My Chemist Plus Sustains an 87% Message Read Rate
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My Chemist Plus is an online private pharmacy in the U.K. led by independent prescribing pharmacists who are fully registered and regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council. Their team is known for making access to prescription and dental healthcare fast and convenient for private patients nationwide.
Growing Patient Demand Accelerated the Push for Scalable Support
As the owner of My Chemist Plus, Dr. Saqib Anwar understands the unique challenges patients face. He also knows how critical communication is in creating a positive patient experience.
This perspective is especially important in the U.K., where access to timely NHS dental care is often limited. Many patients are left in pain while they wait for treatment, and the team at My Chemist Plus prides themselves on stepping in to support patients during that gap. This patient-centred approach naturally fuelled a rapid rise in the pharmacy’s popularity.
But as more patients turned to My Chemist Plus for interim care, wait times grew longer. With a limited team, Dr. Anwar needed an efficient way to manage customer inquiries. At the same time, his staff needed to keep up with other mission-critical work, like filling orders, navigating shipping logistics, and growing the business.
Dr. Anwar knew the key to improving patient experiences involved reducing wait times and focusing on personalised, proactive patient communication.
To address these needs, My Chemist Plus experimented with a messaging system built directly into their website. Although it was a step in the right direction, this system required patients to log in and out every time they needed to send and view messages. This process led to login fatigue, password management issues, and missed pharmacy notifications.
Over time, these hiccups created customer support inefficiencies as team members worked to resolve a high volume of routine issues over the phone. Dr. Anwar recalls, “If we had continued using that system, it would’ve impacted our bottom line. As orders increased, we had to devote more staff hours to contacting patients and answering queries.”
He knew he needed to act fast to prevent pharmacy growing pains from feeling just like the barriers to care that patients dealt with across other health systems.
So, Dr. Anwar looked for a third-party partner who could help him create better patient experiences, reduce wait times, and maintain easy access to care as the pharmacy grew. Because protecting patient data was critical, that partner also needed the ability to adhere to the regulatory guidelines and standards surrounding patient data and records in the U.K.
And when he learned about Merx’s AI-powered campaigns and experiences, he knew it was the perfect solution.
Patient-Centric Communications Powered by Conversational AI
With Merx’s GDPR-compliant WhatsApp solution, My Chemist Plus patients now enjoy a personalised, conversational AI experience anytime they reach out for assistance.
Using WhatsApp, patients ask questions, express concerns, inquire about orders, and even chat about their symptoms.
“All non-clinical queries are answered using Merx’s AI tool, so our team saves significant time and doesn’t have to get involved,” Dr. Anwar explains. “And any clinical concerns are directed to our team. Our pharmacists can then ring patients back or even contact them via WhatsApp.”
As Merx’s AI agents field patient questions on the spot, the platform automatically captures, secures, and uses valuable 1st-party data for ongoing care. This process ensures every message is relevant and tailored to the patient’s unique circumstances, just like they’d experience with a live rep. The best part? Prompt responses and an intuitive interface mean that long wait times, login fatigue, and customer service headaches are a thing of the past.
My Chemist Plus also uses Merx to communicate with patients proactively. The team shares updates like order and delivery confirmations, tracking information, and care management suggestions as their patients await their orders. And with AI analytics, Merx surfaces the most common patient needs, helping My Chemist Plus refine future proactive outreach and automate more customer support services.
For My Chemist Plus, this translates to a better overall customer experience, greater access to care, and fewer time-consuming, routine phone calls to the pharmacy. Dr. Anwar sees this operational efficiency as a game-changer for the team’s future scalability and growth.
Merx Boosts Patient Engagement and Reduces Pharmacy Call Volume by 50%
After just three months of partnering with Merx, My Chemist Plus saw their patient experience make a full recovery. Patients enjoy better access to their pharmacists, more insight into their orders, and improved confidence in their care.
The partnership delivered fast results across the board:
- 87% message read rate on WhatsApp
- 45% engagement rate on WhatsApp
- 50% reduction in phone calls to the pharmacy
As Dr. Anwar continues to expand access to pharmaceutical care, he’s also setting a new standard for how patients connect with providers. With Merx’s conversational AI platform, My Chemist Plus has a partner designed to build more patient trust and fuel future business growth.
