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Cosmetic Inquiries Increase as Talk of Reopening Swirls

Now that the US is several weeks into national containment measures that have shuttered non-essential businesses, including cash-based practices, many are left wondering where to go from here. For those of you that own elective care medical practices, we know that you are facing a lot of stress and uncertainty right now.

Nobody knows exactly when this is all going to be over and the economy will open back up again. However, one thing is for sure – when it does, there’s going to be a lot of pent up demand for your services from both former and prospective patients.

The good news is, after an initial drop when the outbreak first began to spread, interest in aesthetic procedures is starting to spike again. As talk of businesses in some states opening by May 1st begins to take center stage, we expect to see interest continue to rise. When we compared our data sets with partner, Etna Interactive, we saw similar trends.

What You Do NOW Will Determine Your Future Success

During uncertain times like these, business owners tend to fall into a few different categories.

  • Those that take a “wait and see what the economy does” approach.
  • Those that stick their head in the sand and just hope this goes away.
  • Those that take action NOW to retool their business and ensure they’re ready to bounce back strong when things begin returning to normal.

Unfortunately, a surprising number of doctors fall into the former two camps. During times of economic crisis, there will always be businesses that falter and come limping out slowly, while others emerge stronger and more sustainable than before. The key difference is in not dwelling on the turmoil, but rather, taking decisive action, looking ahead, and planning for a more secure tomorrow.

Ultimately, it is those in the latter group that are going to come out of this stronger than before and who will experience great runs in the coming years.

Virtual Consultations & Pre-Qualifying Patients

With many individuals still interested in booking virtual consultations, there is no reason you should not be pre-qualifying patients and getting them on the schedule for treatment next month (even if these appointments need to be rescheduled later on). We’re even seeing some of our clients taking down payments for procedures to lock in slots, while others are offering discounts for patients who pre-pay or who sign up for surgery “X amount of days” after their consultation.

Fortify Your Marketing and Patient Outreach

In addition to continuing to see patients via telemedicine, savvy doctors are also using this time to strengthen patient communications and really nurture those relationships. Practices that are currently building out concrete marketing and outreach plans will not only win back existing patients upon reopening; they’ll also be poised to pick up competitors’ patients who may not have been communicating with them throughout all of this.

The most successful practices will be those that never stopped marketing to patients throughout the shutdown. If you have not been communicating with your leads and patients in the past weeks, it’s not too late to get out ahead of this issue. Now is the time to start brainstorming promotions and ideas to bring patients back into your practice and keep your schedule full.

Promote Complementary Procedures

Due to pent up demand for cosmetic services, most practices will have many patients ready to move forward with procedures upon reopening. However, after a few weeks, this initial rush will begin to slow down. It’s important that you already have a strategy in place for upsell options and promotional offers to retain these patients and establish continuity of care.

Promos like “Buy One Get One” or “Free Botox/Filler with the purchase of X procedure” are easy ways to introduce patients to your other services while generating goodwill among new clients. This cordiality will often be reciprocated later on in the form of repeat visits and patient loyalty.

How to Move Forward TODAY

The sooner you begin formulating your strategy for bouncing back post-quarantine the better. You should be reaching out to patients and old, unconverted leads NOW – not when things open back up. By then, it’s going to be too late and you will have missed out on opportunities that your competitors recognized long ago.

MyMedLeads makes it easy for cash-based practices to reach out to new and older leads to invite them to virtual consultations, send promotional offers, follow-up messages, recall campaigns and much more. Our Client Success team can help you hit the ground running and spring back into action once it’s safe to do so. Visit our Marketing Automation and Product Suite pages to learn more about our lead conversion and profit boosting features!