Any doctor or office manager knows that recalls are the bread and butter of your dental practice. It’s good to generate new patients but it is more important to keep those patients and have them come back on a regular basis. How does your office manage your recall list?
Hmmm… This Article Looks a Little Dated
Why not take a look at a more recent on-demand recall webinar instead?
For most offices, they still rely on printing out labels for postcards and then doing a mass mailing which they hope they might get a response. We call these “shot in the dark” campaigns because you’re really just hoping for the best. Some offices use the handwritten postcard method and have a small box divided by month and send them out according to date. Once you send out that one postcard, what do you do to follow up? How do you track how many times you followed up?
I went to a dentist’s office and after my appointment, they handed me a postcard to write my own address, and then they filed it in a box. My first thought was, ” Hmm, Can their software not create labels?”. My second thought was “Seems kind of lazy. The receptionist is sending a text to her friend and I’m filling out my own postcard.” I’m stepping out of my office manager role and speaking to you from the perspective of a millennial generation patient, the postcards alone aren’t working. If you have a patient base that is from an older generation they may find it refreshing to still receive a postcard but for any of your patients born after the year 1990, it won’t work. In order to have these younger patients (by younger I mean 20’s and 30’s) come back, you need to reach them with the communication method they know and respond to the best, their smartphones. Don’t worry Practice-Web can help.
Think about this. At the same time each month, your patient will automatically receive an email notification that their recall is due. In that email, there is a link for the patient to click to schedule their appointment. When they click on that link to create their appointment, the appointment will automatically populate into your Appointment Module in Practice-Web. What kind of response do you think you could get from this feature? How much would your revenue increase? Last month we told you about our new partnership with LocalMed.com. You can click here to read last month’s article. If you were to sign up with LocalMed and use our automated emails, you could market more effectively. Don’t worry office managers! You don’t have to give up your postcards but by adding the email reminders you increase your odds of patient return. Another benefit of using emails and printing your postcards or labels from Practice-Web is that the Practice-Web software will track just how many reminders this patient received so that you know when it’s time to call them personally or when it’s time to call it quits on the reminders for now.
LocalMed can also be used in conjunction with the PromptCalls Text Messaging. You can send custom text messages to your patients on the recall list with a link and a message that says “You’re due for your routine dental appointment to tap the link to schedule now”. Imagine the income possibilities!
If you’re ready to take your practice to the next level of productivity and increase your revenue opportunities give us a call 800-845-9379 opt 1
See you next time 🙂