• by Craig Witt , Columnist, June 13, 2018

Companies must prioritize consumer engagement and retention to grow in today’s healthcare market. There’s no better way to do this than by speaking to consumers in their preferred languages. 

That might seem like common sense, but it’s less common than you might think, especially when serving the Spanish-speaking U.S. Hispanic market. 

With the rate of uninsured Latinos continuing to drop, healthcare organizations have an enormous opportunity to capture and retain this powerful and growing group. Those that serve U.S. Hispanic consumers with authentic, culturally relevant content in Spanish are poised to reap big rewards.

Wellness in the Growing U.S. Hispanic Population

The Latino population in the United States has accounted for half of national population growth since 2000, reaching nearly 58 million in 2016. In fact, Hispanics account for $10 billion in spending on health, wellness, prescription drugs and over-the-counter products. 

The Commonwealth Fund also recently reported that children’s uninsured rates fell among white, black and Hispanic children, with Hispanic children experiencing the greatest decline, from 11.5% in 2013 to 7.5% in 2015. About 676,000 Latino children gained health insurance coverage during that same period, too.

How to Reach U.S. Hispanic Healthcare Consumers

About 75% of U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish at home and about one-third of Hispanics say they’re not proficient in English. Presenting insurance products, services and customer support information in Spanish goes a long way to build trust. 

To better connect with this growing audience, healthcare organizations should also consider offering localized consumer engagement initiatives. For instance:

• Ensure that call-center staff speak the consumers’ preferred language

• Authentically communicate in the preferred language on social media, and increase access to content on mobile devices (mobile devices are highly utilized by Hispanics)

• Translate and localize all print materials and communications

• Translate websites and ensure that the onsite search function is translated to help site visitors quickly locate the content they’re looking for 

Finally, don’t neglect translated self-service content — FAQs, knowledge bases, how-to articles, troubleshooting guides, and more — which reduces the number of Spanish-language customer service calls. This dramatically reduces costs, boosts satisfaction, and helps Spanish call-center employees become more productive.

Authenticity of Content is Key

With the U.S. Hispanic population growing exponentially, healthcare organizations should prioritize connecting with this group via authentic communications in Spanish. Better engagement will result, as will rewards that deliver a healthy bottom line.