Everyone in the room felt the shift in energy when the investor leaned in, stopped taking notes, and explained how he wished he had known sooner about the company’s technology, one that could have restored sensation in his finger after suffering a severe cut while taking on extracurriculars during the pandemic lockdown; or when the chief investment officer simply wanted to meet the leadership team because the company’s device sent her cancer into complete remission; or when the seasoned fund manager, normally reserved and numbers-focused, marveled at the patient’s recovery after being treated for essential tremors and confessed that these life-changing results are the reasons he got into healthcare investing in the first place.
These are the moments that transcend pitches and topline beats—when data intersects with real lives, and investors connect not just with the science or financial metrics, but also with each impacted patient.
As we celebrate Patient Experience Week (April 28–May 2), we are reminded that behind every metric is a human story. And while earnings, clinical trials, and market access will always matter, investors across international markets are increasingly influenced by something deeper: impact. The kind that can’t be measured on a spreadsheet alone.
Investors want to believe in a company’s mission. For life sciences and medtech companies, that mission often comes alive through the stories of patients. These narratives inspire and more importantly, they inform. They signal product-market fit, identify unmet needs, and spotlight opportunities for value creation. Additionally, they give context to trial endpoints, and bring clinical strategies to life in a way that feels immediate and personal. During one-on-ones, investors echo time and again, “great, your product seems to work, but specifically who does it help?” Taking a patient-centric approach to investor relations is the perfect opportunity to place investors in a patient’s shoes, helping them experience the impact of medical innovations on real people.
Integrating Patient Experience into Investor Relations Strategy
Where are the patient voices in your corporate story? Certainly, they should not be limited to appearing just in brand marketing or clinical trials. Absolutely, they should be included in the investor narrative. With appropriate privacy considerations, here are simple and effective ways to integrate these voices into your investor communications:
- Earnings Calls: Include a brief patient story. This may help to contextualize progress, highlight alignment with the company mission, and provide proof points, though anecdotal, of impact.
- Investor Presentations: Include a short video or case study. These reinforce real-world applications and outcomes. Bonus points for including a healthcare provider who can address how the technology influenced their patient outcomes, workflow, and overall practice.
- One-on-Ones and Conferences: Speak to the real-life implications of the innovation, especially at in-person meetings. We tend to remember stories by tying them to how they made us feel.
Authenticity matters. Patient stories must be real, responsibly shared, and closely tied to your mission, rather than as promotional content.
When implemented across investor-facing materials, the patient experience offers a powerful way to connect international investors to the “why” behind a company, while building trust, providing transparency, shaping perception, and creating long-term value in the global healthcare marketplace.
