How patient journey mapping improves content strategy

A visit to your website is just the beginning. Patients need to find answers fast, as most people spend less than 55 seconds on a page, according to Forbes. Well-plotted patient journeys connect visitors to the right information at the right time. Mapping the journeys can get complex because you need different routes for different visitors, but the results benefit both patients and health systems. Booking a primary care appointment might be an express lane, while preparing for total knee replacement is more like a cross-country road trip with multiple stops. Whatever the path, your site must be easy to navigate with clear, actionable messaging at every turn.

But how do you ensure your content is clear and actionable? By using patient journey mapping to strengthen your healthcare content strategy.

What is patient journey mapping?

Patient journey mapping is a framework that helps healthcare organizations understand the full scope of a patient’s interactions with their system. Much like customer journey mapping in marketing, it identifies friction points, highlights gaps and showcases areas where the patient experience excels.

By mapping out each stage — from appointment scheduling to in-person care and follow-up — healthcare marketers can create content that directly supports patients’ needs at each specific touchpoint. When every department understands the patient journey, it can improve care delivery and patient satisfaction.

How can patient journey mapping improve your healthcare content strategy?

When content strategy aligns with patient journeys, you can create more targeted, useful content. That’s a win for patients and healthcare providers.

Patient benefits:

• Easy access to the most relevant information at each stage of care
• Less confusion and frustration
• More trust and engagement with healthcare providers can lead to improved care for the patient

System benefits:

• Better communication and coordination
• Higher patient acquisition and retention
• Higher conversion rates
• Better internal alignment

Proving those system benefits even more, consider:

• Patient engagement company Care Sherpa reports that well-mapped content can boost patient conversions by 53%.
• The user experience experts at Nielsen Norman Group note that journey mapping fosters a shared vision across teams, which often can be the most valuable part of the process.

“Internal cohesion is such an underappreciated benefit of patient journey mapping,” says Rebecca Sims, EVP of Operations at WG Content. “Patient journey mapping can break down silos when marketers reach across the organization. Involve key stakeholders from operations, customer service and clinical teams to ensure alignment and buy-in.”

What are the stages of the patient journey?

While every treatment type or procedure might involve a few different steps, here’s a general patient journey outline you can follow:

1. Awareness: The patient begins researching symptoms, conditions or treatment options.
2. Consideration: They compare providers, evaluate reviews and seek expert opinions.
3. Decision: The patient books an appointment or chooses a healthcare provider.
4. Treatment: They undergo procedures, tests or therapy.
5. Recovery: The patient receives post-care, follow-up and ongoing health management.

How to create a patient journey map in three steps

1. Develop patient personas

Understanding healthcare consumers starts with creating patient personas. These personas should include demographics, health concerns, preferred communication channels and pain points. By analyzing this data, you can tailor content that resonates with specific patient groups.

“Since each persona is rooted in data, each should have a separate journey map,” says Rebecca. “For example, consider millennials’ and Gen Z’s aversion to phone calls. Be prepared to offer content and touchpoints through email and text. But resist the tendency to stereotype. Many seniors are tech savvy and might prefer those options as well. Listen to individual preferences and deliver content the way they want.”

Patient personas help identify patterns and preferences to shape better marketing and care experiences.

Personalization is key to this, adds Rebecca. “A young athlete with a torn ACL has a very different decision-making process than a senior considering a hip replacement — even though both fall under orthopedic services. Personalizing content based on these differences ensures relevance and trust.”

2. Identify key touchpoints

Take a trip through the patient journey from their perspective. Identify each touchpoint, such as:

• Website searches
• Appointment scheduling
• Doctor consultations
• Post-care follow-ups

During this stage, it helps to turn to your data. Many healthcare systems collect an enormous amount of patient data. But are you using it to analyze patient drop-off points and optimize engagement?
Beyond web analytics, examine offline touchpoints:

• From website to phone scheduling: Is the next step (like making an appointment) easy and intuitive?
• Opportunities to re-engage: Are there sign-ups for newsletters or information sessions?
• After consultations: Are follow-up visits happening as expected or are patients disengaging?

