As we approach the frenzied holiday shopping season, more consumers than ever will be purchasing gifts online. Trying to avoid the crowds, these time and value conscious consumers are comfortable with the online shopping experience. What they are not happy with is lack of customer service.

According to Jupiter Research, “Customer service by phone will continue to be consumers’ contact channel of choice,” even as people buy more goods and services online.”

What does this have to do with us in healthcare? We have to meet our customers where they “shop.” This means beefing up our Web presence – making sure that patient scheduling, physician selection, class registration and even test results become available in a protected manner on-line. Our customers expect these transactions to be web-based and simple to use.

But, when they have a question or need advice, we have to offer personal assistance. This means replacing frustrating automatic telephonic mazes with real live people who can answer questions and solve problems. As the New York Times said, “Businesses should consider themselves warned: Prepare to invest heavily in traditional customer service, or prepare to lose customers.”