tab32 Blog

INTRODUCTION:

In previous editions of patient loyalty blogs, we had discussed why patient loyalty is critical for the growth of a dental practice and how various forces work against attaining the optimal patient loyalty. In this blog, I'm going to discuss the "patient experience" a most critical driver to patient loyalty and patient retention.

We had used Life Time Value (LTV) of a patient to show the magnitude of a loss in a practice revenue, which makes patient retention an extremely critical key performance indicator (KPI) for the growth of a new dental practice.

In this series of patient loyalty articles, last time we had discussed why patient loyalty is critical for growth of a dental practice. In this blog, I'm going to discuss the issues making loyalty difficult to attain.

We had used Life Time Value (LTV) of a patient to show the magnitude of a loss in a practice revenue due to patient churn, which makes patient retention extremely critical. Let us dive further deep into issues which work against the patient loyalty. 

The new dental practice often gets so caught up in patient acquisition and paying monthly bills to meet the ends, that they often miss a critical aspect of developing patient relationship for continuing growth of a business, i.e. patient retention. 

Most new dental practices often will ask about features of cloud dental EHR and dental practice management software but will ignore the importance of patient relationship and loyalty at the beginning.

Let's look at why patient relationship and loyalty are critical for a startup practice and must be measured from the start.

Let’s face it, lots has changed in marketing over the past 15 years. In 2000 the internet was still new and people were just starting to realize what it meant to “be on the web”. Now most of our patients are connected and have 24 hour access through smart phones. This has changed how people use and gather information, and how they make their purchasing decisions. The new frontier of marketing needs to consider this new consumer behavior. The days of buying a yellow page ad, open a clinic, and waiting for the schedule to fill are long gone.

Living in Southern California has its advantages. One of them is that I’m close to the California Dental Association’s (CDA) bi-annual meetings. The CDA holds two meeting each year. Like every state’s association meetings, these are always great events to refresh, reconnect, and for me, a great way to see what’s new. Last year at the CDA they had almost 100 new products or companies showing for the first time at the CDA meeting in San Francisco. This year at the Anaheim meeting they show 75 new companies! That’s a lot of innovation in just 6 months. If you’ve never been to the CDA they do a really great job highlighting some of the best and brightest in a special area called “cool products”. In case you missed out, here’s a quick rundown of what was new in SF.

Many businesses don’t regularly follow their online reputation. Even fewer do anything to proactively actively manage it. Most new patients hear about you from a personal recommendation or via a web search.  Having a bad online reputation is like having a billboard right outside your office that reads “Lousy care, and terrible customer service provided here”. As more and more patients get online to find their next dentist, online reputation management becomes increasingly important. Do you know what your patients see when they look up your practice? Are poor reviews costing you money? More importantly, what can you do about it?

Brands evoke feelings in the minds of consumers. If I say tab32, I hope you think of free cloud based dental software. When done right, this brand loyalty causes customers to choose you over the competition. A good brand identity will tell your customers who you are, what you do, and how you do it. Loyalty will make people drive farther, pay more, wait longer, tell others about your services. How do you communicate your brand and how do you get people to think of you first when looking for dental care?