Dentistry during the pandemic sure has become quite the challenge, due to heightened anxiety around infection control, stay at home orders, and measures to control the spread of COVID-19. Despite dental offices being a completely safe and essential service, some patients simply stopped going to the dentist altogether.

But now that the first waves of the pandemic are behind us as vaccinations roll out across Canada and the United States, how are people feeling about coming back? What can you do to make your patients feel more comfortable?

At Opencare, we conducted a patient survey about COVID-19 of over 650+ dental patients in North America. We want to share these results with you and you can learn how to make patients feel more comfortable at the dentist as lockdowns begin to lift. Opencare supports thousands of dentists every day with resources to grow and run their practice. 

Who we surveyed 

We selected a cohort of 666, of which roughly ⅔ were from Canada and the rest from the United States (mostly California). The majority of respondents (82%) were between 25 and 44 years old and 55% were women. Roughly 43% of respondents earn between $50,000 and $100,000 per year. 

Health habits

The patients we surveyed, as you will see below, are health-conscious patients who excited to get back to the dentist. Opencare patients are highly educated on preventative healthcare and understand the importance of frequent dentist visits.

Most participants were in good health and understood the importance of healthy habits. On a scale of 1 to 5, 80% rated their health a 4 or higher.

A whopping 95% of respondents brushed their teeth daily (woo-hoo, somebody’s doing their job!), 60.8% floss on the daily, and 45% visit the dentist every six months. Nearly 80% said they drank plenty of fluids and water, 64% did not smoke, 62% ate nutritiously, and 52% got daily exercise. All in all, generally healthy people.

These are the type of patients you probably usually see in your dental practice and especially who you want to target going forward. These patients understand the importance of going to the dentist, even in the midst of a pandemic. Along with having dental insurance, they are willing to invest in their long-term dental health and understand that regular dental visits are an essential piece of the puzzle. 

Attitudes toward dentistry during the pandemic

So, what has been going through patient’s minds during the pandemic? To find out, we first asked how many participants had seen a dentist in the past year. An exciting 75% said yes! That’s a good thing that only 25% of people surveyed chose not to visit the dentist this year and a testament to positive patient education.

We also asked if anybody had a canceled dentist appointment and 38% said yes. Of those, 60% were canceled because of a COVID-19 lockdown and 19% were canceled because of scheduling issues. Additionally, 10% of patients canceled themselves because they were uncomfortable about going to the dentist.  

What can you do as a dentist to make them more comfortable?

The good news is that it appears most people feel rather confident about going to the dentist even during these crazy times. A solid 44% of respondents plan to visit the dentist within the next three months and another 34% will go within the next year.

Only 4.7% said they would go only if they were in pain or it was an emergency. The top reason offered (55%) was that they were waiting for life to go back to normal and 26% were scared of getting COVID-19. 

However, you don’t want to leave anybody behind. We understand you take the oral health of every patient in your practice very seriously. So we’ve put together these tips to help you make them feel more about visiting you and give them a more enjoyable experience while they are there. 

How to reduce pandemic anxiety for your patients

Without a doubt, the dentistry industry has been affected just like everything else. However, unlike other industries, such as the restaurant or entertainment industries, people can’t just stop going to the dentist. If they stop going for preventive care, they will ultimately end up in your office for emergency care. 

This is creating a backlog of patients who’ll need dental care in the near future. Many people plan to wait for a bit after their dental office opens up to avoid the flood of patients. Others are waiting for life to “get back to normal” before they go. Unfortunately, this just means that more people will be flooding the offices later. This is not ideal when you want to limit the number of people in your office at the same time as well as need extra time between patients for increased sanitation measures. 

So, how do you get those patients in your office now? Here are a few tips.

Communicate with your patients

People don’t know what’s going on in your office unless you tell them. They may be sitting at home imagining crowded waiting rooms and long waits to get in to see the dentist. They might even decide it isn’t worth the effort or the risk when there is no extra effort or risk involved. 

So, shout it from the rooftops! Or, as we tend to do in this day and age, launch an electronic campaign. Email your patients, go live on social media and post lots of visual content. People need to see sparkling clean exam rooms, empty waiting rooms, staff decked out in full PPE, and air purifiers being installed. 

For help on drafting “welcome back” emails, check out this free toolkit provided by the ADA. Other emails you can send to reassure patients and keep you fresh in their minds include:

• A reassurance email on sanitization
• Tips and advice for at-home oral wellness
• A self-diagnosis tool for common problems
• Dental emergency guidelines
• Resources and content you find useful from dental thought-leaders

Survey your own patients

The information from this survey and others you might be gathering is gold and will help direct your efforts. However, it doesn’t hurt to do your own survey among your own patients. There is no guarantee that the typical patient in your dental practice feels the same as what is reflected in these results. 

Furthermore, a patient survey about COVID-19 communicates an important fact to your patients: you care about what they think and you want to incorporate their ideas into your plan. It also shows patients who might feel nervous that you’re doing everything you can to address their concerns. 

Transparency

Be open about everything, not just the extra measures you are putting in place, but also the risks you face. If you have a COVID exposure, it can feel tempting to cover it up. You might be afraid that people will see it as a reason to feel less confident in your practice. 

But think about it from this angle as well. People will see you putting your patients first. Instead of protecting your profits (staying open and continuing to see patients), you’re more concerned about patient and staff health. You’ll take a financial hit in the short run, but remember what we already mentioned, people will still need to see the dentist. And they’re going to want to see one that has proven their dedication to putting their patients first. 

How to make your patients feel safe before, during, and after their dental appointment in 2021

Once you’ve gotten your patients’ attention and they’ve booked an appointment, you need to ensure they feel safe and confident during their entire experience. 

1. Visible sanitization

The best thing you can do to ease your patients’ minds is to strictly follow sanitation measures. Provide masks, hand sanitizer, and perform visible sanitization measures in front of your patients to show that they’re safe. Install air purifiers in visible places to further put your patients at ease.

When asked about what would make them feel safe, one survey respondent said, “Reassurance of how all tools are cleaned and sterilized. Make me feel like what you’re putting in my mouth is super clean.” Even though dentists have always been vigilant about sanitation, it’s important to talk about it and let your patients know the steps you’re taking to keep them safe.

As you open a new pack of tools, say, “These tools have been sanitized using our sanitization process which includes…”. That little bit of information goes a long way when it comes to patient reassurance. 

2. Increased PPE

It might feel a little impersonal to greet your patients ensconced in PPE from head to toe. Full PPE covers pretty much every inch of the body, meaning new patients won’t even know what you look like. What’s worse, your smile, every dentist’s favorite feature, is hidden away behind a mask. 

