We recently reviewed Google Analytics’
MEMOTEXT website results to gain an updated picture of how visitors arrived at our site. We were very interested to see what were the most popular search terms so that we can continue to address these issues, but also what were some of the less common terms and phrases that perhaps we could speak to in more detail in future blogs and/or newsletters. Our goal is to focus on the issues of most importance to our returning visitors while at the same time attracting new visitors. To make sense of the data, I cluster the search terms and phrases and then consider the implications of these results.
By far the most frequently searched terms focused on compliance/adherence and variants thereof (i.e., ‘patient compliance’, ‘medication adherence’, ‘drug adherence’, ‘treatment adherence’ etc…). The next most popular terms were focused on the
management of non-adherence. This category included terms like ‘adherence program’, ‘compliance tools’, ‘medication reminders’ and phrases such as ‘how to improve patient adherence’ and ‘promoting compliance’.
Less common search phrases revolved around educating patients and care providers. This group included the following: ‘effective patient education to increase compliance’, ‘medication compliance tips’, ‘medication compliance teaching’, ‘practical handbook for healthcare providers’, ‘guide for patients and caregivers’, and ‘how to talk with patients about medications’. In our opinion, this reflects the gap between what patients and care providers want/need and what is available in terms of
reliable resources addressing how to improve patient adherence (this was touched on briefly in our previous blog about evidence-based adherence). Essentially we can see there is a strong desire from healthcare practitioners for tools and tangible solutions to engage patients & customers to improve their adherence.
The final cluster of search terms reflected specific groups of patients and/or health issues such as ‘HIV/AIDS’, ‘elderly’, ‘mental health/illness’, and ‘exercise’. These topics are in fact the ones most often covered in the literature from the field of compliance/adherence, and for the ones describing specific patient populations they reflect some of the least adherent groups.
We believe this was a useful exercise in understanding what visitors to our website are looking for and we hope we can use these results to continue providing useful information and services that address the most common inquiries in this field.