Having trouble finding enough ketamine patients? That’s because ketamine clinics have a difficult marketing challenge. I call it the “Triple Reluctant” patient.
What does that mean? For a simple example, let’s look at shoes. Shoes are a huge industry ($78 
billion in the US alone) because shoes address a large variety of needs: sports, workplace, evening wear, everyday wear, beach, etc. Shoes are well-known and understood, so consumers don’t have to be convinced to buy shoes. Yes, they may need to be enticed to buy a particular brand of shoe, or a new type of shoe, but the shoe-buying decision is mostly friction-free. In fact, buying new shoes often gives the buyer a rush of excitement, adding to the overall appeal. Shoe buyers are not reluctant consumers.
Now consider hearing aids. Who wants to buy hearing aids? Practically nobody. Buying hearing aids is an admission of a defect, a concession to old age and deteriorating bodily function. It’s not fun, it’s not sexy, and it doesn’t provide the same thrill as buying a pair of new shoes. While hearing aids clearly address a need (loss of hearing) and provide many positive benefits (improved communication, better social experiences), the typical hearing aid customer is a reluctant customer. They resist purchasing the product because even admitting they need the product is a difficult step.
Which brings us to ketamine. Ketamine marketing is hard because the typical ketamine patient is triple reluctant. I’ll explain.
Reluctant to Identify as Part of the Target Market
Like hearing aid consumers, ketamine patients may be reluctant to identify as part of the target market. While the stigma of mental illness has reduced significantly, there is still some lingering reluctance to be identified as someone struggling with a mental illness.
I remember one patient who wanted treatment but was uncomfortable letting his work know why he needed some time off. Although he was able to acknowledge he had a mental health issue and needed treatment, he was not willing to let others know his situation.
Fortunately, by the time a prospective patient fills out a form on your website or calls on the phone, they have already overcome some of the initial reluctance to be identified as part of the target market. There will be some patients, though, like my patient, whose reluctance to let others know may be a barrier to receiving treatment.
Reluctant to Try an Experimental Treatment
I find ketamine knowledge among patients falls almost exclusively into two camps: either they’ve never heard of it or they have a negative impression of it. Both levels of knowledge are problematic.
When patients have never heard of a treatment – which is common with ketamine and TMS – they tend to see it as something exotic. They assume the safer course of action is to stick with antidepressants or therapy, two treatments that are widely known and have become synonymous with mental health treatment in pop culture. Patients with no exposure to ketamine are often reluctant to try it.
Likewise, patients whose only exposure to ketamine is a negative connotation, either as a street drug or used in police enforcement actions, are also reluctant to view it as a potential therapy that may help them. These patients are often reluctant to try ketamine because they see it as unsafe.
Reluctant to Pay Out of Pocket
The final hurdle for most patients is the necessity of paying out of pocket for ketamine treatment. Healthcare consumers in the US are conditioned to seek out doctors, hospitals, and treatments that are covered under their insurance plan. When faced with a treatment like ketamine, which is not covered at all by insurance, many patients hesitate.
The financial cost is part of the reluctance. No one wants to pay a couple thousand dollars out of pocket, especially if other, cheaper options are available. But the out-of-pocket payment is only part of the reluctance. In speaking with ketamine patients, I realized that the fact ketamine was not covered by insurance was viewed by them as a signal of disapproval by their insurance company.
After all, insurance companies cover thousands of medical and mental health procedures, including many procedures that are much more expensive than ketamine (such as TMS), so it’s not simply the financial cost the insurance companies are trying to avoid. Patients interpret the insurance company’s decision not to cover ketamine as a warning sign that the treatment may be ineffective or potentially dangerous.
I’m not saying the out-of-pocket expense itself isn’t a barrier. Clearly it is. But the fact that ketamine treatment is not covered by insurance can communicate information to a prospective patient that we don’t intend it to communicate if not handled properly.
How to Market Ketamine
So how should we market ketamine to triple reluctant patients?
One of the hardest challenges in marketing is to try to sell something to someone that they don’t want.
So stop trying to sell ketamine.
Patients don’t want ketamine. They want relief. They want to stop feeling depressed, suicidal, anxious, stressed out, overwhelmed, etc. They want to feel like themselves again. And ketamine can give them that.
Ketamine clinics spend too much time talking about ketamine (because it’s what we offer) and not enough time talking about the patient and what they want. Compare these two approaches:
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear you’re dealing with depression. We use ketamine here to treat depression. Have you ever heard of ketamine? No? Well it’s a horse tranquilizer and used in combat as a battlefield medicine because it can really knock a wounded soldier out. It’s also a street drug but there are legal uses for it as well, which is how we use it here, of course. Anyway, it costs $500 per treatment and you need six treatments, for a total of $3,000, but we offer a 20 percent discount if you pay up front. That is your cost out of pocket because insurance won’t cover ketamine because they view it as experimental. Can I schedule you for an appointment?”
You may laugh at this example but it’s based on actual conversations I overheard from patient intake coordinators speaking with patients at a ketamine clinic. Because they knew ketamine, they talked about ketamine. But you can imagine what the patient was thinking on the other end of that call.
Now let’s look at another example:
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear you’re dealing with depression. Tell me how that’s impacting you. [Listens to patient]. Wow, that does sound like it’s having a significant impact on your quality of life. We have a treatment that can give you significant relief from your depression within two weeks. It’s a series of six ketamine treatments over a two week period and quite a few patients report feeling better after just the first treatment. I talked with a patient just the other day who told me he’s been able to go fishing again, something he hasn’t done in over four years because his depression kept him from doing it. I hear from so many patients who have the same experience. Can I schedule you for an appointment to see if this would work for you?”
It’s a completely different approach, but one that is far more effective. When we switched our talk track to focus on the patient experience, our new patient appointments and case acceptance rate skyrocketed.
Wondering how to get the same result? We can help. We are ketamine and TMS marketing experts. We help ketamine and TMS clinics improve their marketing, share their story in a way that resonates with patients, and reaches those “triple reluctant” patients. Our clients see a higher new patient volume, increased case acceptance, and a healthier bottom line. Call us today at 801-382-7760 for a free consultation to see if we can help get your ketamine marketing back on track.