However, no matter how impersonal it feels, your patients will appreciate the extra effort to protect them. Learn to communicate your smile with your eyes and reassure your patients with your voice. It’s a little different way of doing things, but we’re all adapting to new challenges these days.  

3. Less contact with staff and other patients

Social distancing is one of the main ways we can all do our part to stop the spread of the virus. Your patients want to avoid unnecessary contact with people. A few of the ways you can do that is by allowing for contactless check-in, plexiglass between your reception and your patients, and making sure your waiting room is always empty.

Of course, waiting rooms have always been there for a reason. Where are patients supposed to wait to be seen? One great idea that many businesses are adopting is to allow patients to wait in their cars. They can check in once they arrive via text message or an app like Opencare. When it’s time for their turn, you can call or send them a text so only one patient comes in at a time.

It’s also important not to crowd too many appointments into the same day. It’s another hit for your bottom line, but you need extra time to sanitize between patients and ensure there aren’t too many people in your office at once. 

Need more time back in your day? Opencare can help you and your office team save 20 hours per week with our insurance verification services. Find out more.

4. Temperature checks and testing

Another suggestion survey respondents offered was to incorporate temperature checks and COVID testing. Consider requiring negative tests from patients or proof of vaccinations,  and provide weekly COVID testing for your staff or insure they are vaccinated. The practicality of this might be a little challenging, but you can decide how far you want to take it.

A more practical approach is to take everyone’s temperature upon entering the office. This won’t cost you anything extra and is another layer of protection that your patients will appreciate. Also, be sure your reception staff is fully aware of the symptoms of COVID and is empowered to turn away anyone who is showing signs of being positive. 

5. Proof of infection control

Finally, remember that not everyone feels comfortable trusting that you’re doing what you say you’re doing in following RCDSO or  CDC sanitation guidelines . Most people are confident and trust you’re doing everything you can, but some people may still feel nervous about it. 

We also asked patients how they felt about dentists having proof of infection control and following proper sanitization guidelines. Almost 45% said they felt confident and another 37% felt very confident and fully trusted their dentist to follow the protocol. However, 12% felt worried and 6% felt worried enough to want to see some kind of certification or proof. 

iThe best thing you can do is be fully transparent about what you’re doing and make sure that you’re taking visible precautions to put your patients at ease. 

Safely serving your patients 

We hope these dental patient and COVID-19 stats have given you more confidence in serving your patients. Patients are willing and excited to go back to the dentist. Preventative care can’t be put on hold forever or your patients’ dental health will begin to suffer greatly. 

Check out more about how Opencare can help you better serve your patient through the pandemic and beyond.

The post How do patients feel about returning to the dentist during and after COVID-19? An infographic for dentists appeared first on The Floss By Opencare.

Your patients are the most valuable asset your practice has. Because of this, patient loyalty is vital to the success of your practice and it’s important you optimize the lifetime value of each patient. For this, you need an effective email marketing and nurturing campaign. 

It helps you to keep your patients informed and keep them coming back for more. Email is one of the most cost effective and conversion-rich forms of digital marketing today. It can get you impressive results without spending a bunch on marketing.

Email marketing allows you, at a low cost, to re-engage patients and bring them back for more services. It can be a healthy return on investment. So, the math is quite straightforward; a well-thought-out email marketing strategy will make you money, no doubt about it. 

Let’s explore.

Why email marketing for patient retention?

Email marketing has the highest return on investment for small businesses. This means you get a lot, but you spend little. That’s the perfect equation for any marketing or nurturing strategy.

Also, roughly 80% of marketers have reported an increase in email engagement over the past 12 months. So, if email engagement is up, it means a more effective strategy.

With an effective strategy, you get more engagement, and you get more leads. In fact, mobile readers who open an email for a second time from their computer are 65% more likely to click through. Also, 64% of small businesses say that the email copy is very effective.

So, what can email marketing do for your patient retention efforts? Let’s look at some of the things you can do with an effective email campaign:

• You can remind a patient of an upcoming dentist appointment, when they might be due for a checkup, or any other appointments required or suggested in a treatment plan.
• Even things like a simple “happy birthday” email campaign can go a long way to show your patients that you care. Remember, you don’t even have to include an offer for it to be effective. The key is you’re showing the patient you care.
• When year-end comes, you can think about a year-end campaign to remind your patients to use their insurance benefits by the end of the year. They may have insurance benefits remain or funds set aside in a flexible spending account or healthcare savings account. The end of the year is a perfect time for them to schedule an appointment so any payments can be applied before the benefits are reset. 
• If your practice participates in community outreach efforts, email is the perfect platform to ask your patients for participation or to remind them to bring any items that they can drop them off at their upcoming appointment.

Keep in mind these are just a few examples of what you can do and that they are many others.

The important thing is, irrespective of what you do, you want to engage and communicate frequently with your patients to build strong relationships beyond just seeing them in your consulting rooms every six months. 

And email and SMS let you do this because you get to nurture, educate, remind, and rebook your patients.

Best practices for email marketing

Subject lines

Think about this, what’s the first thing a patient will see when your mail arrives in their inbox. Yes, that’s right, the subject line. No matter what anyone says, people judge emails by the subject line. 

So, subject lines need to be compelling enough so that your patients open the mail. Make them catchy and be specific, keep it under 40 characters for optimum readability, and you’ll be well on your way to an excellent click-through rate. 

You can also consider adding personalization if possible. Here, if a patient sees the subject line with their name in it, it’s already more engaging.

Preheader text

If the subject line was the first hook to get your patients’ attention to the email, the preheader text is what convinces them finally to open it. Because of this, your preheader text should complement the subject line and help communicate any points you couldn’t in the subject line.

What should the patient see when they open the email?

Let’s be clear from the start, the email should be clean and easy to digest. If you add too many buttons, colors, or banners, you’ll lose your patients’ interest as fast as a kid loses teeth. 

So, considering this, you want patients to easily grasp what you want them to do, Keep it simple.

Call to action

When you create your email campaign, one of the most vital components is the call to action. It grabs the patient’s attention and encourages them to act. 

This means your call to action should stand out and be easily clickable, while also being clear and showing the patient exactly what is required of them. It should also give them a very good idea of what will happen if they click the call to action. Here, think of things like, “Click to make an appointment” or “Click to find out more”.

Nailing the messaging

Every email message you send to one of your patients should have a point. This means, if you want to promote a service, that should be the only point in the email message. Likewise, if you want to provide valuable content, that should be the only point in the message.

If you go too far, you lose your patient’s attention. Remember, you basically have a three second attention span to work with so keep it simple and to the point.

Frequency

Now, the question is how often should you be sending emails or messages to each patient? Depending on the circumstances, you will want to email your patients at least monthly. This could be more or less, and you’ll have to decide what the right number is. You could need some guidance, though. 

