When we think about the brands we most admire, we usually highlight the ones with the best customer value, not the lowest prices.

Apple, for instance, is a name that comes up time and again when we talk about truly successful brands. Its products are by no means the cheapest, but that’s not the point. We don’t care about price, because Apple has convinced its customers that its products are worth more than those of its competitors.

Whether or not this is true, Apple’s secret to success is that the company is leading the way in delivering customer value. So, what is this?

Understanding customer value

Customer value is a service’s worth when compared to possible alternatives. It determines whether a customer feels like they’ve received enough value for the price they paid. If the total cost seems to outweigh the benefits, a customer isn’t going to purchase. If the benefits outweigh the cost, you have a sale. Apple is perceived as the best quality, so despite the fact that discounts are rare, it’s the provider of choice for many buyers.

This principle applies across all industries, including dentistry. Now, with purchase decisions being delayed as people think more carefully about what they spend and where they spend it, understanding customer value is crucial. Enhancing your value can therefore reduce friction within the sales journey.

Customer value isn’t determined by any one factor; it includes customer excellence, product excellence and operational excellence – even, in some cases, locational excellence, if a store or practice has a convenient local outpost.

Evaluate your customer experience

Rather than competing on price by offering discounts (which risk devaluing your products and services), practices should be competing on customer service. These days, patients have many, many options, meaning they can afford to look for additional value when making their choice. They want to feel appreciated while communicating with your brand, they want to rely on true experts, and they want to be understood and listened to.

It’s therefore important to assess your sales journey. Create a patient journey map that outlines each step your customers take when buying from your business, and look for interactions that might cause friction. For each stage, ask whether they’re getting value that’s better than anywhere else.

For instance, are phone calls picked up promptly? Are treatment plans delivered in a timely fashion? Do you follow up to give patients what they need? It might sound simple, but think about things like politeness and making customers feel you’re giving them time. Show that you understand their needs and offer a number of solutions. Once you can visualise every action your customers are taking, it’s easier to see opportunities to add value.

Identify customer benefits

Customer value is communicated through both customer experience and marketing. We’ve covered customer experience, so let’s take a look at marketing.

However, for your marketing to successfully communicate the benefits of choosing your practice, you first need to know what these benefits are.

Here are some specific ones to consider:

• The quality of your product or service;
• The ability to provide a better solution;
• Your brands reputation;
• Your unique customer experience;
• The quality of your customer service team;
• Self image benefits, e.g. a positive effect on confidence or self-image for an event, career prospects or their social life.

Identify customer costs

If these are the benefits, what might be the costs? What are the reasons that a patient wouldn’t choose you over another practice? Here, it helps to differentiate between the tangible and intangible. This way, you can compare monetary costs with other costs.

Tangible costs might include:

• The price of treatment;
• Availability of finance and payment plans;
• Time and convenience.

Intangible costs might include:

• A poor customer experience;
• Physical or emotional stress induced by treatment;
• A poor brand reputation.

Weigh them up

Again, customer value is determined by whether the perceived benefits outweigh the costs. At this point, you’ll need to think about how much benefits like brand reputation, social status, and service convenience are worth compared to costs like time investment, emotional stress, and physical commitment.

Try segmenting your customer base into different buyer personas, and then consider customer value for each group. At this point, you could use customer data to identify specific purchasing behaviours. For instance, those considering implants may take longer to make a decision, and Invisalign patients might be swayed by seeing a digital scan. It pays to think about each journey separately.

Regular reviews and feedback from customers may also help you identify areas of improvement. Focus on the customer’s perceived value of your product or service, and analyse data to judge where people are dropping in the sales journey, their reasons for not going ahead, and their feedback or reviews.

Focus on more than price

It’s important to remember that customers give more credit to your dental practice than what’s listed on the fees page alone. Price is a tangible cost, so it does matter, but it doesn’t have the final say.

It’s tough to compete through price alone, and you shouldn’t have to. This doesn’t mean that you can’t create a competitive offer. Instead of applying blanket discounts, look for alternative ways to add value to your customer experience. Keep in mind that customer needs range from convenience to trust. There are plenty of non-monetary benefits that can convince people to buy from you. I remember one practice that sent a car to collect its most anxious patients. I’m not advocating this, but it’s a good example.

Speak to and through your customers

When you’re trying to understand customer value, the best source of knowledge is patients themselves. With this in mind, we suggest conducting timely surveys to understand what matters most to them.

Patients often don’t mind paying a higher price for a better customer experience. In fact, they’re often willing to pay more for what they perceive to be a better customer experience and product (as we can see with Apple). Instead of guessing what is most valuable to them, ask them directly and work towards that.

If you’ve got satisfied customers who are willing to talk, you might even ask if they’re willing to share their thoughts in a video testimonial. This type of content is extremely compelling to target audiences, as a happy patient will almost certainly talk about the emotional impact of their treatment, addressing multiple tangible benefits in one go.

Enhance your customer value

There’s no secret formula for ensuring customer value. Because every person is different and has specific needs, goals, and expectations, you might even find that the definition of “good value” is inconsistent. However, successfully communicating your benefits and improving your customer experience will significantly enhance the sales journey.

To find out more about improving your marketing communications or sales journey, get in touch with our marketing team.