It’s the start of a new month, and you’re pulling reports to review the practice’s performance. As you scan through the numbers, a worrying trend emerges – new patient bookings are on the decline.
While your practice has successfully retained many loyal patients, attracting new ones has been a challenge due to factors like limited online visibility, competition from other practices, and difficulty converting website visitors into booked appointments. The reliance on inbound phone inquiries leads to frustrating rounds of phone tag, causing potential new patients to disappear. Unfilled slots in the schedule are becoming more common, directly impacting revenue.
Despite investing in things like online ads, social media campaigns, and email marketing, the return on those investments isn’t meeting expectations.
It’s clear that something needs to change. The balance between attracting new patients and retaining loyal ones is “off”, and practice growth is starting to stall.
A Leaky Patient Funnel and Missed Growth Opportunities
Striking the right balance between attracting new patients and retaining existing ones is a common challenge for dental practices. Today, 43% of patients search for dentists online, meaning practices with outdated websites or weak SEO risk losing new patients to competitors. With new practices emerging regularly, standing out is increasingly difficult. The problem is made worse by:
- Increased competition: Patients have plenty of options, making it harder for practices to differentiate themselves.
- Modern patient expectations: People now expect seamless, hassle-free experiences, like the ability to book appointments online and easily find important treatment information on a well-designed website.
- Poor marketing ROI due to fragmented patient journeys: Even with substantial marketing investments, practices can see low returns if there is a disconnect between their marketing messages and the patients’ ability to easily respond and engage with you.
- An inconvenient booking process: When patients can’t call during office hours, they get frustrated and go elsewhere.
- Unfilled appointment slots: Holes in the schedule indicate inefficiencies in patient retention and recall efforts.
These factors combine to create a leaky patient funnel, where potential new patient leads slip away, schedules remain unfilled, and marketing efforts fail to deliver the desired results.
Here’s a great example of a leaky funnel. Statistics suggest that 33% of inbound calls go to voicemail, and 87% of potential new patients don’t leave a message or book an appointment. To make matters worse, most practices only attempt to follow-up on calls 1 to 2 two times on average—despite it generally taking 6 to 9 calls to reach someone. This means that valuable leads are lost every single day, marketing dollars are wasted, and schedules remain unfilled.
Your Practice’s Competitive Edge
ClearDent provides a comprehensive solution to these challenges through its Online Booking and ClearConnect tools, along with Digital Marketing partnerships. We enable practices to attract new patients, retain existing ones, and deliver the seamless experiences modern patients demand. Here’s what you can do with ClearDent’s patient engagement solutions:
Stand Out in a Competitive Market:
- Digital Marketing: Build a strong online presence with ClearDent’s marketing services, including SEO optimization, analytics, and professional website design. In partnership with Social Ordeals, we deliver digital marketing services uniquely designed for dental practices.
- Social Media Marketing: Use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to engage with your targeted audience. With tailored ads and compelling content, practices can showcase their services, highlight patient success stories, and connect with the right audience to drive new patient bookings.
- Encourage Positive Reviews: Automated follow-ups prompt satisfied patients to leave reviews on platforms like Google, boosting your reputation.
- Engage Effectively: Use newsletters to share practice updates, educational content, and promotions that resonate with both new and existing patients.
Provide Seamless Patient Experiences:
- Online Booking: Patients can book appointments instantly through your website or social media, with real-time integration that eliminates scheduling errors that occur when staff have to move appointments from one system to another.
- Patient Portal: Allow patients to complete forms and review documents digitally, reducing administrative barriers and improving convenience.
- Two-Way Texting: Avoid frustrating phone tag by enabling patients to confirm or reschedule appointments via text.
Maximize Patient Acquisition Opportunities:
- Data-Driven Campaigns: Use ClearDent’s reporting tools to target the right audience and track the success of your marketing efforts.
- Fill Schedule Gaps: Identify and re-engage overdue or unconfirmed patients with automated reminders and recalls.
- Capture After-Hours Opportunities: Online booking ensures you never miss a patient inquiry, even outside of office hours.
Balance Retention and Attraction:
- Automated Recalls and Reminders: Keep loyal patients engaged with minimal effort, increasing retention and long-term revenue.
- Proactive Outreach: Use ClearConnect’s mass messaging capabilities to remind patients of expiring benefits, share new offerings, or follow up on treatments.
Real Results with ClearDent
Promontory Heights Dental in Chilliwack, British Columbia, faced some challenges including inefficient booking processes and limited marketing impact before implementing ClearDent’s integrated solutions. Dr. Jehan Casey recognized that their booking process was inefficient, leading to unfilled appointment slots and frustrated patients unable to book times outside of office hours. Promontory Heights leveraged ClearDent’s online booking tool and were able to fill gaps in the schedule even after hours, while reducing the administrative burden on staff.
Promontory Heights also enhanced their online presence to attract new patients. By optimizing their website for SEO, encouraging positive reviews, and using QR codes in their marketing materials to link directly to their online booking system, they saw a steady influx of new patients. Through these marketing activities that linked directly to their online booking system, Promontory Heights’ marketing investments translated seamlessly into scheduled appointments. As Dr. Casey noted, the ability to integrate marketing and booking in one platform saved both time and money while significantly boosting growth.
Attract and Retain Patients with ClearDent
In an industry where competition is fierce and patient expectations are high, ClearDent’s tools provide the edge your practice needs to get and stay ahead. From building a strong online presence to delivering seamless booking and communication experiences, ClearDent helps you stand out while keeping your current patients engaged. Just like Promontory Heights Dental, you can turn inefficiencies into opportunities and create a patient experience that fosters loyalty and growth.
At ClearDent, we partner with Social Ordeals, experts in digital marketing for dentistry, to offer a comprehensive online marketing solution. Social Ordeals has developed a platform and services that help dental practices monitor, manage, and build their online reputations and brands. From building or refreshing your website, to search engine optimization, to digital advertising and more, Social Ordeals coupled with ClearDent’s patient engagement solutions is a win-win for today’s modern dental practice. Get a FREE Digital Audit Report for your practice.