For example, if you’re trying to get patients to book an appointment for a six-month check-up, you might want to start emailing them at four months to remind them they should book an appointment. This could be once a week or maybe twice a week. If they don’t book by six months, make sure your messaging becomes more urgent to drive action.

Also, if you’re also sending SMS, try to set the frequency so patients don’t get both an email and SMS from you on the same day. Remember, you want to be consistent, but you don’t want to over communicate because then it seems like spam.

If your campaign is based more on content like articles or infographics, you can consider sending a monthly newsletter to patients. In this way, they’ll find value in you trying to provide this type of content to them in addition to recommending exams and treatment plans.

Personalization

Message personalization is the number one tactic used by email marketers to improve performance of a campaign. And it is simple to see why. When you use a first name in the subject line or the body of your email to greet the patient, you help build a one-to-one relationship in your marketing efforts. 

For the patient, it feels like you’re talking to them on a more personal level and they like knowing they’re remembered. This overall, improves your strategy significantly.

What should a follow-up email look like after their appointment is complete?

The next question is how a follow up email should look like if a patient’s appointment is complete. 

First, you’ll want to thank the patient for visiting your practice and ask them for feedback. Now, this feedback could be given as a Google review, Facebook review, Yelp review or something similar. Remember, there are many platforms like these available online. Provide a link to do so.

If they had a negative experience, make sure someone reaches out to gather more information about their experience and to help mitigate the issue. At the most you should answer briefly on the feedback, but you must be careful not to become embroiled in a dispute with the patient on a public platform. 

For example, if there is negative feedback you may answer, “Thank you for your feedback, we’ve referred the matter to our office manager”, or something similar. If there really is an issue, it can be sorted out in private and not public.

Also, if the patient didn’t book an appointment before leaving, this email is a perfect opportunity to remind them to book and you could also add a call to action to an online portal to make a booking, or to call your office to schedule an appointment.

How can you use an e-mail campaign to educate and communicate with your patients without bugging them to come back?

The most important thing you can do to educate your patients without bugging them to come back, is to move away from a mindset of selling, and moving to a mindset of helping.

In other words, in this campaign you’ll want to provide your patients with content that is relevant and valuable, while at the same time solving their problems.

Now, to accomplish this, you’ll have to consider why your patients come to you. Well, simply, it’s to ensure their teeth stay healthy. To provide relevant and valuable content you’ll thus have to focus your content on this pain point of your patients.

You can, for instance, remind them of the importance oral health has on total body health and what diseases or issues they could potentially avoid if they visit the dentist every six months.

You can expand on this and educate them on when to see a dentist outside the six-month mark. For instance, when they have toothache, swelling, red gums, or any other problem relating to their dental health, it might be a sign they need a professional opinion.

You can also provide content that shows them what to expect when they come for a routine check-up. Remember, a lot of people are afraid of the dentist, so if you provide this content, you’ll put their minds at ease.

When you provide these types of content, you, over time, become a resource your patients will use if they have any issues or problems. And when a suspected problem turns into a real problem and your patients want to find a dentist, guess who they will call first? Yes, the resource they’ve been using online to find the information they need.

The bottom line

Email marketing is a powerful tool you can use to retain patients, create loyalty to your practice, and increase the rate at which appointments are made. When you provide patients with relevant and valuable information, you’ll become a resource for them that they can use if they need any advice on dentistry.

In turn, this will create loyalty and, ultimately, more return appointments. 

If you need more information about email marketing, about our services, or our revolutionary revenue cycle management system, visit our website or contact us for more details.       

The post How to create an engaging email campaign to keep your patients coming back appeared first on The Floss By Opencare.

For any dental practice, advertising is almost certainly a necessity. According to 2020 statistics, over 201,000 dentists are actively working in the US, so competition is steep. When you pair that with the high cost of office fees, equipment, and staffing, it can be a serious problem. That’s where SEO (search engine optimization) for dentists comes into play.

If you don’t rank on the first Google results page, you are missing out on 95% of your potential clients. Google holds 90.3% of the search engine market share, which means that 9 out of 10 browser searches are carried out on Google. Without proper SEO, you are practically invisible. Let’s discuss.

What is SEO?

To understand what SEO (search engine optimization) is, it’s crucial to cover the basics. SEO for dentists is an online fingerprint that’s unique to your practice. Even though there are plenty of other sites that are optimizing their content, with your own SEO strategy you get to stand out. 

SEO for a dental office is a process meant to boost your website rank on Google, Bing, or Yahoo. The idea is to get more traffic and attract potential patients. For that, you will require a well-made website and proper design suitable for dental office marketing. 

To boost your odds of success, you can partner up with an esteemed company — one with solid domain authority and search engine presence, like Opencare. 

Why does SEO for dentists attract more patients?

• SEO leads generate a 14.6% close rate, while print ads have just 1.7% outbound leads.
• 75% of people don’t go past the first search page when looking for information online. 
• 78% of mobile searches in a local area result in an actual visit to a physical location within the first week. 

According to experts, 61% of company owners believe boosting SEO should be their top advertising priority, including improving their organic presence. 

An advertising plan requires detailed knowledge to reach the preferred target audience. With SEO for dentists, you are getting exactly that. A website is more than just an option for you to publish basic information.

Clients who find your office online are eight times more likely to try your services. Compared to other patients who found your dental office through other forms of advertising. The reason for that is relatively simple. 

You are using the website to address the necessities of every dental patient. It can also help you establish trust and get more attention. In the long run, you are increasing your client base. This makes SEO a powerhouse for dental office marketing.

Where do I start with SEO?

Starting with SEO might look overwhelming, but it’s not as hard as it seems. Every search engine optimization strategy begins with a simple plan. 

Incorporate relevant keywords 

To find a dentist, clients will search for prospective offices in their area. But in addition to that, they will also search for additional information like bridges, teeth whitening, or other popular procedures. Organic traffic comes from these queries. So, you want to use the keywords that will target all their demands. 

Example: Instead of trying to optimize the website for a dental service, it’s critical you use keywords that target the area you work in. These include: 

• dental procedures in [your city]
• gum surgery in [your area] 
• fillings and repair in [your state]
• dentist plus [your location]

Don’t forget to use phrases and keywords that elaborate on the dental services you provide. Using dental procedures in your site’s URL may not be a good idea, but using keywords like dentures, braces, extractions can show everything that you offer. 

Blogging

The better the search engine visibility, the bigger the traffic. For 86% of content marketers, blogging is a key marketing tactic. With blogging, you are both getting attention and building credibility. Potential clients and interested readers will help improve your search rankings. 

Eventually, you can become an authoritative figure in your area. Not only does blogging attract patients, but it can also generate some revenue.  

