Ajua Customer Loyalty report reveals what we already know
There is an increasing demand for mobile healthcare services in Kenya according to a
report recently launched by Ajua, Africa’s first Integrated Customer Experience Company
and Carepay, the company behind M-TIBA, the preferred health financing technology
platform for the government, retail and private health sectors. At the moment over 37% of
Kenyans currently use mobile platforms to access healthcare. However, over 90% of
Kenyan consumers would like to receive more healthcare services through their phones.
The report, which covered Mobile Health Transformation in Kenya revealed that while
Kenyans placed a larger emphasis on healthcare due to the pandemic, providers were still
not seeing this impact in their revenues. The pandemic also caused a strain on consumers
and prioritized essentials. In order to get around this, many healthcare providers are
accelerating their digital business models to improve their customer experience by easing
access to healthcare services for their customers.
The main healthcare services Kenyans access via mobile are health insurance and
payments with the most popular apps being NHIF, M-PESA and M-TIBA. To add to this, up
to 93% of those surveyed reported that over the past few months they have had a better
customer experience on mobile healthcare platforms.
As healthcare providers prepare to meet the demand for telemedicine services, it is
crucial for them to have a comprehensive customer experience strategy around the same.
Speaking on factors that make patients choose a healthcare provider, Kamande Wambui,
Head of Data Science Ajua shared,”After proximity to their workplace or home, the most
important consideration when making a choice on what health facility to visit is the level
of efficiency. Customer experience, thus, needs to be a major focus in healthcare.”
In addition, Dr. Torooti Mwirigi, Commercial Director, CarePay Kenya addressed the use
of customer data and argues that in addition to keeping this data safe, providers need to
rethink how they implement it to improve their customer experience before launching any
telemedicine services. Dr. Mwirigi recommends using existing customer health
information in a way that is useful to customers, “As it stands, most of the available data is
not packaged into useful use. Patients have to share their medical histories over and over
again every time they visit a clinician. There’s an opportunity for healthcare providers to
improve information systems that will build trust in the system.”
To conclude, customer expectations are changing and they want to feel that they are in
control. Customers need to be offered convenience. Mobile advancements in other
industries such as Banking, e-commerce and mobile money providers have already
implemented efficient mobile services such as mobile wallets. This has caused customers,
particularly the youth, to have higher expectations on mobile service delivery from other
service providers.