At RevenueWell, we’re huge on helping our customers deliver a world-class patient experience every day. “Why,” you’d ask, “isn’t RevenueWell in the practice marketing business?” Yes, indeed. And as marketers, we believe that delighting your patients every chance you get is the best marketing you’ll ever do. Happy patients stay with you, accept your treatment, buy more elective services, give you tons of referrals and give you glowing testimonials online. Still think it’s not marketing?
One of the things we do that continues to WOW patients across the country is automatic email post-op instructions. The feature is actually quite simple: RevenueWell monitors your practice software for services you walk out, and when it sees the code for, say, a resin filling, it automatically sends the patient an email with the correct set of instructions – often while the patient is walking out your door. Pretty cool, huh?
Not cool enough for some of our customers, apparently. I recently spoke with a doctor who actually videotaped herself giving post-op instructions for all common procedures and posted them on YouTube to for patients to access. Now, that’s creative!
First off, it helps (at least somewhat) to address patients’ common complaint that the doctor doesn’t spend enough time with them. A recent survey showed that in a typical practice 65%+ of patients feel rather indifferent toward the doctor, but like the hygienist – precisely because the hygienist doesn’t just run into and out of the exam room for three minutes between patients. Whether or not you think patients feel this way at your practice, more “face time” with the doctor never hurts – even if this face time isn’t necessarily face to face.
Secondly, such follow-up helps you ensure that the patient’s long-term recollection of the visit is positive. Statistically, we humans remember the first thing and the last thing about any experience better than we remember anything in between. In the context of a dental appointment, then, offering your patient a warm towel when they arrive (wow!) and sending them a personalized email with video post-op instructions has a solid chance of eclipsing an unpleasant crown prep in their memory.
How do you use modern technology to deliver a world-class patient experience?
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