Use reliable sources

To inspire a client to book a dentist appointment, you ought to establish credibility. Using quality links on your website will help improve your search ranking. When you compile blog posts, make sure to link adequate and reputable sources. 

Then, you can reach out to other bloggers or leaders in the industry and ask them to share that content. This is an excellent method of improving and maintaining high search rankings. However, industry leaders are only willing to work with blogs that create excellent content. So, make sure that the posts you create will garner this type of endorsement. 

Five tips for dentist-related SEO

In the early days, SEO optimization was very easy. You only had to focus on a single target keyword, and you would be high on the search engine rank. You would use that same keyword until you get the desired results. 

Now, optimizing a page takes more effort. Every keyword should be semantically related. Having a lot of competition only makes things harder. But, that doesn’t mean you won’t reach the target audience. On the contrary, you just need to use a couple of tips that can help turn the tide. 

Use tools to find the right SEO keywords for dentists

Keywords have multiple variations, so you shouldn’t stick to only one. The ideal choice would be to rely on keyword research tools. They will help validate your content and ensure you have the SEO you need. 

Besides, there could be keywords that not all searchers use but that are still relevant. These tools provide insight into deeper levels of SEO, visibility, and analysis:

• CPS (cost per click)
• CTR (click-through-rate)
• SEO difficulty
• Competition
• Search volume

You can use these to gain ideas for your local searches. Options like Majestic SEO, SEMrush, and Cognitive SEO could prove useful. 

Understand patients’ intents behind the keywords you use

What is the patient’s intent? Do they simply want to search for a term to find out more about it? Or do they want to know where they can access services as well? You can classify keywords into four different groups based on your client’s intent. You have keywords that are:

• Commercial – Keywords such as these are useful when you want to help a patient make a choice. So, you provide them with useful information before they spend their money. For example, “best dental services in Los Angeles”. 
• Informational – With these keywords, you can cover practical topics. It’s about helping patients understand various dental procedures. For example, “how long does gum surgery take” or “what are dentures”. 
• Navigational – You’ll use these keywords when a client is looking for a specific site. For instance, if the client puts the name of your dental practice in that search box, then they are using a navigational keyword. 
• Transactional – You can use these keywords when a client is simply looking for a deal. They want to spend cash but don’t know where to go. For instance, it can be “where to locate a dentist near me” or “where to get dentures in Toronto, Canada”. 

Update the website structure

By all means, ensure your website is responsive for mobile use. It should also be easy to navigate. Whether you have multiple offices or a single dental practice, you should focus on the URL structure. Remember, the website will be the first thing visitors see. So, it has to leave a good impression. 

Add the dental office to other local listings

Having your dental office on core local listings and Google My Business is a great way to get attention. That includes both health and general listings. Besides, search engines often turn to local listings when they require reliable local businesses, so this can be a huge perk.

Encourage patients to leave a review online 

When it comes to going to the dentist, people don’t want to experiment. They need an expert they can trust. What most people don’t realize is the impact these reviews can have. About 88% of clients trust online reviews more than a recommendation from a friend. 

SEO experts believe reviews are an important factor for better local map rankings. Clients can see what other patients are saying and build their expectations based on people’s points of view. The more people leave a positive review, the better the chances of you boosting your rank. With enough positive reviews, you can rank higher on any local digital map. 

Having a dental office show up for relevant keywords is a great way to generate a steady client base. It’s a way of establishing credibility and authority with readers. Although it takes plenty of time and effort, this is time well spent. These readers can become potential clients. With the knowledge and tips covered here, you can make a worthwhile change and generate new organic leads for your medical practice. That’s where digital marketing and SEO really make your business shine.

The post Getting your dental practice on the digital map with SEO appeared first on The Floss By Opencare.

Every dentist wants to build a good reputation, cultivate a reliable stream of referrals, and generate repeat business. All these goals are attainable but they require time and excellent quality of dental service. Dental reviews are a great way to jumpstart this process.

Positive customer reviews available on websites like Yelp, Facebook, and Google, offer dentists a powerful marketing tool. Leveraged wisely, dental reviews can act as virtual referrals, boosting conversion rates, and increasing revenue. This article illustrates the value of patient reviews, shows how reviews specifically help dentists, and offers some best practices on how to get more reviews.

The Benefits of Customer Reviews

Nearly any business can get a boost from positive customer reviews. Here are some of the most well-known benefits.

Even the biggest sites are free to use

There are plenty of review sites out there that are easy and free to use. Anytime someone searches in Google, which is about 3.5 billion times every day to be specific, reviews of businesses and their star ratings are prominent, even if the user selects the map feature. Facebook reviews are a great place to catch the eye of your patient’s family and friends and Yelp has been influencing businesses (in positive and sometimes negative ways) since the early 2000s.

A survey of 1,800 consumers quantified the popularity of the three most popular review sites mentioned above, showing that Google ranked as the most popular review site, with 41 percent of respondents citing it as their favorite. Facebook was the second pick thanks to 26 percent of respondents, while 22 percent of respondents helped Yelp rank third.

On each of these websites, reviews will often be displayed regardless of whether a business has paid for the listing. And once reviews are posted, they’re going to be seen by many. One study found that 88 percent of consumers utilize reviews when determining the quality of businesses in their area. 

To make sure your practice can get the most from all posted dental reviews, make sure to claim them. Look for prompts like “Own this business?” to verify your account. You might wonder if verification is worth it, but a recent study by Wombly noted that businesses that failed to claim their listings had, on average, $72,000 less in revenue annually.

Reviews are part of the basic search results

With the ability to search for businesses right on our smartphones or wearable tech, the age of looking up listings without context is over. Now we get the address, the location with the ability to get directions, as well as a steady stream of star ratings and reviews. And all this is available without needing to visit the business’ website. 

Increasingly, potential patients are making heavy use of customer reviews in their decisions — and this applies to more types of businesses than restaurants and shoe stores. A 2017 study showed 63 percent of people use review sites when considering which practice to select for cosmetic dentistry procedures. 

Strengthen your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If you want users to be more likely to see your business pop up when they’re using a search engine, Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is a term you need to know. 

Over two hundred factors are known to impact SEO and customer reviews are a big factor alone. This is due to Google taking increasing steps in recent years to localize search results, with a 2017 study by Local SEO Guide finding that reviews helped with keyword relevancy and engagement for businesses, two critical SEO factors.

“If you aren’t focusing on a review program and working on testing how to get keywords, cities etc in reviews you are gonna be far behind,” the study noted.

Higher conversion rates

Of course, good SEO only gets customers to a website. Converting those users into potential patients, or conversion, is crucial. For this, you’ll need to get a potential patient to pick up the phone or fill out an email contact form. Having plenty of positive dental reviews can help persuade someone visiting your website to take that next step, with a study by Revoo finding “50 or more reviews per product can mean a 4.6 percent increase in conversion rates.”

