Most dental practices spend time and resources trying to attract new patients to the practice. Dentists and teams also work hard to ensure the patient experience is as positive as possible. This is why it’s so important to monitor three key stats regarding your new patients; information you can use to become even more effective at attracting and retaining patients.
The first stat is hopefully collected at the time of the new patient call or shortly after the patient first visits your dental practice. Make sure you are asking how the patient heard about you. Please keep in mind that some new patients are coming to you for multiple reasons ranging from location, word of mouth, insurance, and web-based marketing. New patient forms typically have a tiny line to indicate the referral source, which is why it’s important to ask, especially if you are investing resources in specific types of marketing.
After you attract new patients to your dental practice, you ultimately want to see if they will keep returning. New patients who complete recommended hygiene care and then schedule for their next recall visit are on the right path for becoming long term patients. That is why it’s important to monitor your new patients to see if they become committed to your preventative care program.
Finally, if new patients have treatment needs, are they scheduling? Even if they cannot schedule for a full phase of treatment, are they at least scheduling for something? Unless new patients are facing serious financial issues, their willingness to schedule communicates a lot about your ability to build value for dental care and their buy-in to your treatment philosophy.
By monitoring the following three stats, you can fine tune your marketing strategy as well as your overall approach for patient care and retention. Small adjustments along the way will benefit your patients and ultimately your dental practice.