executive summary

There are significant strategic limitations in solely choosing to build websites or develop mobile applications (APPs) for Chinese customers promoting IVF services in the United States. This report is based on a comprehensive analysis of market trends, customer behavior, and technology platforms, and draws the following core conclusions: the optimal promotion strategy is not a game of two choices between websites and apps, but should build an integrated marketing ecosystem with the website as the "public domain traffic entrance and brand trust endorsement" core and the app as the "private domain operation and deep service platform" core.

In terms of customer acquisition ability, websites can reach and screen accurate potential customers at a relatively low cost through search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing. However, websites have natural limitations in terms of user stickiness, service depth, and brand loyalty maintenance. Relatively speaking, apps are good at converting one-time customers into high-value private domain users, providing excellent user experience through integrated service processes such as appointments, communication, and result queries. However, its high development and promotion costs, as well as the severe challenge of user churn rate, make it difficult to serve as an independent customer acquisition channel.

Therefore, it is recommended that service providers adopt a phased strategic roadmap: first, prioritize building a specialized, content rich, and highly trusted website as the cornerstone of public domain drainage and brand endorsement. Subsequently, after accumulating a certain customer base and fully understanding their core needs, gradually develop an APP with precise functions and user experience as the core, which will be used to carry out subsequent service process management, user stickiness enhancement, and brand reputation construction. This closed-loop strategy of "public domain drainage+private domain operation" can maximize the synergistic advantages of the two channels, ultimately achieving the accumulation of customer assets and the maximization of long-term value.

1. Overview of the IVF market in the United States and customer insights

1.1 Analysis of Market Driving Factors and Characteristics of Chinese Customers

The development of China's overseas medical tourism market has basically matured, and there are many driving factors behind it. From a macro perspective, the active guidance of government policies and the integrated development of the medical and tourism industries have provided fertile soil for the market. More importantly, the increasing awareness of healthcare among Chinese residents and the sustained growth of healthcare expenditures have provided a solid consumer foundation for overseas medical services. In terms of consumption habits, the mature experience of Chinese citizens in outbound tourism and their preference for in-depth themed travel have laid a solid customer base for specific medical tourism services such as in vitro fertilization in the United States

As one of the key projects in overseas medical tourism, in vitro fertilization services in the United States have the core advantages of leading medical technology and high service value. The significant characteristics of this consumer group are that they have an "international perspective, mastery of world languages, and mature travel experience". They are no longer satisfied with the information asymmetry of traditional intermediary models, but actively seek services with high cost-effectiveness and transparency. According to the analysis of high-end medical iteration, the industry has shifted from the 3.0 era relying on offline intermediaries to the 4.0 era led by online enterprises such as Chunyu International and Medical 160. Its essence is to transform from the traditional "information asymmetry" model to a platform model of "information transparency and process standardization". This transformation indicates that for any new market entrant, if they want to gain customer favor, their core competitiveness is no longer simply "resource docking", but whether they can build an efficient, transparent, and trustworthy platform service system.

1.2 Trust Gap and Solutions in Cross border Medical Services

Due to its complexity, high cost, and remote nature, cross-border medical services naturally have a trust gap. There is a high degree of uncertainty among customers regarding service quality, price transparency, privacy protection, and control over subsequent processes. In this context, building trust cannot rely solely on verbal promises or traditional brand promotion. The core solution lies in "technological empowerment", which means improving service efficiency through technological means, reducing administrative burden, and allowing medical staff to have more time for in-depth communication with patients and their families, establishing true humanistic care.

Specifically, the construction of trust is the integration of technological tools and humanistic services. Successful medical platforms have transformed trust into a series of tangible functions. For example, the core functionality provided by Mayo Clinic's mobile application is the "technological lever" that fills this trust gap. These features include: allowing users to search for medical itineraries, schedule or apply for appointments; Provide a messaging system for safe and reliable communication with medical teams; And enable customers to synchronize the viewing of test results and images with the medical team. These functions are not just convenience tools, but also a manifestation of 'trust concretization'. They enable customers to experience transparency, controllability, and efficiency in complex medical processes in foreign countries, thereby establishing a more robust long-term trust relationship than any advertisement. Therefore, whether it is a website or an app, "trust building" must be the primary functional goal from the beginning of design, achieved through transparent processes and convenient communication tools.

2. Website and SEO promotion strategies: advantages, challenges, and core roles

2.1 The value of a website as a brand portal and public domain traffic entry point

In the digital marketing ecology, the website is the "digital headquarters" of enterprises on the Internet, and the official channel for brand information release, value display and trust endorsement. It plays a crucial role in 'public domain marketing'. Through the website, service providers can reach a wide range of potential customer groups and effectively stimulate demand, increase the base of convertible customer groups, and improve service achievement rates through patient education or marketing promotion content. For services with high decision-making costs such as testing in the United States, a professional image, detailed information, and authoritative content on the website are essential conditions for establishing initial customer trust.

