How To Get Your Existing Dental Patients Coming Back For More

Praveen Kumar

Feb 19, 2018

5 min read

In our previous blog, we talked about how maintaining an online presence is vital for a dental practitioner to grow his practice exponentially leveraging the power of the web. But what to do when your online marketing efforts bring a few patients in? How to keep them coming back for more? They are in your clinic because they got impressed with your brand online and found a value proposition in it, to keep them coming back for more, I think it goes without saying that you have to impress them with the way you run your actual practice as well. Apart from giving an exceptional dental treatment, there are many things you can do to woo them over and develop a healthy relationship with them. After all, its strong relationships in business that bring in repeat sales rather than anything else. So in this blog, we will be talking about some ways to provide a great in-clinic patient experience to keep them coming back for more -

Make use of online appointments

How To Get Your Existing Dental Patients Coming Back For More

After finding your clinic online, a convinced potential patient will most probably give your clinic a call to set an appointment. Mind you, your front desk team can make or break your dental practice as they will always be your clinic’s first point of contact with your patients. So it becomes all the more important to make sure that they are proficient in whatever they do and to adequately train them if they are falling short. You can make use of some online dental marketing services that’ll help your front desk team better manage clinic appointments and stay at the top of their game. Use online appointment management services of Setmore or Appointy to keep a track of all your clinic appointments for a marginal cost. Remember, your front desk team’s attitude, professionalism and behavior can leave a lasting impression on patients - it’s your job to ascertain that it’s a good or bad one.

Engage with them through emails

Like you engaged with them online to bring them in, it’s important to engage with them in some way or the other when they actually come to your office to deliver a great customer experience. Your patients already know that you are great in your practice, that’s why they are there in the first place, all they are looking for is to form a relationship. Share a story, teach them about some common dental problems and how to avoid getting them, get a little personal and try to know a bit about their life. Small things like these can go a long way in forming forever lasting relationships with your patients that’ll bring in repeat sales and potentially can make your patients the advocates of your clinic, promoting word of mouth and in turn bringing in more patients, creating a circle that’ll never end. For that, you always have to be on top of the mind of your patients when they think about getting a dental treatment. A nice way to do that is by sending them gifts or exclusive offers, newsletters or by calling them in regular intervals to simply ask if they need an appointment. One of the best ways though to keep in touch with your patients is by sending emails. Start collecting email addresses of all your patients that walk through your door and run promotional email campaigns with the help of those collected emails to stay at the top of your game and in their mind. You can use an email marketing software such as Mailchimp or Constant Contact to run your marketing campaigns. Or if you can’t take the time out of your practice to send emails, we can help you out!

Create an office culture

Your office culture is essentially the way you run your office. It’s in your leadership style, your values, your behavior, your personality, your system, the way your employees communicate with each other and with your patients, your clinic decor, physical environment and basically everything that is linked to your clinic in some way or the other. The way you run your dental clinic actually holds the power to attract or repel patients, depends on how well organized and managed your dental practice is. Your unique way of doing things in the most optimized way and striking a perfect balance between all the elements mentioned above holds the power to boost productivity, attract quality staff, bring in patients and keep them coming back for more.

Send greeting cards using online services

Doing something extra for your patients will only bring a smile to their face and strengthen your relationship with them. Going up and beyond your regular practice to do something special for your patients will make them feel special and cared for, enhancing their customer experience marginally. Send thank you cards, get well cards, birthday cards, Happy New Year cards, bouquets on their birthday or marriage anniversary, gift baskets or anything you can think of to develop a special bond with them. Use an online service like Send Out Cards to send custom designed cards or some gifts to your patients, adding that personal touch which will make them feel special and cared for.

Ask for feedback

After you are done with the necessary treatments, doing something as simple as asking for an honest opinion about the quality of services provided to your patients can make them feel important and their opinions valued. While there are many ways to collect valuable feedback, the most convenient way to do it is through your dental website. Make a separate dedicated section in your website where your existing patients can do just that or you can go the traditional way and ask all the patients that come in your clinic to give feedback using a paper and pen. Doesn’t matter how you do it, the fact that you are giving your patients an opportunity to voice their opinions about your dental practice can go a long way in forming a healthy relationship with them. In today’s tough competitive environment, you can not possibly be a thousand times better than your competitors, but you can be better than them in a thousand small ways. Make your practice stand out by doing the above-mentioned things for your patients and watch them visit your clinic more often with a gleaming smile on their face!