By pinpointing gaps or friction points, you can create content that improves the experience.

3. Align content with journey stages

Once you’ve mapped the patient journey, develop content assets to support each stage. These should:

• Address common concerns
• Answer frequently asked questions
• Offer clear next steps

For example, if patients struggle to understand insurance coverage, provide an insurance checker tool or a step-by-step guide on verifying coverage.

The best healthcare content for each stage of the patient journey

Awareness stage

People often start their journey by searching for health-related information. To capture their interest before a visit:

• Publish blog posts and videos on topics like:
  • “Are you a candidate for [procedure]?”
  • “What to expect before, during and after treatment”
• Use SEO-optimized content that includes relevant keywords, such as:
  • Is bariatric surgery covered by insurance?
  • Do I need a referral for a fertility specialist?
  • How long is recovery after knee replacement?

You can use search terms and phrases as inspiration for content development. For example, use keyword data to produce a video interview with one of your providers or to create topics for blog posts. Incorporate keywords and phrases in subheads on service line webpages structured to follow the patient journey. If you use questions as subheads, be sure to answer the query in the content that immediately follows to assist with answer engine optimization.

Consideration stage

Once patients have moved from interest to action, they may reach out in any number of ways. Consider every initial touchpoint:

• Call center
• Chatbot
• Email
• Web form

Develop scripts and messages for each initial touchpoint to ensure a consistent and positive experience. At this stage, patients may also seek support and resources that help them navigate paying for care. Offer insurance checker tools or a script they can use when contacting their insurer to help patients use the right language and ask the right questions.

Decision and treatment stage

Elective procedure patients who have completed their first appointment are still in buying mode and may be doctor shopping.
Consider sending a simple follow-up message thanking them for visiting, touting your providers’ expertise and offering links to patient stories, patient testimonials videos or additional resources. Doing this can speed decision-making and build trust.

Recovery and follow-up stages

Your relationship with patients isn’t over just because treatment is complete. Retention is key to future interactions as well as patient referrals. Here are three ways to keep the relationship going:

• Send aftercare instructions and reminders.
• Offer a patient feedback survey.
• Provide educational content on managing health post-treatment.

Example of an effective content journey

Here’s a simple — yet effective — example of a content journey.

1. Send a health risk assessment to a potential patient to help them evaluate their knee pain.
2. After the assessment, add them to an email nurture campaign to receive content on topics like therapy and exercises.
3. Send an on-demand video featuring an orthopedic surgeon doing a Q&A on “When it’s time to consider knee replacement.”
4. Send an invitation to schedule an appointment.

Expect a few potholes in your patient journey mapping

Mapping the patient journey isn’t always smooth. Here are some common bumps and how to overcome them:

• Data fragmentation: Patient information lives in multiple systems, making it hard to get a complete picture.
• Complex journeys: Not every patient follows a straight line from inquiry to treatment.
• Privacy and regulations: HIPAA restrictions may limit data sharing across departments.
• Tech limitations: Legacy systems often can’t support real-time analytics.
• Organizational silos: Marketing, IT, clinical and admin teams must collaborate.
• Capturing real-time feedback: Patient surveys often reflect only high-stress moments.

“Remember, each of these challenges presents an opportunity to optimize patient engagement,” says Rebecca. “Learn to celebrate uncovering gaps and friction points. Then you can begin to deliver meaningful content that meets the patient where they are throughout their decision-making steps, which builds trust.”

Get help with patient journey mapping and timely content

Creating engaging patient journeys takes focused, strategic thinking. They are a lot of work, but the outcome delivers incredible benefits to your health system and your patients. If you need help developing patient journeys or aligning your content to fill gaps, our expert team of content strategists and writers are ready. Reach out to discuss your project.

More tips on patient journey mapping

Rebecca Sims

Rebecca Sims Executive Vice President, Operations About Rebecca Part people…

Want more insights on all things content?

Sign up for WG Content’s newsletter, Content Counts.

Subscribe