Reviews and stars = increased revenue

At the end of the day, perhaps the key thing to know about customer reviews is that they’re known to drive sales. One study in the Harvard Business Review found that each star on a Yelp review “translated to anywhere from a 5 percent to 9 percent effect on revenues.” That swing can be enough to take out an unlucky business.

How Dental Reviews Help Dentists

Reviews matter to any business. That said, they are especially important to dentists.

Patients love reviews

The average patient is extremely likely to consult reviews before making an appointment with a new dentist.

A survey in the Consumer Guide to Dentistry showed that 68 percent of respondents pegged reviews as being “extremely important, while an additional 30 percent noted they were ‘somewhat important’ to the process.”

Another study demonstrated that 85 percent of customers were more likely to choose dentists with higher reviews. For this reason, it’s wise for dentists to treat any patient as a potential reviewer, always making sure to provide expert cleaning, ethical billing, and professional service.

The power to increase trust

A referral is a gold standard for marketing, as people generally trust their friends and family members much more than they trust a billboard or radio ad. But dental reviews might be right up there with referrals these days for what they inspire in those that read them.

A BrightLocal survey noted that 91 percent of respondents aged 18 to 34 trusted reviews as much as personal recommendations. Survey respondents were also likely to read an average of 10 reviews before deciding they could trust a business.

With dentists, the stakes for building trust are even higher, with some unethical practitioners giving the industry a bad name. A list of positive dental reviews online can help top dentists distinguish themselves.

Create strong connections with patients

One of the best things about the internet? It helps make people comfortable to say things they might not say in person. This is especially beneficial for dentists, whose patients might be nervous and quiet during appointments. 

But quiet doesn’t mean they’re having a bad experience. From the comfort of their laptop or smartphone, this same person might open up and leave a glowing review, giving dentists a chance to connect by responding with a friendly thank you. 

Identify opportunities for improvement

Let’s face it, no business is perfect. Even the best dental practice can find little ways to improve the patient’s experience.  The sooner these things are pointed out in dental reviews, the sooner they can be corrected.

Keep an eye on your review sites for negative comments or helpful feedback and examine what has been mentioned. Is it accurate? Could your team work together to make some improvements? Implement the changes and respond to the review as soon as you can. Your response is a great opportunity to thank them for their feedback and let them know you’re either working on a fix or have already implemented a change. 

Tempt patients to give your practice a try

It’s sometimes difficult to get dental patients to try a new practice, as once they find a decent dentist, they can be hesitant to switch. Good reviews show patients that better options might be out there than their current selection. But what if you only have a few reviews? Or none at all? Find out how to grow your review game below.

5 Best Practices to Get More Dental Reviews

For dentists looking for ways to get more positive patient reviews, here are five best practices that can yield results.

1. Find dental-specific review sites

Google, Facebook, and Yelp aren’t the only sites that matter for dentists. Some dentist-specific sites to monitor reviews at include:

• RateMDs
• Healthgrades
• 1-800-Dentist
• Zocdoc
• Dentistry.com
• CareDash

It’s wise to periodically check for more of these sites. Simply Google “dentist reviews” to find locations where reviews are grouped and stay up to date on current sites. 

2. Seek out your best patients for reviews first

When deciding who to solicit for reviews start with your best patients. Maybe it’s the ones who’ve been coming to your business the longest, or patients who always have nice things to say at the end of their appointments. These are the people who will know how to write a good review of your dental practice and will likely be happy to do so. All you have to do is ask.

3. Promote your positive reviews

A multi-paragraph, amazing dentist review from a patient shouldn’t just sit on Google or Yelp, waiting to be discovered (hopefully) by future customers. Once you have a great patient review, there’s nothing wrong with you sharing it with the world.

Ways to bring awareness to positive reviews include:

• Embedding them on your website, which Yelp offers instructions on how to do;
• Hyperlinking to your reviews pages in your email signature;
• Including excerpts from reviews in newsletters;
• Get a “People Love Us on Yelp” window sticker for your office, provided you qualify.

Then there’s always the good old-fashioned method of mentioning positive reviews to patients verbally or in a brochure. 

4. Know how to respond to reviews (both negative and positive)

Take a deep breath and remember an occasional negative review isn’t a bad thing. Far from it. Many consumers still approach online reviews skeptically, assuming that businesses pay to suppress any negative review. An occasional two or even one-star review is a good thing. Negative reviews legitimize the other positive reviews. They also give businesses a chance to shine in their response.

When responding to negative reviews, there’s a simple three-step process you can follow:

1. Own the problem
2. Assure the customer their problem is being fixed
3. Assure the customer the issue won’t be a problem going forward

Positive reviews might not seem as imperative for dentists to respond to, but these matter too. Whether reviews are positive or negative, 89 percent of consumers are reading the responses from businesses. 

Patients want to know that if there’s a problem, it’ll be dealt with promptly and that if they leave a positive review, businesses will respond graciously.

5. Consistently provide great dental care

This is perhaps most important at the end of the day. Provide great dental care consistently for long enough and the word will spread about your practice. The main purpose of review websites is to amplify good work, so once you have that foundation reviews have a great subject to start with. 

The reviews are in: Opencare helps dentists get found by more patients. Claim your listing today to get started!

The post Positive dental reviews drive revenue: Here’s how to put them to work appeared first on The Floss By Opencare.

As technology continues to advance, and the World Wide Web is ever-increasing in prominence, a robust online presence is essential for every dentist who wants to attract a wider clientele and grow their dental practice. Facebook ads for dentists are an increasingly efficient marketing tool for practices.

With over 2.7 billion active users, Facebook is a social media giant, hosting a large portion of your potential patients. Here’s why you should give Facebook Ads a try, and the best way to craft your Facebook strategy.

Why Facebook?

Facebook’s enormous user base, which spends an average of 58 minutes on Facebook daily, is already an attractive prospect for your dental marketing strategy. With its focus on connections, Facebook can become the digital equivalent to word-of-mouth advertising with a wider reach. 

Even more appealing is Facebook’s detailed targeting system. Facebook tracks its user base, gathering considerable information about each person on its platform. This means you can directly target your ads to the people most likely to find them relevant, leading to higher interest in your practice. 

Facebook ads for dentists are also affordable, with Facebook allowing you to set your budget. You’re also charged only when someone clicks your ad (an average of $0.97). Here are some dental tips for Facebook on how to create a successful ad campaign.

