Building Trust with Millennial Moms: A New Era for Physicians & Healthcare Providers
Thinking Big
Believe it or not, older Millennials — born roughly between 1978 and 1994 — are becoming Moms at a rapid rate. They deliver over 9,000 babies a day, and numbers continue to rise. That’s why this young and invincible generation is now faced with making important healthcare decisions for their family. So it’s only logical that understanding Millennial Moms and what influences their healthcare decisions is critical for physicians and providers.
What makes Millennial Moms unique?                       Â
This is a generation defined by 9/11, a global recession and one natural disaster after another. Their lives have created an appetite for authenticity, adventure, instant gratification and peer affirmation. This is also the first generation to fully embrace the digital age and includes some of our earliest “digital natives”. In other words, their processing and decision making skills have been shaped by the rapid dissemination of technology in the last decade of the 20th century.
Millennial Moms want you to solve their problems, and at the same time, your brand needs to stand for something they can believe in. This is the segment of this generation that is wealthier, family oriented, confident and information hungry. And, Millennial Moms aren’t walking in their mother’s shoes when it comes to raising children:
- 32 percent of them are single parents
- 33 percent of them are the family’s primary breadwinner
As decision influencers, this segment shares their opinion online more than any other group of moms. They feel strongly that they can improve on their Mother’s approach to parenting with the help of their support networks. To quote USA Today, the “boomers had Dr. Spock,” and millennials “have each other.”
Online recommendations powerfully influence their decisions, including those related to health. For example, Millennial Moms:
- Participate on an average of 3.4 social platforms
- Average 10.4 online recommendations monthly
- Re-tweet or re-pin 7 to 8 products or services a month
How can healthcare practices and physicians better serve and engage Millennial Moms?
Old school simply doesn’t work anymore. The traditional physician’s model of an interminable waiting room is not acceptable for the average Millennial Mom. Like most other services, these Mothers want their problems solved immediately and at their convenience. That means:
- Easy online and mobile access to medical history, immunization records, test and lab results, as well being able to schedule appointments
- The ability to communicate with their physician directly via email for refilling prescriptions, as well as seeking advice on medical treatment for less urgent health issues
- Access to 24/7 urgent care where no appointment is necessary for more urgent conditions
Since Millennial Moms are known to inform themselves from over 10 sources before choosing a provider, investing in physician reputation management should be a top priority. There are many factors that can impact a physician’s online reputation, including their online presence, search rankings and most importantly, patient approval ratings and comments.
Millennial Moms are highly sensitive to authenticity and want to engage with a genuine person, so it’s important for physicians to join the online conversation. But to be accepted in these conversations, they must respect the rules of engagement of the social space and understand that they are an interactive part of the community, although an expert one. They must be careful not to turn their interaction into a one way lecture, but rather to share their expertise in a digestible manner that is clear, easy to understand and polite.
This point of view was developed, in part, from BVK’s proprietary research study: The Rise of the Millennials — The Essentials of Marketing to Millennials. You can learn more about the full scope of this research here. Program Director Kim Kieffer and Senior VP & Director of BVK Chicago Tricia Lewis contributed to this blog post.
