Getting your patients to come in on a regular schedule can be difficult for many dentists. A lot of people tend to view the dentist and their doctor in the same manner—if there’s nothing wrong, they don’t need to go. But that’s a poor attitude to have regarding the dentist. Regular cleanings can prevent problems from occurring, and catch them early on if they do appear.
Much is made about attracting new patients to your office, but effective patient retention practices are just as important. Keeping your patients coming back, and referring your office to their friends, is huge moneymaker in itself. If you’re retaining 90% of your patients, you’re doing well. If you’re below 70%, then you may need to do some work and evaluate what you could be doing better. So what can you do to get across to your patients, and help get them back in your office on a regular basis?
- Good communication is the best way to keep your patients coming back for regular appointments. This should involve multiple forms of communication and contact. A quarterly newsletter updating patients on new services, office enhancements, or any interesting tips about dental care and nutrition is a good way to keep your practice in your patient’s mind. Try to make your newsletter informative and educational, and avoid blatant promotion. The newsletter itself will promote your practice well enough.
- You should also be mailing out regular reminders to patients when they’re due for a cleaning. A dental cleaning is something that can easily slip the average person’s mind, even if they were meaning to get it taken care of. A friendly reminder and contact information for setting up an appointment is all that you need on the card.
- But along with physical mail, you should really also be using email and even social media to stay in contact with your patients. An email newsletter is cheaper than physical mail, and it’s also a better way to reach a larger audience. And while you may not be sending direct reminders about making an appointment to your followers on social media, regular posts work the same way as the newsletter—they keep your practice in the forefront of your patients’ minds. Keep providing useful content on a regular basis, and your dental office will be in front of plenty of eyes online, both new and old patients.
And while you’re concentrating on how to reach patients when they’re out of the office, how about working on what you can do to retain them while they’re in the office? Establishing a rapport and making sure their experience is a positive one is a great way to ensure they keep coming back - and what better way to do that than to install a Molar Media Mount on every chair in your office, so that procedures fly by as patients are distracted by watching their favorite TV show or movie? Contact Molar Media Mount today to learn more!