Today’s consumers begin their search for a dentist online, making it vital for your practice to have a strong digital presence. Convenience, safety, and proven experience are at the top of patients’ lists for choosing a dentist, bringing heightened importance to your reputation, patient experience, and online content.
Here are our suggestions for building an online strategy that will help your practice attract new patients in 2021 and beyond.
Boosting Your Online Reputation
Dentists often count on referrals from patients’ friends and family members to add new appointments to their calendar, but times have changed. People still look to their peers when deciding which dentist will best fit their needs, but the process for finding a good recommendation has largely moved to the Internet. In other words, online reviews are the modern-day word of mouth.
Research shows that 90% of patients use online reviews to evaluate physicians, trusted sites like Yelp, Google Reviews, Healthgrades, WebMD, and Zocdoc to aid in their provider selections.
In order to bolster your reputation and foster confidence in your practice, put processes in place that encourage your current patients to leave reviews. Whether in person or via email, text message, or other forms of digital communication, asking or incentivizing satisfied patients to review your practice can go a long way when it comes to convincing new patients that your practice is the best fit for their needs.
Focus on the Patient Experience
Thanks to the Internet, people have more choices than ever before when it comes to dentists. To counteract this fact, you need to provide an exceptional patient experience.
If you haven’t evaluated this area of your practice before, ask yourself these questions:
- Do my receptionists make people feel comfortable, welcome, and safe? Are they trained to give tours of your practice and equipped to provide new patients with the information they need?
- Do my assistants greet people warmly and demonstrate exceptional bedside manner?
- Do I take the time to answer patient questions in person and over the phone so they feel confident in my ability to provide care?
- Do I run a modern, sophisticated practice that makes it easy for my patients to do everything from scheduling an appointment to paying an invoice?
If you’ve already considered all these aspects and answered yes to each question, you’re probably already providing a positive experience. However, your patients are the ones who ultimately decide whether your practice is the most convenient and pleasant option in the area—and if you’re struggling to attract new ones, chances are that you could make some improvements.
Your patient experience also goes beyond the dental care you provide. Consider the look and feel of your office, your safety procedures, and how easy it is for patients to book appointments. These days, giving people the option to get their questions answered and to schedule a cleaning or procedure without picking up the phone are practically a prerequisite for growth.
Display Your Quality of Care
Keeping your website and social media pages updated with content demonstrating the quality of services you provide is essential. Much like modern patients seek out the opinions of others in the area, they look for proof that the dentist they choose performs the procedure they need well, as well as often.
This is especially important for cosmetic services, such as implants and veneers. Videos detailing your practice’s methods, as well as posts depicting former patients before and after they undergo procedures are a great way to convince new ones that you provide top-notch service. Put yourself in your patients’ shoes: If you were searching for a provider for a procedure like this, would you take your chances with an unproven practice, or go with the dentist that has an online portfolio of examples that they regularly update?
Contact Scorpion at 888-375-7259, or email us here for a FREE competitive practice analysis. We’ll provide in-depth data and analysis to help you understand how your practice stacks up against other dentists in the area, as well as what you can do to acquire a larger share of your area’s prospective patients.