1. Use Facebook’s Targeting Features

Let’s start with the obvious! As Facebook’s targeting is one of its most attractive features, you’ll be wasting your efforts if you don’t make full use of it. Facebook allows you to target based on location (where users are), demographics (e.g. age, gender, education, and job), interests (e.g. hobbies, favourite films), behaviour (e.g. previous purchases), and connections (e.g. if they’re linked to your page). This means you have to fully understand your desired demographics and target accordingly.

For example, if you specialize in dentures and want to put out denture ads, you might consider targeting older users, near to your office. Meanwhile, teeth whitening Facebook ads for dentists can be shown to those who have indicated beauty and self-improvement as interests, with cosmetic dentistry ads generally shown to more affluent users.

2. Personalize Your Advertisements

Don’t put out a generic ad that can be used for any dentist’s office! Think about your target demographics and what your practice has that can uniquely appeal to them. If your dental business is known to be family-friendly, use language and colourful images that reflect that, so customers with kids know they’re welcome with you.

Understanding your brand will generate more specific interest in your product. You can also add personal touches, such as real pictures of you or your staff, making you feel more reachable and real. Personalized Facebook ads for dentists help put your practice on the map.

3. Make Your Ads Informative

In a small amount of space, you need to relay a large amount of information to capture your audience’s interest. Make sure every ad includes your business information, features at least one image or video (according to ad type, described below) to capture the audience’s attention, and clearly outlines a call to action – namely, what you want the viewer to do.

4. Choose Your Ad Types carefully

Facebook allows you to choose between various ad types. Images and Videos are the simplest, featuring one image or one video, respectively. Carousels can contain up to ten images or videos in a single advertisement, showcasing different aspects of your practice. There are also Stories, which cause your ads to appear as full-screen and vertical, and Slideshows, which flip between different pages.

What ad type you choose might be determined by your target audience’s behaviour – i.e. what kind of ads they are most likely to interact with. They should also be influenced by what you feel will show off your dental business’s benefits the best. For example, if you have many high-quality pictures to share, featuring different services you offer, consider a Carousel or Slideshow rather than fit them into one Image.

5. Work on your website

While having a Facebook page is important for your business, especially when using Facebook ads, you’ll also want a personal website to send potential customers to.

Your website can feature much more information, organized just how you like it. Design your website carefully and determine which pages you want ad-clickers to end up on when they show interest in your practice. The content they see there can be why they choose you and your services or decide to pass.

The post The “whys” and “hows” of Facebook ads for dentists appeared first on The Floss By Opencare.

In the competitive  field of dentistry, it’s important to stay ahead of the game. That’s why we put together this list of 101 dental office marketing ideas you should know to help grow your practice.  —Remember: The more marketing you do , the more your practice will thrive.

Let’s get started!

69 Dental Office Marketing Ideas for Dentists Who Need to Attract New Patients.

You could have the world’s best dentists and the most cutting-edge technology, but it won’t benefit your practice if nobody knows it. Follow these tips to get patients in the chair. 

How to Create a Top Dentistry Website.

Having a website today isn’t optional—it’s a requirement to stay in the game. By using these tips to optimize your website to get traffic and drive conversions, you’ll bring new patients into your practice.

1. Make your website mobile-friendly

A mobile-friendly website will adjust to become visually appealing and easy to navigate on a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet.The vast majority of people today own smartphones. Out of those who see your website on their mobile device, around 44 percent will book an appointment. Don’t scare them off with poor design!

2. Lengthen your landing page

With the shortness of today’s attention spans, many websites are designed to keep the landing page short and sweet. . However, there are still advantages to  having longer and more detailed web pages. Longer landing pages tend to perform better for SEO, they position you as an expert authority, and they give you more of an opportunity to show your value.

3. Have a clear call-to-action

Your website needs to tell visitors what to do next, such as book an appointment. Make your call-to-action (CTA) logical and visible.

4. Focus on titles and tags

Your page titles and title tags play a significant factor in SEO rankings and also help readers understand your content. Have your target keywords in your page titles to optimize your website.

5. Use real photographs

The photos you use on your website are important . While it may take more effort, it’s better to use actual photographs of your clinic and staff members instead of stock photos.

6. Have a professional domain

Yes, it’s  tempting to host your website on a free domain such as WordPress or Blogger. However, you’ll come off as more professional if you pay for your own hosting and domain. This will improve SEO as well.

7. Use HTML and CSS

Having your own domain makes website design trickier, so you’ll likely need to hire a designer. They should use HTML to create the written page content and CSS to customize the layout, colors, and any visual effects. The more custom your website, the more it stands out! 

8. Use robots.txt

Robots.txt is a text file that instructs search engine robots on what to read and index for their search engines. You control what pages you want them to focus on, meaning you can also hide pages that are still in development.

9. Create a sitemap

A sitemap is a list of all the pages that make up a website. When you create a sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console, it’s easier for search engine bots to find your site’s pages.

10. Get backlinks

When reputable websites link to your site, it tells Google your website is of high quality. Google wants people to view quality websites, so this improves your search ranking. There are a variety of ways to get backlinks,  like promoting your content on social media.

11. Link out to authority sites

It’s not just about getting backlinks—you should link out when appropriate as well. Google checks the anchor text of your links to better understand what your content is about. Using links also shows potential patients  that your information comes from reputable sources.

12. Update your website

Make sure your address, contact information, and business hours are current so potential patients can always get a hold of you. Photographs should show how your practice looks like currently. Updating your website lets visitors know your business is still running and gives them the best idea of what to expect if they become a patient.

13. Create a new logo

Trends come and go (and so do logos)! Depending on how old your practice is, your logo may need a fresh update. 

14. Include patient testimonials

Testimonials are a great form of social proof that highlight the excellent service prior patients received. You can incentivize customers to leave reviews as well as pull from reviews on other platforms such as Yelp. (Pro tip: testimonials including a photograph or video will perform better.)

15. Allow for online appointment booking 

Many people rather skip the phone and book their appointment online. Make sure your website allows for this. 

16. Install  a live chat

People who dislike talking on the phone or don’t have time to wait for an email response appreciate a live chat feature on websites. Most live chats are simple to install (just some copy and pasting code). This is a crucial dental office marketing tip.

Tips for Enriching Your Dentistry Blog.

Blogs build trust in your brand, improve SEO, and engage your patients. However, not all blogs are created equal—and you should only create a dentistry blog if you plan to post high-quality content. Here’s some tips below. 

17. Post educational and engaging content

Don’t write your blog posts like advertisements. Instead, they should show your dental expertise and have informative content readers will want to share with their community. Professional writers can be very useful in creating blog content that drives traffic to your site.

18. Post regularly

It doesn’t work to just put up a few blog posts at the beginning and then never post again. Posting fresh content on a regular schedule looks professional, helps SEO, and regularly brings new visitors to your website. This can have a major impact on the effectiveness of your dental office marketing.

