What is conversation intelligence and how can it benefit your multi-location organization?

A conversation no longer simply refers to a face-to-face interaction between people. And, conversations about brands are no different and are more often found in digital spaces these days. Understanding the ways in which conversations happen digitally and the nuances of those conversations has never been more crucial, especially for multi-location organizations. This is where conversation intelligence comes into play.

What is conversation intelligence?

Conversation intelligence refers to the technology and methods used to analyze spoken or written conversations across a multitude of channels. It involves gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data using AI tools or observations made by your team. The process of gathering the data is usually powered by advanced AI algorithms capable of processing natural language, identifying key themes, sentiments, and even intent.

A subset of conversation intelligence that’s vitally important to brands is social listening. This involves monitoring digital conversations on social media platforms to understand what is being said about a brand or topic and gauging public opinion and customer sentiment.

Why is conversation intelligence important?

Obviously it’s important for brands to know what people are saying about them across channels, but it’s even more important for multi-location organizations to get a feel for what the local community is saying. 

“Conversation intelligence provides a direct line to patients and the community, and it’s changing the way organizations approach healthcare innovation and trend adoption. This isn’t just about staying current; it’s about being a proactive, patient-centric organization that leads with evidence-based innovation. The ability to listen, understand, and act on these insights is what sets the truly innovative healthcare organizations apart,” noted Billy Boulia, Director of Integrated Media at MDG.

With localized conversation data, multi-location organizations can craft targeted marketing strategies, develop products or services that resonate with specific local cultures, train staff and build continuing education programs, perform crisis management and damage control, and improve customer service. This data also gives organizations access to region-specific trends and sentiments that might be lost in a broader, national-level analysis.

How can conversation intelligence benefit your multi-location organization?

When we talk about conversational intelligence it can be anything from sales or reception calls to reviews and brand mentions in social media platforms. There are a number of tools on the market that can be used to collect and analyze specific inputs from calls. Most social media schedulers will let you set alerts for brand mentions and tags, but it may be worth exploring a separate tool for conversation intelligence if that does not provide sufficient depth. No matter how you do it, we’re sure the initial investment to collect and analyze the data will be worth it in the long run based on the benefits below.

1. Provide actionable feedback for teams: By analyzing customer interactions with the brand and about the brand, businesses can gain insights into customer satisfaction, preferences, and pain points. This feedback is invaluable for improving products, services, and the customer experience. For instance, if you are recording scheduling or front desk calls, you can provide additional training or development for staff members based on real interactions with patients. The same is true of social media brand mentions. When a disgruntled patient posts a negative review or a complaint, you can use the opportunity to address the review and bring it up to the appropriate team.
2. Deliver insights to inform team training: Using conversation intelligence to inform employee training programs can help staff better meet customer needs and expectations. Your audience at a local level may have different needs than the broader market, which makes using local conversation intelligence for training vital to the success of each location. Trust-based relationships are key to healthcare organizations, and your local audience should be able to see that you have their specific interests in mind, making them feel heard.
3. Craft better call scripts and brand messaging: Understanding common queries and concerns helps in crafting effective communication scripts and marketing messages. These scripts can be tailored to anticipate common questions, thereby reducing call times and improving customer satisfaction. For instance, if a significant number of customers are calling about a specific service, front desk staff can be prepared with detailed explanations or troubleshooting steps. Additionally, these insights can be used to create educational content such as FAQs, how-to guides, and tutorial videos, proactively addressing common questions and concerns.
4. Improve brand authority and trust among patients. By consistently addressing patient needs and concerns, an organization can establish itself as a trustworthy authority in its field. When it comes to social listening, building a solid brand reputation means you won’t have to constantly be chasing negative reviews or comments and you can also rely on brand ambassadors and partners to further support your rapport. 
5. Innovate and drive healthcare trends. There are always new and shiny trends popping up in healthcare marketing, and it can be tricky to know what is really important and what will actually have an impact. Conversation intelligence can provide unprecedented access to what people are talking about and help you decide where to innovate as there is a difference between fleeting and enduring trends. Healthcare trends might include new treatment methods, wellness practices, digital health technologies, or patient care models. For example, if there’s a growing discussion about telemedicine or wearable health devices, this could inform your marketing and content strategy, but also serve as useful information for providers so they can adjust services or products accordingly.

Conversation intelligence is more than just a buzzword; it’s a pivotal tool for modern organizations, especially those operating across multiple locations. Contact MDG if you’re not sure where to start!