Hand therapy clientele and marketing: Hand therapy awareness, referral patterns, clinic selection, client satisfaction, and customer loyalty

The public has limited awareness of the hand therapy profession. Hand therapists need to develop marketing strategies that target increasing awareness and referrals. This study investigated clients' knowledge of the specialty, influential resources, referral patterns, satisfaction, and loyalty. A mail survey was sent to 487 hand therapy clients in the Northwest; the response rate was 51%. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Eighty-six percent of participants first heard about hand therapy through their physician or physician's staff member. When selecting a clinic, 78% of participants indicated their physician's recommendation was most influential in making their decision. Ninety-six percent of participants rated satisfaction with services as good to excellent and 93% reported being loyal. Although client satisfaction is a good indicator of repeat business, loyalty is the ultimate gauge. Physicians are integral in increasing hand therapy awareness and clinic selection; therapists should re-examine their allocation of resources and consider making physicians their primary focus.