19. Have both evergreen and timely content

Evergreen content is always relevant and useful, no matter when it’s read. Timely content involves current events and topics that are popular at the moment, but become less relevant over time. Both types of content are great to share. 

20. Link to your content and other sites

When one of your blog posts mentions a topic you’ve written a more in-depth article about, link to that article. The links help readers learn more about topics they are interested in and keeps them on your website longer. Also link to relevant information on other websites.

21. Add social media buttons

Make it easy for people to share your blog posts by having social media buttons they can click to share. 

22. Add an RSS feed

RSS, which stands for “really simple syndication,” allows people to gather all the content from various blogs that they’re interested in, put it in one feed, and get updates on new content. By adding an RSS feed, you’re allowing people with an RSS reader to add your content and increasing how many overall readers you’ll have.

23. Enable reader comments

Some readers will have questions about your content or want to share personal experiences. Turning on the comment functionality gives them that opportunity. These comments can give you insights on what your patients (and potential patients) have experienced and what they would like future content to focus on. Consider an anti-spam filter to weed out spam comments from bots or inappropriate responses.

24. Reply to comments

Make sure you answer any questions in your comments.  Your answers will show readers you’re paying attention and care what they say. This can make a big difference in your dental office marketing.

25. Ask for topic suggestions

Reading comments can help you come up with topic ideas, but you can also directly ask readers what they want to learn about. This takes the pressure off of you to always have fresh ideas and ensures you’re giving readers the information they care about.

26. Try guest posting

Aside from hosting your own blog, there are benefits to contributing content to other websites. You can link back to your website to increase traffic and get attention from potential patients. Guest posting also opens up opportunities to do partnerships and cross-promotions.

27. Embrace video content

Your blog section doesn’t just have to be text and images. Videos can attract attention as well. Upload short videos about oral health and dentistry that people will want to share with others (remember to have social media buttons for easy sharing).

28. Ways to Advertise Your Dentistry Services

Your website, blog, and social media are incredible ways to gain patients over time; but sometimes you just need to fill that dental chair more quickly. Advertisements are a wonderful way to get quick boosts in traffic.

29. PPC Advertisements

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising lets you target potential patients who’ve been searching for a dentist in the area. You pay each time someone clicks your ad.

30. Geo-targeting

Geo-targeting, also called local PPC, allows you to advertise to people where your various dental practices are located. It determines a person’s location and returns the page that’s most relevant to their location so they’ll see the practice that is closest to them.

31. Retargeting

Create advertisements specifically for people who have visited your website but didn’t book an appointment. This is a really simple yet effective dental office marketing tip.

32. Direct mail

It’s true. People still love getting mail! Over 70 percent of Americans prefer being contacted by brands through direct mail.

33. Use QR codes

On fliers, postcards, and any other physical advertisements; consider adding a QR code with a UTM link. A simple scan of the barcode and like magic, they are on your website.

34. Facebook advertisements

Facebook advertisements are beneficial because of how much you can target specific groups of people and how their algorithm learns more the longer your advertisement runs.

35. Guerilla marketing

This strategy focuses on unconventional marketing tactics that draw a lot of attention. You could try an unexpected event or eye-catching installation.

36. Visit the Chamber of Commerce

Attending Chamber of Commerce meetings helps you to network with other local businesses.

37. MeetUp events

Make an effort to attend fun and informal events found on Meetup.com so that you can network with potential patients and future business partners.

38. Join BNI

Business Network International (BNI) is a networking organization that helps members connect and discuss best business practices while also sharing referrals. (WIN/WIN!)

39. Create your own meetup

If the organized groups in your area don’t appeal to you, create your own networking events. You can promote these events on your social media channels or on Meetup.com.

40. Pass out business cards

No matter the networking events, make sure to bring business cards so others can easily contact you.

41. Visit schools

Running events in schools that teach children dental health practices can get you noticed by parents and school staff.

42. Sponsor a podcast

Podcasts are growing in popularity, so sponsoring a podcast could attract new customers. Alternatively, start your own podcast!

43. Sponsor a charity or team

When you sponsor something, you show your commitment to your community as well as get people thinking about your practice when they see your branded gear.

44. Create press releases

Reach out to local newspapers with press releases about upcoming events or charities you’re sponsoring.

45. Submit opinion pieces

Send opinion pieces to local newspapers or magazines about dental topics to showcase your knowledge.

46. Give guest lectures

Giving guest lectures or speeches at a university or local library is a great way to show your expertise.

47. Get doctor referrals

Very often people go to the dentist after a doctor recommends it. Network with doctors who can refer you to their patients who need dental work done.

48. Get patient referrals

People highly trust recommendations from their friends and family. Encourage your current patients to suggest you to others.  Incentivize them with a reward if they refer a new patient.

49. Start an email list

Email lists are an amazing way to share valuable content and promote your business.

50. Perform live demos

Live demonstrations can create a lot of buzz and interest in your practice. Make sure to heavily promote demonstrations on your website, through social media, and in press releases.

How to Promote a Dentistry Practice on Social Media.

Currently, 3.48 billion people use social media. That’s roughly 45 percent of the total global population.

If your practice isn’t using social media, you’ll miss out on endless opportunities to reach these people. Social media is an incredible way to promote yourself and to stay in contact with patients. Dental office marketing is very effective on social networks.

51. Link to your website

While you don’t constantly want to be self-promoting on your social media, occasionally linking to content on your website can boost your website’s overall traffic. Once on your optimized site, you can urge people to book appointments.

52. Ask questions

The questions you pose on social media can help you gain insight into patients’ needs. They can also make people feel involved and create a sense of community.

53. Answer questions

People like to ask businesses questions on social media because it’s quick and easy. It also allows other people who may have the same question to see the answer. Respond to questions asap and as professionally as possible.

54. Reply to reviews

Claim your profiles on popular review sites and make sure your profile is accurate and complete. Thank patients who left positive reviews and reach out to those who provided any negative feedback. This is a crucial dental office marketing tip.

55. Promote discounts and deals

By mentioning current deals and discounts, you can entice new patients to book an appointment. They may also share your post with others who could benefit from the discount.

56. Host a giveaway

People like discounts, but they love the chance to get something for FREE!. If you have people submit an email address to enter a giveaway, you can use that to market to them later. Make your prize relevant to your field, such as a free teeth whitening or dental products.

57. Comment on others’ posts

Don’t have your social media plan focus only on what you post. Interact with other people’s posts with likes and comments. When people see an interesting comment, it can draw them to your profile.

58. Link to blog posts

Linking to blog posts on your website increases your website’s traffic. You can pull an interesting quote or statistic from the article to give a hint at what the rest of the article holds.

