How Pharmacies Are Modernizing the Customer Experience to Lower Costs and Drive Growth
A better pharmacy customer experience can cut phone calls, speed up payment, and lift sales. HealNow's Susan Barrett joins Independent Rx to show how.
Webinar
Watch the Replay
Guest speaker
Meet Our Guest Speaker
Susan Barrett
VP of Sales and Business Development, HealNow
Susan Barrett is VP of Sales and Business Development at HealNow, which is now called Tabz. Tabz is a fintech company with an online payments and patient engagement platform for pharmacies. Patients can pay, buy OTC items and supplements, answer questions, and schedule delivery or curbside pickup. Independent Rx partners Owen BonDurant and Tim Clark use it in their own pharmacies. This webinar was recorded under the HealNow name.
Overview
Customers Want It Easy, and Pharmacies Need It Efficient
Reimbursements keep falling, so pharmacies must work more efficiently. At the same time, customers expect to order, pay, and pick up the way they do at restaurants and car dealers. Owen BonDurant and Tim Clark of Independent Rx talk with Susan Barrett about how text-to-pay and patient engagement tools meet both needs.
The panel covers fewer phone calls, safer payments, add-on sales, delivery fees, and the fear of switching technology. They also share a hiring tip that surprised them. If you want to improve the pharmacy customer experience without hiring more staff, this replay shows where to start.
Key numbers
Numbers From the Conversation
30%
of patients who check out on the platform add an OTC item or supplement.
22%
larger baskets come from patients who add OTC items to a prescription.
2.9% + 30¢
is the flat card rate Susan described, instead of interchange fees.
300
applications arrived in two days for one tech job, and texting candidates got them to interviews.
What we cover
Six Ideas for a Better Customer Experience
1
Customers expect easy
Shoppers order ahead, pay by phone, and get texts about everything. Even patients in their 70s use Facebook and DoorDash. CVS, Walgreens, and Amazon already offer this convenience, so independents need it too.
2
Text-to-pay in practice
Patients get a text with their price, pay, and the pharmacy gets a message back. No one reads card numbers over the phone. Patients can even scan a QR code in the drive-thru. Collecting payment before compounding also avoids making a $20 to $100 product no one pays for.
3
Sell more without more work
Suggestive selling in the cart adds OTC items and supplements without stocking more shelves. For example, an antibiotic can prompt a probiotic. Choose a small, boutique selection that sells and helps patients.
4
Charge for convenience
Delivery fees added to the cart feel normal, because patients see them everywhere. Charging fairly helps owners pay staff more. Flat-rate card fees also make costs easier to budget.
5
Starting is easier than it looks
Owners fear integration headaches and merchant approval hurdles. HealNow handles credentialing and compliance, works with seven or eight pharmacy systems, and runs an implementation call and staff training. It's cloud-based, with no heavy hardware.
6
Be your own customer
Order a medication from home and see how it feels. Give patients a "velvet glove" experience from start to finish. This is a hybrid, not a digital-only pharmacy, and it frees staff to do clinical work.
Be your own customer. Order a medication from home and see how it feels.
From the webinar
Take action
Practical Advice for Owners
The hosts and Susan kept returning to a few points:
- Stop collecting card numbers by phone. It's slow, error-prone, and not PCI compliant.
- Do a little more every day. You don't have to change everything at once.
- Pick the OTC items and services to show. Keep the list short and seasonal.
- Don't be the barrier. If patients can't pay easily, you are less convenient than your competitors.
- Reinvest the extra margin in your team.
From the discussion
Common Concerns, Answered
The panel also tackled the objections owners raise most:
- "My patients are too old." The panel says older patients use texting and delivery apps more than owners expect.
- "I'll lose business if I charge fees." Patients already pay for convenience at restaurants, stores, and delivery apps.
- "It will interrupt my workflow." Tim says setup was easier than he feared, and staff came to prefer it.
- Hiring tip: Tim texted job applicants and held virtual interviews, which got far more candidates to show up.
Independent Rx partners are customers of HealNow, now Tabz. This webinar reflects the panel's own experiences.
Keep exploring
Ready to improve your pharmacy customer experience?
Watch our webinar on adding services and moving from operator to CEO. Explore our pharmacy accounting and data services. Or see how Independent Rx can help you start or buy a pharmacy.
