What is growth hacking? Does growth hacking apply to healthtech? Can the healthtech industry actually benefit from growth methodology and active experimentation framework? And most importantly of all, how can it help you and your company?

To get started on the subject: Growth hacking is a relatively new focus in the marketing field, which focuses on maximizing company growth. The goal of this methodology is to test ideas that can improve the customer experience as fast as possible without investing lots of resources. After the tests ideas that can work will be replicated while those that don’t work will be abandoned. 

We start with metrics that measure growth of our healthtech  corporation as accurately as possible. The metrics that best deliver growth to your company will be your key metrics. In the healthtech business some examples for key metrics could be strategic partnerships or net profit margin. 

Once we know which metrics are the most important ones, it is time to set goals. Goals should be SMART, and these are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. Increase in 10% our client portfolio in two months, increase qualified leads in the next trimester, are examples of SMART goals. Think of goals as a desired increment, of decrement, of your key metrics. 

The next step is to ideate growth drivers. Growth drivers are hypothetical ways to achieve our goals, and we will be validating or rejecting them through small campaigns, called experiments.

An example of our first experiment might be to test how we can accelerate community growth with social ads 

We know clinical case discussions are an important part of lifelong learning in the healthtech industry and also help to solve complex problems. We can start by making this process online by looking at a platform for verified medical professionals, where they can discuss medical cases, share knowledge and contribute to the improvement of global healthcare.

In the same way we could give gifts. For example, if consumers provide you with their email information to subscribe to your monthly newsletter, you can include access to a free trial version of the product. If other customers submit information to get a free quote, you can provide them with a free e-book that contains health tips and healthy recipes. Giveaways are also a great way to thank customers when they complete a purchase or even to attract them with social media promotions . Focusing freebies on healthcare-related products can help strengthen your brand.

Strengthening the website and SEO could be another way to improve.

Nonetheless, the key to differentiate products is a strong and active community, so we must find a way to expand its user base, but only for specific demographics like doctors, healthcare professionals or medical students.? Should we also try normal people that are concerned about their health?

We may choose Facebook mobile app advertising, which allows targeting audiences with surgical precision, and therefore only displays their ads to medical professionals in specific professions or regions. In this way, the user base of the platform  may grow rapidly. However, how can you do it?

• How can you reach large audiences with viral videos?

• How do we get more visitors to our website?
• How do we increase the number of customers?
• What is the most effective and fastest way to achieve my company´s short-term goals?
• And what is the audience we should focus our advertising efforts on?

Each of these questions will give us information about what works and what doesn´t in order to achieve growth.

The final step will be to record learnings. Learnings are crucial to document in order to know what worked in the past and what didn´t. Having a regular feedback cycle and tracking your learnings consistently will allow you to repeat actions that bring growth and avoid repeating mistakes.

Want to know more about how to apply growth hacking to your healthtech business? Sign up for Hypertry and ask for a one to one session!