2.2 Precise SEO Strategy: Content, Keywords, and User Search Paths

One of the core customer acquisition methods for a website is SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Compared with the traditional extensive capital for traffic model of "buying key positions, buying prime time, and buying search keywords", precise SEO strategies have more long-term value and cost-effectiveness. Although traditional models can quickly generate traffic, the cost of acquiring customers continues to rise, and the quality of traffic varies. In the promotion of overseas medical services, potential customers conduct in-depth research before making consumption decisions, and their search behavior tends to be more inclined towards "information inquiry" and "trust evaluation" rather than impulsive consumption.

Therefore, the success of a website depends not only on technical SEO rankings, but also on the strategic depth of content marketing. By providing professional, detailed, and neutral patient education content, the website can effectively match users' search intentions, such as searching for "American IVF process", "ranking of reproductive hospitals in the United States", "cost of IVF in the United States", etc. High quality content can shape a website into an industry expert and establish brand credibility. This user demand-oriented content strategy integrates demand triggering, patient education, and trust endorsement, thereby attracting more accurate and high-quality traffic with higher conversion willingness.

3. Promotion strategy for mobile apps: advantages, challenges, and core roles

3.1 The value of APP as a private domain traffic pool and deep service platform

If websites are the core carrier of public domain marketing, then mobile apps are the ideal tool for "private domain user management". It can achieve refined management of customers and is a key means to enhance the "full lifecycle value of individual customers" and promote "old leads new". The APP can seamlessly integrate the entire service process, from early appointment consultation to subsequent medical service management (such as secure message communication, viewing test results, etc.), on a single platform, providing an unparalleled deep user experience. This enables service providers to proactively manage customer relationships without relying on passive waiting for customer follow-up.

3.2 User Behavior and Experience: Reasons and Countermeasures Behind High churn Rate

Although mobile healthcare apps have significant advantages in private domain operations, they also face severe challenges, especially high user churn rates. Research shows that nearly 71% of users worldwide choose to give up using mobile healthcare apps within 90 days of downloading them. This phenomenon poses significant risks to the high development and promotion costs.

According to the Stimulus Organism Response (S-O-R) analysis framework, the core reason for user churn is the insufficient practicality and design rationality of app content. If an app cannot provide high-value, high-frequency features, it will have a negative impact on users' cognitive and emotional experience, ultimately leading to a decrease in user behavior expectations and willingness to innovate. For test tube customers traveling to the United States, there are natural limitations to the frequency of app usage. The core requirements are concentrated in specific stages, such as consultation, treatment, report inquiry, etc., and are not needed every day. Traditional medical apps maintain user stickiness through high-frequency functions such as appointment registration and quick consultation, but this is difficult to replicate in low-frequency service scenarios such as going to the United States for IVF. Therefore, the fundamental strategy to address high churn rates must draw on the successful experiences of other vertical industries and expand services from "single function" to "community ecology". Establishing a user community within the app, providing experience sharing, mutual assistance and Q&A functions, can transform "low-frequency" medical services into "high-frequency" social interactions, greatly enhancing user stickiness and loyalty.

3.3 Drawing on the experience of the medical beauty industry: how to enhance drainage ability and user stickiness

As a pioneer in the field of consumer healthcare, the successful model of its top apps in the medical beauty industry provides valuable reference for IVF services in the United States. New Oxygen, Meituan, Tmall and other platforms have performed outstandingly in the field of medical aesthetics, with their advantages not only in their strong "drainage ability", but also in their "community activity" and "user stickiness". These platforms have achieved a transformation from simple traffic distribution to a user operated ecosystem by establishing user communities, thereby fully enhancing the full lifecycle value of individual customersIn addition, the success of medical beauty platforms also stems from a deep understanding of industry pain points and addressing them. For example, the new oxygen platform effectively addresses consumers' concerns about price opacity by clearly indicating price details and avoiding misleading pricing, thereby establishing a high level of trust. This experience is highly consistent with the demand for "high transparency" from test tube customers going to the United StatesThis indicates that a successful app cannot just be a tool of a certain intermediary company. It must operate with a "platform" mindset, establish industry trust standards, and provide transparent services in order to fundamentally gain the favor of users.

4. Comprehensive comparison and strategic evaluation of websites and apps

Table 4.1: Comprehensive Comparison Matrix of Website and Mobile APP Promotion Strategies

4.1 Comparative analysis of customer acquisition capability and cost efficiency

In terms of customer acquisition ability, the website obtains precise long tail traffic at a relatively low cost through SEO and content marketing. Its advantage lies in the ability to widely cover various needs generated by users when searching for related keywords such as "test tube in the United States". The initial investment of the website is relatively small, but the return period is relatively long. In contrast, the promotion cost of an app is high, for example, when promoting in an app store, the minimum recharge can reach 10000 yuan, and continuous investment is required to maintain exposure. Therefore, relying solely on the app for initial customer acquisition will result in a much higher user acquisition cost (CAC) than the website, and will face significant financial risks.

