Identify the core desired feeling your specific patient group wants. Use their belief system profile. Different services require different profiles because patients seek different feelings depending on the problem they’re solving.

Map the patient journey and break it into decision points.

At each decision point, list the patient’s current feelings. Include the typical negative emotions for that situation plus any positive emotions you’ve already created like trust or openness.

Illuminate the gap between their current feeling and their desired feeling. Decide which touchpoints will reveal the severity of their current state, help them release negative emotions, and show the path toward the feelings they want.

Define the change you want them to take at each decision point. This is the action that relieves the tension, for example scheduling, attending, accepting treatment, or recalling.

Clarify the promise made at each step. The promise is what they receive if they take the change, and it must match the tension of that specific phase. Each decision point has a different promise because the emotional gap is different.

Putting the steps together improves decision making across the journey because every touchpoint aligns the tension, the change, and the promise with what the patient truly feels and wants.