Chatbots help consumers interact with many different industries, and now are coming to healthcare. Automated chatbot conversations, occurring throughout the year, help build true relationships. Timely check-ins with patients gather health data, provide relevant information and offer a smooth way to register or set appointments. In this HCIC session, participants saw an example of a cool interface, experienced a chat and learned how chatbots are used at Centura Penrose St. Francis and other hospitals.

As a group of healthcare-specific Website consultants, we spend our day-to-day freshening up on the digital trends within and outside of our industry. It’s no secret that healthcare is typically one step behind most industries in the adoption of trendy tech gadgets. And it often makes sense, as we are typically on tighter budgets because marketing

As we’ve covered briefly in our GreyMatters e-newsletter over the last few months, the era of Big Data is upon us. Have you wondered where marketers stand on the Big Data topic? While not healthcare specific, some answers to those questions are available. Recently, the CMO Council and SAS published results of their cross-industry survey of world

We all know that Big Data is a hot topic. In fact, according to Reuters, Big Data will grow by 45% annually to reach a $25b industry by 2015.  And, it's a hot topic in healthcare too; although the  focus of many articles on the topic tend to center around the use of data to improve care or disease management, and rightly so. By using data to track

Free is good, especially when it comes to marketing your hospital or health system. So you jump in with free opportunities to display your brand through social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter; then you start a blog and then all of a sudden, it doesn’t feel so free anymore. In fact, social media-based marketing costs real money. Gra

What a great group we had for the Webmaster Workshop last week in Chicago!  I thought the food and the service at the Sofitel was fantastic.  The networking and the conversations seemed to be valuable to all and, as usual, it was like drinking through a fire hose as we were trying to take in all of the good ideas and case studies. As you settle

Ask any market researcher if they have some examples of funny things people have said on surveys, and then stand back and watch what happens. I am willing to bet that you will have to stop him or her after a few minutes. Do not be surprised at any excessive exuberance, as we research geeks are generally not called upon for humorous insight and tend

The results of our recent research on internal reporting of external Web analytics data are in, and have been sent to all who participated in the study.  According to the 40 organizations who participated in the research, it is clear that this is an area where many continue to struggle.  Here are some of the major findings: ROI remains elusive.