4.2 Comparison of User stickiness and Brand Loyalty Construction

The essence of a website is "information display", and users usually leave immediately after visiting, resulting in low user stickiness. Brand loyalty is mainly maintained indirectly through content quality and brand awareness. And APP can achieve high stickiness through "private domain user management", which is the key to enhancing the full lifecycle value of a single customer. APPs can attract users for long-term use through continuous feature iteration and personalized services, such as providing personalized health reminders, establishing user communities, etc., thereby establishing deep brand loyalty.

4.3 Deep comparison of the entire service process and user experience

The website is good at displaying information and attracting traffic in the early stage, but it cannot support the subsequent in-depth service process. After completing the consultation on the website, customers usually need to switch to other communication tools or offline processes. This leads to a fragmented service experience and makes it difficult to provide a seamless customer journey. On the contrary, the APP can seamlessly integrate full process services such as appointment booking, communication, and report inquiry. For example, the Mayo Clinic APP integrates functions such as appointment booking, safety messaging, and laboratory result inquiry, providing an unparalleled deep user experience. This is particularly important for complex and lengthy services such as IVF in the United States.

5. Conclusion: Building an integrated marketing ecosystem of "website+app"

5.1 Limitations of Single Channel and Necessity of Integrated Marketing

Based on the above analysis, the limitations of a single channel are obvious: websites cannot provide in-depth services and maintain user stickiness, and can only complete the first half of the customer journey; However, apps face challenges such as high customer acquisition costs, difficulties in initial traffic generation, and high user churn rates.

This indicates that websites and apps are not in a competitive relationship, but rather complementary ecosystems. The website is responsible for "breadth" and "trust endorsement", while the app is responsible for "depth" and "private domain operation". The successful strategy is not about choosing one or the other, but about building a seamless "public domain drainage private domain transformation deep operation" loop to maximize the synergistic advantages of the two channels.

The working mechanism of this closed loop is as follows: Firstly, potential customers discover the website through public domain channels such as search engines (SEO) and social media. The website provides detailed patient education content and brand endorsement to establish initial trust. Subsequently, the website guides potential customers to download or register through its content and online consulting services, completing the traffic conversion from "public domain" to "private domain". Finally, the APP takes over the subsequent deep services and operations, converting one-time customers into loyal users through functions such as appointment booking, communication, and community, and promoting "old leads new" to achieve word-of-mouth communication.

5.2 Strategic Roadmap: Closed loop Construction from Public Domain Drainage to Private Domain Operation

To achieve this goal, it is recommended to adopt a phased implementation strategy to allocate resources reasonably and reduce risks:

6. Suggestions for core implementation

Website: Content Marketing and Multi Channel Flow

The success of a website lies in the depth of its content strategy. Suggest building a detailed content system around the decision-making path of test tube customers going to the United States, including:

• Patient education article:Elaborate on the medical process, technological advantages, and common problem answers of in vitro fertilization to establish a professional image.

• Success Case Sharing:Display successful cases anonymously or with authorization, providing emotional support and trust endorsement.

• Expert introduction:Provide a detailed introduction to the collaborating team of American doctors and embryologists, including their qualifications, experience, and professional fields, in order to enhance their authority.

In addition, SEO keyword strategies should be integrated with public domain channels (such as social media and media coverage) to generate traffic and form a traffic matrix, maximizing the website's customer acquisition potential.

APP: Function design and iteration centered on user experience

The design of an app must be user centered and avoid becoming a simple information aggregator. Its core value lies in providing highly practical and sticky functions, and suggestions include:

• Security message system:Provide a secure and encrypted channel for private communication between customers and medical teams.

• Personalized task reminder:Provide personalized reminders for medication, examinations, appointments, and other tasks based on the customer's treatment cycle.

• Electronic medical records and report queries:Allow customers to view their medical records, test results, and imaging data anytime and anywhere, providing transparency in services.

• User community and interactive features:Drawing on the experience of medical beauty platforms, establish a community for users to exchange experiences, assist and answer questions, in order to enhance user stickiness and promote word-of-mouth dissemination.

Brand building: offline channel cooperation and online reputation management

In addition to online promotion, we should also actively seek channel cooperation and referral with relevant domestic institutions (such as reproductive centers and physical examination institutions) to expand offline customer acquisition channels. At the same time, we should attach great importance to online reputation management, guide positive evaluations through the community function of the APP, and fundamentally establish brand reputation through high-quality services and transparent processes.