An eighty-four year old man has a son who visits at weekends and collects his prescriptions. Neither of them knows the pharmacy two streets away delivers on Tuesdays, without charge, in that postcode.
It has been running for six years. It is mentioned on a laminated sign inside the shop.
The checklist
Publish these and the service reaches the people it exists for.
1. That you deliver at all
On the website, in the search results, on every page that mentions prescriptions. The people who need it are not visiting the shop to read a notice.
2. Which areas
Postcodes or a described area. Customers on the edge need to know rather than assume.
3. Who is eligible
Whether it is open to everybody or limited to particular circumstances. Publishing it plainly prevents both a wasted enquiry and someone eligible assuming they are not.
4. Which days and roughly when
Fixed days by area lets somebody plan to be in. A vague promise of delivery produces a missed delivery.
5. Whether there is a charge
For everybody, for some, or none. Customers assume it costs and do not ask.
6. What happens if nobody is home
Whether it is left, with a neighbour, returned or redelivered. Some medication cannot be left at all and customers need to know which.
7. Whether a signature is needed
And who can sign. Carers and family members handle this and need the rules.
8. How to set it up
One call, a form, or asking at the counter. Make it a single step, because the people who need it most find processes hardest.
9. How ordering works alongside delivery
Whether the pharmacy orders the repeat too, and the timing, which connects to repeat prescription ordering questions patients repeat.
10. What happens with urgent items
Whether anything can be delivered same day, and what to do in the meantime. Publishing it prevents somebody going without.
11. Tell carers and family
The person who arranges it is frequently not the patient. Writing for the daughter who is searching on behalf of a parent reaches more people than writing for the patient.
12. Say what is not delivered
Controlled medicines, refrigerated items or anything needing collection in person. Being clear prevents a wasted wait.
12b. Who to tell about a change
People move, go into hospital, come out again and change who collects for them. Explaining how to update an address, pause deliveries during a stay in hospital and add a family member to the arrangement keeps a service working for exactly the customers whose circumstances change most often.
12c. Whether somebody will notice a problem
A delivery driver visiting a housebound customer every fortnight is often the only person who does. Saying whether drivers check that somebody is alright, and who they tell if something seems wrong, matters enormously to a family member arranging this from another town and is rarely mentioned anywhere.
13. Publish it where other services are
Delivery sits alongside the other things patients do not know a pharmacy offers, as in pharmacy services patients do not know about, and recurring arrangements behave like an AI assistant for a subscription business and pre-order pages and the questions they create.
Getting started
Publish your delivery areas, days, eligibility and charges, then answer at any hour and make signing up a single step. The AI reply generator drafts the standard answers quickly. SpideyChat for pharmacies answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.