Pharmacy Website - A guide to get it right

A pharmacy website is specifically designed for a pharmacy. As pharmacy business is different from other businesses, therefore it is important that the website is designed from the ground up with pharmacy needs in mind. A one size fits all template would not be able to serve the purpose.

Why Should your pharmacy have a pharmacy website in the first place?

A pharmacy website is a community pharmacy's online shop front. You clearly want your online shop front to be as visible as possible and as presentable as possible. If you don't have a pharmacy website or your website is not well laid out and responsive, then you don't have a shop front that is very appealing and visible on the very busy digital high street with increasing footfall.

An example:

let's say I am a customer and I want to know what the nearest pharmacies are to me at this moment in time. I could be at my work place, visiting a new place for personal or business reasons, or even at home. The first thing I would be doing is to reach out for my phone, open google search and type in the word "pharmacy" or phrase "local pharmacies" or pharmacies near me" or any other similar word or phrase. Alternatively I could be searching a specific service like hair loss, weight loss, flu jab, travel clinic, mobility products etc.

Now any pharmacy that has a well optimised website with pages for these products or services with custom urls will show up on the first page and will get my business. The pharmacies in the same locality with no or poor online visibility will not show up higher or at all and will lose out. I hope you are getting the picture here.

NHS cuts & community pharmacies

NHS cuts has become a harsh reality for community pharmacies. It should act as a wake up call for community pharmacies that they can't keep on going like before.

There are two choices for community pharmacies in the wake of NHS cuts.

Choice one:

That community pharmacies adapt and embrace the digital age with all the opportunities that it offers. First try to be more visible online by having a modern and well optimised pharmacy website. Then offering new services like travel clinic, mobility products, online doctor, aesthetic clinic, online shop, hair loss, weight loss, minor ailments flu jabs and more with online booking options right from the service page on the pharmacy website. This will not only multiply your revenues streams but will also increase traffic to your pharmacy.

Cross promote services on your pharmacy website:

Once the customer finds your website for a particular service that they searched in google, they will be able to see the other products and services that your pharmacy offers provided your website is well laid out and beautiful to navigate.

Choice two:

The other choice community pharmacies can make is to carry on as before and don't try to avail all the opportunities that digital age offers. They don't improve their online presence ( pharmacy website) and don't offer any online gateway to their products and services. Consequently they will be non existent to the growing number of customers getting used to searching and booking things online. Even their existing customer base might also go else where as they would also be searching online for services that these pharmacies are not offering or not offering the ease of online discovery and booking on their pharmacy website.

Now that you are convinced to have a well optimised multifunctional pharmacy website with online booking options. The next Question to ask is:

What makes a pharmacy website well optimised and multifunctional that provides the right online presence?

Due to updates to google search engine algorithm called the "hummingbird" & the latest Data Protection requirements "GDPR", it has become essential that a pharmacy website is designed from ground up with these changes in mind. The essential features that a good pharmacy website should have are:

1. SEO Optimised: In order for your pharmacy website to be picked up by google and show up higher in local searches, it needs to be highly optimised with a separate page for each product or service having their own custom urls. This will make information more structured and easily detectable by search engine.
2. Mobile Responsive: Google makes sure that when users search on their mobile devices, the results presented to them are links that are mobile friendly for a great mobile experience. Hence the websites that are mobile friendly or responsive will not be shown higher in mobile searches. Therefore a modern pharmacy website has to be fully responsive, built on new technologies, not decade old templates when the search algorithms were different.
3. SSL Certificate ( Secure): GDPR requires businesses to have adequate measures in place for securing customers personal private data on their websites. SSL certificate provides the security Layer by encrypting data transfer on the website. Google search also likes to keep its users safe and prefer websites that have SSL certificate (secure).

You can spot a website having SSL certificate with either "https" in the beginning of the website URL in address bar instead of Just "http" or a small lock sign 🔒in the URL address bar of the browser.

Most modern browsers will show a warning sign in address bar if the website doesn't have SSL certificate, warning users that the website they are about to visit might not be secure. If your pharmacy website doesn't have a SSL certificate, then you may also lose visitors due to this reason.

Check your pharmacy website today to see if you have SSL certificate. If not, then don't let your supplier to charge you more for getting you SSL certificate. Instead find a pharmacy website supplier that provides SSL certificate with its website with out any extra charge.

