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A quick and easy‐to‐use tool for measuring patient satisfaction

When it comes to purchasing just about anything today, customers have an unprecedented number of choices. A decade ago, typical consumers had only a few places to buy something; they could drive to the store and get the item today, or order it from a catalog and wait. The Internet has changed things dramatically for purchases of all kinds. Customers who purchase hearing aids can still drive to their local medical clinic or retail office, and most still do. But they can also order hearing aids on line, through the mail, and even on e-Bay. The MarkeTrak VI and MarkeTrak VII surveys found that direct order is one of the fastest growing segments in the hearing aid industry. The Internet has also changed the way consumers interact with a business. No one would deny that, largely because of the Internet, our patients are better informed and generally savvier than previous generations about their hearing healthcare options—and what they should be paying for them. Regardless of how and where people buy hearing aids, all of us in this industry are responsible at some level for generating satisfied and loyal customers (we will refer to them as “patients” throughout this article). If you work directly with patients in a hearing aid dispensing practice, you must be able to satisfy and retain patients in order to stay in business. Providing high-quality products and services builds strong relationships with patients and ensures that they will return. By giving your patients no reason to switch—and every reason to stay— you safeguard the future of your practice. In order to satisfy patients consistently over time, you need an effective way of determining how they feel about your practice. If you don’t know that, you don’t know if your practice is on the right track. The concept of measuring satisfaction is well established in the hearing healthcare field.1 In addition to the value of what you learn from a patient satisfaction survey, when you use one you are demonstrating to your patients, your staff, and the entire community you serve that you are devoted to providing quality care and improving your practice.