The diagram below shows the consumer decision making process.

The role of marketing consumer decision making process is very crucial and important
especially in healthcare services.
Need Identification-the role of marketing in this stage of consumer decision process is to
create awareness of their presences by creating the structure and departments of the
heath care services that provide different health needs of a given consumer base.
Information search and processing-Healthcare services can adopt this stage in the
consumer decision to advance their marketing prospects by establishing their brand as
a leader in the healthcare field. This can be done by advertising partnerships and
sponsors prominently on all web materials and collateral
Evaluation of alternatives-in marketing their facility’s healthcare services, hospital can
leverage on this stage of consumer’s decision-making process by putting testimonies of
people who have used the services of the facility and have gotten results. They can also
do this by including previous customer’s rating of their facility.
Purchase Decision-Because by this stage the customer has explored multiple options
and pricing and payment options and now are in the middle of the decision whether to
move on or not, The marketing process at this stage will focus on providing a sense of
security while reminding customers of why they wanted to use the hospital services in
the first place.
Purchase -At this stage the healthcare marketing team has succeeded in making the
need and the customer has decided to make the purchase of the service, even at this
stage marketing is equally as the customer can still be lost, at this stage the focus of
marketing is to keep the purchasing process simple.
Post purchase evaluation -Even after the purchase has been done, the process has not
yet ended, the focus of marketing at this stage is to sustain revenue and loyalty. the
hospital can adopt this stage in marketing by making sure customers goes home with
the notion and sense that they did not make a mistake purchasing that service so that
they will be able to return should they have need of the service that the hospital is
providing