Providing patients with a medical answering service is a great way to increase customer loyalty. Studies have shown that customers are more loyalty to and are willing to spend more money with customers that have provided an excellent customer service experience. Customer service can make or break any company and doctor’s offices are no exception.

A medical answering service allows patients to call in for medical advice or questions at any time day or night, as well as being able to call any day of the week. All too often, people feel like if they need medical advice or help in the evening or on weekends, the emergency room is their only option. A 24 hour answering service would give patients the opportunity to ask questions and decide if they really need medical attention or if they can get in to see their doctor the next day.


There are certain qualities in medical answering services that recent research suggests will make it more desirable to the patients, which will make the customer service experience a more positive one.

The first quality is having a real person answer the phone. Customers do not like to get automated answering services that force them to listen to endless menu options and hopefully hit the right numbers to get to where they want to go. Customers also don? like getting sent to voicemail. The majority of consumers surveyed stated they generally hang up if they get a voicemail message.

The second question is that the person answering the phone is knowledgeable and helpful. Customers get aggravated when they are trying to get answers but feel their time is being wasted.

The third quality is empathy. In a recent study, consumers shared that they did not appreciate heavily scripted phone conversations because they felt the person they were talking to lacked emotion and empathy. When dealing with medical concerns or issues, empathy is vital to ensuring a positive customer service experience.

Finally, offering patients the option of a callback, opposed to waiting on hold is highly important. Consumers want to feel their time is valued by others. This is why people get so angry when left on hold for long periods of time. They feel their time is being wasted. Offering a callback allows people to go about their normal business while still waiting to talk to someone.

There are many options when setting up a medical answering service. The above factors, however, are the qualities that research has shown consumers care about. Meeting the needs of the patients will ensure long-term loyalty and therefore business. Additionally, for services like medical professionals, happy patients will openly and widely recommend their doctors to their friends and family, and word-of-mouth advertising is invaluable.