Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many dental clinics have experienced a significant decrease in patient numbers. Without adopting innovative and smart technology approaches, dental clinics may continue to suffer from this situation. Although it may not be possible for patient visits to reach pre-COVID-19 levels in the near future, you can take the first step in increasing your clinic’s patient traffic by following our suggestions.
For many years, most clinics have followed a similar approach. Analysing your appointments, keeping track of patients, creating an appointment follow-up system, and determining how to establish a new programme to maximise patient numbers will be an important first step in increasing your patient count.
Before your patients leave the clinic, make sure the front desk reminds them to book their next appointment. A study conducted by the Elvin Group Data Centre revealed that 80% of clinics ask patients when they would like to return for their next visit, while 20% only offer another appointment if the patient requires a specific treatment. This indicates that in many dental clinics, patients are not properly attended to at the front desk after their appointments. When asking patients to book their next appointment, emphasise the importance of appointment follow-up and suggest they book a date that suits them.
Additionally, your patients can plan their appointments by selecting the most convenient time without having to go through the front desk. How, you ask? With Medicasimple! After your patient leaves the clinic, you can send a message to their phone, allowing them to schedule their next appointment. Online appointment scheduling will make things much easier for both your patients and your clinic.
Many clinics lose between 3% and 10% of their patients due to missed appointments or last-minute cancellations. Although every clinic operates differently, you can reduce these losses with a strong patient registration system. After your patient leaves the clinic, you can send a message two days or even two hours before the appointment to confirm it.
Wouldn’t you like to avoid the hassle of calling each patient individually to confirm their appointment? With Medicasimple’s automatic reminders and notifications feature, we ensure that automatic messages are sent to your patients before and after their appointments. This way, both your patients and your clinic can save time.
Expanding your treatment list is not just about adding new procedures or services. Including various treatments such as clear aligner therapy or bruxism treatment can help increase your clinic’s visit rates.
Of course, before expanding your treatment list, prioritise delivering the services you already offer effectively. By focusing on relatively simple procedures like fluoride treatments or teeth whitening, you can encourage your patients to visit more frequently.
Dental clinics can succeed through an effective income-expenditure system. To ensure that each stage of the payment process runs smoothly at your dental clinic, you should use a cloud-based clinic management system.
Thanks to automatic billing and online payment systems, you will see an increase in cash flow, and as a clinic offering multiple payment options, you can improve the patient experience. Additionally, by reducing the stress on your front desk team, you can prevent a decline in their productivity.
Wouldn’t you like the time patients spend in your clinic’s waiting room to positively reflect on their experience? Focusing on reducing waiting times will increase patient satisfaction. You should guide patients to the waiting room and, if they are new, introduce them to the room (such as showing them how to use the TV, air conditioning, or water dispenser). Make sure to inform them about the waiting time to avoid any surprises. Patients will appreciate being informed in advance rather than wondering why it is taking so long.
In the dental field, technical knowledge from areas such as “customer service” and “marketing” can be utilised. A feedback loop is very useful for improving your experience with patients. The feedback loop includes both positive and negative feedback. To prevent patient loss and enhance your clinic’s success, you should pay attention to the feedback shared by your patients.
Today, patients use online platforms to share their opinions (Google, DoktorTakvimi, Doktor Sitesi, etc.). It is important to check and respond to feedback to maintain patient satisfaction. Provide good support to your patients and give them the opportunity to express their feedback, whether positive or negative. Keep in mind that, in addition to online reviews, patients will also share their experiences at your clinic through word of mouth. If your patients are satisfied with your treatments, they will speak highly of you to others. Similarly, patients who have had a negative experience will not hesitate to share it. Therefore, while your clinic is being promoted through word of mouth, make sure that patients are not having experiences that will leave a bad impression.
Introducing innovations at your clinic is one of the key factors that keep your patients coming back. When patients notice that you are keeping up with the latest advancements, you will be successful in attracting potential patients and ensuring the continuity of your existing patients at your clinic.
Given today’s technology, you should consider what innovations you can implement for both your patients and your clinic. Achieving the digital transformation of your dental clinic is in your hands! Increase patient comfort and safety by integrating your clinic with a cloud-based system. For a perfect patient experience, get in touch with Medicasimple now.
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