A modern pharmacy website should have the following functional features to make it stand out from others

Key features:

1. Repeat prescription: Improve your item volume by providing your patients with an online system to order & manage their repeat prescriptions.
2. Travel clinic & Flu Jab booking online: With a dedicated page for travel clinic and Flu jabs, attract more customers and get online bookings through an integrated calendar on your website page showing availability and option to book online. This way creating ease for your customers & for your pharmacy staff.
3. EPS Nominations online: All pharmacies know the importance of EPS nominations. Get EPS nominations online with a dynamic EPS signup system.
4. Content Management System: You need to be able to manage contents on your pharmacy website yourself. So having an easy to use content management system is highly recommended.

Additional Features:

1. Online Doctor Service: Offer online doctor service on your pharmacy website and generate a new income stream for your pharmacy. Also give customers an extra reason to find your pharmacy website online.
2. Your own online shop (E-commerce): Offer your own online shop function through which you can sell OTC, GSL and other products online on your pharmacy website. This will again make your website more visible in local searches for these products and new visitors will be able to see other services as well on your website.
3. Services Booking System: A comprehensive services booking system for both NHS and private services like NMS, MURs, HRT, Health checks, Hair loss, Weight loss, stop smoking and more. This way your pharmacy will provide an easy way for customers to find your pharmacy website in local searches for these services and book them directly on your website without leaving your website or calling, emailing etc. As your website is live 24/7, they will be able to find and book services at anytime that is convenient for them.
4. Digital Mobility Catalogue: Having a digital catalogue for mobility products on your website helps customer to find your website in local searches for these products and order directly from your pharmacy website 24/7 anytime. All of this happening online helps you save a lot of time and providing the customer with the convenience of finding and ordering the product they are looking for without leaving their sofa. Remember when customer visit your website for one thing, they can also see everything else that you offer on your pharmacy website.
5. Aesthetic clinic service with online booking: Aesthetic treatments are becoming more popular and offering the service at your pharmacy with an online booking system on your pharmacy website making your pharmacy more useful and appealing to your local community. If a customer is happy to use your pharmacy for one service, the same customer could use your other services as well when they need it as long as they know you offer them by making it available on your pharmacy website.

To Summarise things so far, the more services you provide with online booking options and their own pages with custom urls on your pharmacy website, the more visible your pharmacy website will be in local searches and more customers will be booking and using your products and services.

Investing in a well optimised pharmacy website with functional features and online booking systems is an investment in your pharmacy business.

Such a website will not only increase your revenue but will also add to your business valuation especially if you are thinking of exiting at some point in the future. You will be future proofing your business value.

Not investing in your online presence ( pharmacy website) will have the opposite effect on both your revenue and valuation.

What should you consider when choosing a pharmacy website supplier for your pharmacy?

1. Make sure they are using new technologies. If a supplier has built their website systems a decade ago, it would mean their code base ( technologies ) will also be that old. As google algorithms have changed since then, the websites will not be as google optimised and you will be losing out as a result in google searches. Changing their code base would mean building everything from scratch and their work force need to retrain to learn new technologies. It becomes a challenge for such a supplier and tend to stick with their existing old technologies.
2. SSL Certificate (secure website): Your pharmacy website need to have SSL certificate which encrypts data transfers on your website and make it secure. GDPR requires businesses to have adequate arrangements for securing customer data on their websites. Also google search prefers safe websites with SSL certificate. Choose a supplier that offers SSL certificate within their package without charging extra for it.
3. Technical Support: This is essential as most pharmacy owners are not that tech savvy to deal with any technical issues or improvements to their websites themselves. Therefore choose a supplier that offers unlimited UK based technical support within the package without charging extra. Also technical support should be same day, face to face in person meeting or video meeting or phone call. If by email, it should happen same day as a pharmacy can't afford its online booking systems on its website to be down for long. It can result in loss of business and also possibly alienate the website visitors.
4. Initial ordering process: Instead of a supplier who just offers one size fits all templates, choose one that offers one to one discussion to take your vision, branding, colour schemes etc on board and continued discussion until you are happy with the end product.
5. UK based hosting: Operating in health sector in the UK, it is quite important to have your website data hosted in the uk. The data stays within the UK. Ask the supplier about this when deciding on your pharmacy website provider.
6. UK based customer service: As mentioned earlier, always look for supplier that provides UK based technical support. Ideally face to face, or video meeting or over the phone service, especially in the early setup process.
7. Best Value for Money: Some providers may have prices saying from, which means by the time you have added essentials to your basket for decent pharmacy website, You will be looking at a much higher price.

Look for supplier that offers inclusive packages with all the necessary functions, ssl certificate, uk based hosting, unlimited technical support. There is no doubt that you need to invest in your online presence. However, make sure that you are getting the best available pharmacy website without any compromise for the best possible prices.

Once you have a great website, you can also start social media marketing either yourself or by hiring a reasonably priced social media agency.