers one's own subjective decision and opinion to someone else on specific topic, and receiver refers to the one who receives the information. Sender/receiver refers to a person who sends and receives subjective message on specific topic to and from others. Independent type refers to a group of people who do not offer or receive information to or from others.
A survey was made based on the classified types among the service users of general hospital. Investigation of mutual relation between the types and users' choice of hospital revealed a result that the users receive various information from the senders who used the medical service in prior, which has affected their choice of hospital. This propensity of choice appears in the group of people with close age, gender, scholastic achievement, income and residential area, with active WOM(word of mouth) communication among them. Precisely, the WOM(word of mouth) communication seems very useful as a marketing strategy of a hospital regarding choice of medical service with the medical law, in which active commercial advertisement is limited.
It was found that users who were not content with the services they were provided of tended to be involved in offering information through active verbal communication as senders, showing users' propensity to verbally transmit information in case of unsatisfaction rather than satisfaction.
Therefore, it is the service supplier's duty to find out the unsatisfying factors and put consistent effort to reduce them and improve satisfaction rate. The medical service users tend to send information about the indirect medical service like convenience of traffic and parking, complexity, cleanness of institution, and kindness of service provider rather than the direct medical service like variety treatment, specialty of doctors, number of sickbed, and medical appliances and techniques. Thus, it is critical that institutions put constant effort in improving satisfaction rate of indirect service as well as the direct service and seek for service which would satisfy the needs of service users. Above all, establishment of useful marketing strategy is necessary which leads to active verbal communication owing to the satisfying medical service among the users.