It’s no secret that building meaningful relationships with your patients can be challenging. Many patients only come in for appointments a couple of times each year, and for some patients, it’s even less often. In addition, experts estimate that practice attrition rates can be as high as 15-25% each year. With this in mind, focusing on maintaining your current patient base by deepening your patient connections can result in a more rewarding experience that keeps patients returning to your practice for years to come.
It can be tricky to stay connected and engaged with your patients when the nature of dental practices is often that patients have months between their appointments, which is why we’ve put together a list of ways to stay in touch with your patients and make the most out of the time you have them in office.
Engage patients with customized campaigns
When it comes to patient engagement, an easy way to keep patients in the loop with your practice is by sending out customized email campaigns that are relevant to their needs. Topics can range from treatment education to practice promotions and important office updates. You can even try including local news and events happening in your community.
If you want to go the more personalized route with your campaigns, RevenueWell Marketing Platform is a patient engagement tool that offers customizable messaging that makes informing patients about specific procedures easy. With customizable campaigns designed for a variety of procedures, you can send personalized communications to patients based on their specific treatment needs. The more a patient learns about an upcoming procedure or prescribed treatment, the more likely they are to follow through with their treatment plans. A regular email cadence will keep your practice top of mind for patients, even when they aren’t due for an appointment just yet.
Stay organized with Patient Lists
Creating patient lists for your practice can help you stay organized and on top of which patients require a follow-up from your practice. We recommend sorting patients into categories that help you identify which patients need the most urgent attention. Categories can include patients who have no-showed, cancelled or have unaccepted treatment plans.
If creating and maintaining your own patient lists is too time consuming, or you find that your practice doesn’t have the bandwidth, we recommend trying out RevenueWell’s new Patient Lists feature, available with Insights. The Patient Lists feature helps staff to quickly evaluate which patients require immediate attention, whether due to a recent no show or cancellation, or a patient that hasn’t yet scheduled their next appointment. RevenueWell Patient Lists organize and update patient lists automatically, meaning your practice can spend less time sorting through patient names and focus on reappointing patients. Contacting overdue patients from Patient Lists is easy, with calling or texting available directly from the app.
Keep patients in check with appointment reminders
The best way to build a solid relationship with your patients is through in-person appointments, but since the COVID 19 pandemic, many practices have seen their no show and cancellation rates skyrocket. One of the simplest ways to reduce your no show and cancellation rates is through automated appointment reminders. Rather than spending time calling patients about their upcoming appointment, staff can get more time back in their day to focus on other priorities around the office.
Patient Relationship Management Systems like RevenueWell even offer the ability to schedule appointment reminders through your patient’s preferred contact method, so you can get in touch with patients in a way that works best for them.
Make getting in touch with patients easy with two-way texting and online scheduling
Besides the fact that appointments can be few and far between, many patients have busy schedules that can make it difficult to get in touch with them, resulting in cancellations and rescheduled appointments.
Boost patient communication and decrease cancellations with perks like two-way texting and online scheduling. By offering convenient options, you’ll show patients that you prioritize their time while standing out from other dental practices. Busy patients will appreciate the ability to contact your front office team on their own time and the option to book appointments online after hours.
Why RevenueWell could be the right tool for your practice
With the right tools for your practice, you can stay connected with patients, lower cancellation rates and boost case acceptance. Customers who leverage these tactics using RevenueWell’s patient engagement platform can see 2x the case acceptance, cut cancellations in half and an overall 33% increase in annual patient value.
For a limited time, Patterson is offering three months free of RevenueWell Marketing Platform when you sign up, so your practice can exceed patient expectations while meeting production goals. Learn more about RevenueWell here.
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