Ears Open

CANCER AND MARKETING. They don't exactly go together like peanut butter and jelly, do they?

People may have good reason to be skeptical of a cancer treatment center that refers to itself as a direct marketer. But DM works hand in hand with the Cancer Treatment Centers of America's mission to be available online for anyone, anywhere, at any time.

“We believe that we are probably one of the most advanced direct marketing operations in healthcare today,” says Jack Moore, chief marketing officer for the hospital network, which has programs in Illinois, Oklahoma, Washington and Philadelphia. “We attempt to communicate our message of hope through different channels and respond immediately to cancer patients for whom time is the most precious commodity. In all of our communications, as true direct marketers, the call to action is very simple: Call us now.”

CTCA reaches out to patients via direct response ads on broadcast television, cable, radio and in print, as well as through two separate Web sites.

“Television and radio have been the most important part of our outreach but we have been evolving to more of a Web model,” says Moore. “If you want to put that in percentages we're generating as much business from the Web as we are from television. Five years ago, 8% of inquiries originated from the Web. Today it's 45%.”

This is a change from years ago, when that percentage would have been much more in favor of TV. CTCA's call to action is responded to by live oncology information specialists 24 hours a day, seven days a week, either by phone or online chat.

But Moore stresses that CTCA personnel are not there to sell CTCA. They're there to help cancer patients with important decisions, make callers aware of different treatment options or just be a calming voice on the other end of the line.

“It goes back to understanding who your target audience is. When someone receives a cancer diagnosis they're looking for all the information and help they can find,” says Moore. “So we're aggressive out here in the search world to make sure that when someone Googles cancer treatment, Cancer Treatment Centers of America is right up there in the top three.”

CTCA Webmaster Adam Lefton gives credit to search engine optimization service provider OneUpWeb for helping CTCA stay on top of the search lists.

“They understand search engines and help us make sure that when we build a site and provide content we do it in a way that Google, Yahoo! and MSN understand. They give us high ratings because their engines realize this is the site that people need to visit if they're looking for cancer treatment,” Lefton says.

Once on CTCA's site, patients and prospects are given the option to speak with a live oncology specialist on every Web page. Over 2,000 people a month contact CTCA solely through the online click-to-chat function.

When a patient initiates a conversation by clicking to chat, he or she is greeted by one of 35 oncology specialists on a screen that resembles AOL Instant Messenger. The specialists are trained by CTCA and use a tool that helps them answer typical or frequently asked questions.

According to Lefton, that tool — built in-house — is used primarily to save time typing. Live representatives always are available to speak directly to callers if requested.

In the event of overflow calls, an outside service steps in with CTCA-trained handlers. “Overflow handlers can only take the conversation so far and then they have an oncology specialist return the call,” says Lefton. “They're linked to our in-house sales automation system so they can leave the information for our specialists.”

Chat has been available on the site for a little more than two years. InstantService worked with CTCA on developing the chat service and providing related technology. During the past two years, Lefton says, there's been tremendous growth in the number of people who chose to chat rather than call.

Even though patients may have found CTCA, they may not be ready to make a treatment decision. So e-mail and other online and offline mediums are used to communicate with prospects over months, and even years.

“When someone reaches out to us for help we have a commitment to help them until they arrive at the right decision, which may or may not be to come to CTCA,” Moore says. “But it's our obligation to help them, and we use e-mail to nurture our prospects over time.”

The oncology information specialist that the patient speaks with initially is the only contact the patient has with CTCA until the patient decides to discontinue the relationship.

Communications are specific to the patient's disease and values via personalized templates. If you are a breast cancer patient who believes in nutrition and spirituality in healing, you will be communicated with in a way that's personalized for your concern — disease type, complementary therapy and so on, according to Moore.

CTCA contacts patients in the format and frequency they choose. Some are every two weeks and others are less frequent, depending on what's important to them.

Nearly 50% of those who reach CTCA are not patients themselves. CTCA communicates with approximately 10,000 prospective patients and another 8,000 caregivers each month. So CTCA has created contact pathways for patient caregivers as well.

“We might be communicating with two people in the same household in different ways,” says Moore. “You as a caregiver might have different concerns and worries than the patient in the same house.”

For instance, caregivers may need information on travel logistics and insurance. Part of CTCA's one-stop shop is to take every possible concern from the patient and caregiver so they can focus on getting well, says Moore.

All technical e-mail and mail functions are conducted internally. “We're created the infrastructure here to handle it,” Moore says. “It's too important to us to outsource.”

Although communications are personalized, the contact steps are not. Mailings are interspersed with follow-up calls.

Initially, patients receive several mailings. They then receive a phone call — but not a sales call, stresses Moore. It's personal, on the order of ‘I'm thinking about you and I want to make sure everything is OK. And I want to know if there's anything else I can do for you.’

“We have a personalized monitoring system that helps determine whether or not the communication should continue,” Moore says. “If so, [we attempt to establish if] patients are finding our contact helpful in getting them through the decision-making process.”