If you hear the word “marketing” and think only of activities designed to acquire new patients, chances are you’re leaving some opportunities on the table. In most cases, retaining current patients is less costly than obtaining new ones. Creating programs around client retention is a smart way to expand your practice while achieving a higher ROI on your marketing.
Not sure where to start? Here are 5 tactics that can help turn current patients into repeat visits.
- Blogging – In today’s age of information availability, patients are taking a more proactive approach to their health. Consumers want to remain informed and educated on topics that impact them. Blogging regularly not only builds patient trust and credibility, but it keeps your practice top of mind. The more information you share, the better positioned your practitioners will be as leaders in their field.
- Social Media – According to Pew Research Center, 7 in 10 adults in the USA are on Facebook and many more are on other platforms as well. It’s safe to assume your patients are using social media. Therefore, doesn’t it make sense to use that platform to engage with them? Post relevant, informative content on a consistent basis, and your followers may even share items that they find helpful. Having an active base of followers is also more likely to lead to patient referrals, as patients’ friends on social will see them interacting with your practice. Sites like Instagram and Facebook are integral components of your social media strategy, but don’t forget about niche sites like Realself that have a social component as well. For cosmetic surgeons, interacting with users and answering questions on Realself will help you gain trust and build loyalty amongst both current and future patients.
- Email Newsletters – Depending how much content you have to share, patients will find value in receiving a newsletter weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Make sure to focus on valuable content and advice, versus self-promotion. Items like practice updates, industry news, and wellness tips will keep your patients opening emails from you. Consistently posting on your practice blog is a great way to generate new content on a regular basis for your newsletters. Including new blog posts in your monthly newsletter is another effective way to get prospects and patients back on your website and browsing your services. Email newsletters are also a convenient channel to share special offers and loyalty programs (see the tip below).
- Special Offers and Loyalty Programs – Everyone enjoys getting more for less. Discounts go further than you might suspect. Consider offers like frequent treatment plans, freebies with a service, or discounted fees for referred patients. MyMedLeads’ powerful Communication Center allows practices to create and automate marketing campaigns around referral incentives, sales, discounts, and loyalty programs.
- Automated Recall Messages – Make things more convenient for your patients and stay in touch in the ways that work for them. Automated appointment reminders and text messages not only help with patient no-shows, they can streamline the patient scheduling process – which all patients love! In a world where most people are reliant on their devices, allowing patients to confirm their appointments from a mobile device over email or text is one way to make them more enthusiastic about your practice. Take things a step further and create automated campaigns for specific patients or services, for example sending a reminder to make another appointment for all male Botox patients who have undergone treatment in the past 6 months.
It’s true that these strategies require thoughtfulness and time – but you’ll find the results well worth the effort. Obtaining new patients is important, but retaining the ones you already have is equally important. If you need help optimizing programs to increase patient retention, let us know. Our goal is to simplify and automate the lead-to-patient conversion process while helping you stay connected and engaged with current patients.