When your patients think about a pharmacy, they often get a bad taste in their mouths. For many, the thought of a pharmacy, like a doctor’s office, links to memories of feeling sick. Pharmacies especially can bring back bad memories of choking down nasty cough syrups as kids or forcing down chalky pills as adults.
Patients’ senses, especially taste, contribute to how they feel about businesses like your pharmacy, and whether or not they want to come back. Any off-putting associations patients make through using their senses can potentially affect your business in a negative way. By focusing on how patients use their sense of taste, you can improve the overall image of your pharmacy.
Making improvements to how your pharmacy “tastes” sounds a bit silly, but it can set your pharmacy apart from the competition. It’s especially important because so many patients already have negative feelings about pharmacies due to their sense of taste.
Downplay those negative feelings by catering to your patients’ sense of taste in positive ways. Doing so can improve how patients view your business, generate new customers and build customer loyalty. Here’s how.
Promote with taste
Subtly encourage patients to think of your pharmacy in a positive way by providing them with delicious tastes. Set a jar of candy on your pharmacy counter or near your front end, for example. Something as simple as a jar of candy—that you keep filled—can give patients “warm and fuzzy” feelings about your pharmacy. They’ll start thinking of your pharmacy as a place they enjoying visiting, not as just an avenue to obtain their medications.
Maybe patients will even start to pop into your pharmacy just to snag a piece of candy. As a hometown pharmacy, you especially want to build that close relationship with your patients. Who knew something as simple as candy could do that?
You could also offer patients a tasty cup of coffee while they wait for their prescriptions. Although doing so will take a little extra effort by you or your staff, it’s something unexpected for patients. Usually when waiting for their prescriptions to be filled, patients plan to sit through a boring, uncomfortable wait. They don’t know any differently.
Offering patients a cup of coffee, or a cup of tea to sick patients, will set your pharmacy apart from the competition. Plus, giving patients coffee while they wait will encourage them to hang out in your store longer, which means more potential for front-end sales. If they like the atmosphere of your store they’ll feel more comfortable hanging out and will likely pick up their other necessities while they wait. And, patients who like the atmosphere of your store will come back—and tell their friends and family to visit.
Offer compounding services
Let patients know that you can flavor their hard-to-get-down medications. Many patients don’t even know that compounding services exist. Patients who have difficulty taking unpleasant medications will appreciate that you can compound their prescriptions in the flavor of their choice. Parents with finicky kids will also love it. Offering compounding services will enhance how patients see your pharmacy, and it means an additional source of revenue for your business!
Consider marketing your compounding services to patients with informational leaflets, flyers, brochures, direct mailers and more. Your patients can’t ask for compounding services if they don’t know they exist! If you need help crafting marketing materials, the marketing department at PBA Health can help. We offer a variety of pharmacy marketing services to fit your needs.
Marketing to the Senses Series
Learn more about each of the five senses and how they can improve your pharmacy marketing in our article series.
What Do the 5 Senses Have to Do With Marketing Your Pharmacy?
What Does the Sense of Sight Have to Do With Marketing Your Pharmacy?
What Does the Sense of Smell Have to Do With Marketing Your Pharmacy?
What Does the Sense of Hearing Have to Do With Marketing Your Pharmacy?
What Does the Sense of Touch Have to Do With Marketing Your Pharmacy?