59. Make announcements

Is your location changing? Are you going to have different business hours for the holidays? Regular patients may not frequently check your website, but they are often on social media. Use your media channels to make any important announcements that may affect them. 

60. Introduce new services or staff

Get the word out about your new services or staff members with a social post. This can encourage people to learn more about your services and potentially use them. 

61. Provide advice

Not every social media post has to be long and elaborate. Patients appreciate short tips and tricks for good dental health as well.

62. Position yourself as an authority

Social media allows you to show your expertise. For example, answering people’s dentistry questions on Quora can show how knowledgeable you are about dental health.

63. Discuss current events in dentistry

Link to articles about new dental research, upcoming technologies, and interesting interviews. Sharing current events shows you know the latest happenings in your field and these types of posts are often passed on to others.

64. Use images and videos

Visuals are reshared more on social media than text posts alone. Research by Buffer shows that when they included images in tweets; they received more clicks, favorites, and retweets.

65. Use social bookmarking sites

Social bookmarking websites such as Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon can increase your website traffic. However, when using these sites it’s essential to provide as much value as possible and not come off as too self-promotional.

66. Facebook Messenger

When people perform a designated action on Facebook, such as downloading something from your website or commenting on one of your posts, they become a subscriber to your Messenger list. Once they’ve subscribed, you can automatically message them appointment reminders, specials offers, or any other type of message. Messenger has an over 80 percent open rate.

67. Create tutorials

One important dental office marketing tip is to create video tutorials showing your services and products. This can be posted to YouTube and shared over other social media.

68. Evaluate analytics

Check the analytics of your social media posts to see which type of content is working best for your brand. Do more of what is working and less of what isn’t.

69. Encourage sharing

When promoting a discount or giveaway, encourage users to share with others. Optionally, it can be an entry requirement for a contest. When it isn’t a contest, you can still encourage people to share a post others would have useful. For example, if you linked to a recent blog post about dentures, you can encourage people to share it with someone considering getting a pair of dentures.

29 Dental Office Marketing Ideas to Help Dentists Keep Their Patients Happy.

Even more crucial than finding new dental patients is keeping your current patients happy. If they like your practice, they’ll keep returning as well as refer you to others.

How to Design a Dental Waiting Room Patients Enjoy.

Your waiting room impacts the first impression patients develop when they enter your practice. Here’s how to make sure they’re relaxed and not anxious.

70. Make it easy to find

Have signs at the building’s entrance that make it easy to locate your waiting room.

71. Add cozy elements

Having plants and other “cozy” items will make patients feel more at home and relaxed.

72. Have comfortable seating

When patients arrive tired and have to wait for their appointment, you want them to be able to sit somewhere soft and uncrowded. Comfortable, moveable chairs will relax them and give them a sense of control if they want to change where they are sitting.

73. Use calm colors

Don’t have a plain white sterile feeling room.   Instead, use warm and inviting colors like green (which promotes serenity) and yellow (which promotes positivity). 

74. Play music

A study conducted at the University of Montreal discovered that dental patients who listen to music before their treatment have fewer stress hormones than people who try to relax their nerves with medication.

75. Have a self check-in

A new trend is to have tablets that allow patients to check-in without assistance so they don’t have to wait in line..

76. Market in your waiting room

Among other reading materials, include brochures showing services you provide.

77. Provide digital entertainment

Televisions, tablets with headphones, and other entertainment reduce patients’ stress as they wait for their appointment.

78. Update posters

Much like your website, it’s important to keep your waiting room updated. Frequently remove any time-sensitive posters about past events or expired promotions.

79. Accessible bathrooms

Signs in the waiting room should make it clear where patients can find a bathroom.

80. Have enough space for movement

People should be able to walk around the room with ease and reach any items they need without obstacles in their path.

81. Be minimalist

You don’t need to over-design your waiting room. Simple designs work well too.

Ways to Make Wait Times More Enjoyable.

Even if your waiting room has a world-class design, patients don’t want to feel as if they’ve been sitting in it for an eternity. Do your best to reduce wait times or at least make it feel as if patients haven’t been waiting long.

82. Shorten wait times

According to the healthcare market research company Vitals; people in Alaska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin typically have the shortest wait times. It takes an average of 16 minutes to be seen. In comparison; people in Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi have the longest wait times. They spend nearly half an hour waiting. The shorter the wait time, the happier patient!

83. Have outlets and chargers

Make it easy for people to charge their phones and other devices.

84. Add a retail area

Allow patients to browse and buy dental care items. Shopping can make time feel as if it’s passing faster.

85. Estimate wait times

Data from the firm Sequence shows that 55 percent of patients wish they could see estimated wait times while in the waiting room.

86. Have digital signage

Digital signage has been shown to decrease perceived patient wait time by about 33 percent. Additionally, it helps you educate your patients and spread valuable information.

87. Have a waiting room liaison

A waiting room liaison greets patients, asks if they have any questions, and preferably is familiar with their profiles and situations.

88. Provide free WiFi

WiFi is one of the best ways to keep patients distracted and not thinking about how long they have been waiting. Sometimes they are taking off work for an appointment and would like to catch up on emails while they wait.

Dental Office Marketing Tips for Providing Great Customer Service.

Providing a great onboarding process and well-trained staff will make a major impact on how positive patients feel about your dental practice.

89. Be familiar with the website

People who call your office will often refer to something from your website. Make sure staff are knowledgeable about website content.

90. Provide forms on your website

Having forms online allows patients to fill them out whenever it is most convenient for them.

91. Have physical forms ready

There will always be people who want to fill out the forms in person (or didn’t realize they needed to fill them out), so always have physical copies ready.

92. Know commonly asked questions

It’s likely a lot of patients will have the same questions. Be prepared with the answers so the onboarding process goes as smoothly as possible.

93. Keep a positive attitude

Always greet patients with a smile and a good mood. 

94. Don’t shame patients

While it’s necessary to teach patients how to keep their mouths healthy, shaming them about poor dental hygiene will make them feel embarrassed and not want to return.

95. Update your equipment

Having new equipment shows patients you’re a successful practice. 

96. Keep in touch

Send your patients mail to wish them a happy birthday or happy holidays. You can also remind them of upcoming appointments or new deals. 

97. Ask for advice

Follow up with patients with a short survey about their experience to learn how to improve your practice. An incentive, such as a chance to win a prize, will garner more completed surveys.

98. Extend business hours

It can be stressful for patients to take time off of work to go to the dentist. Extend business hours by even an hour earlier or later to give patients the ability to go before or after work.

3 tips for providing the best patient experience during COVID-19.

 Life has definitely entered a period of adjusting to “the new normal.” People have been staying at home and social distancing from their family and friends. Patients are nervous, and understandably so. But, there are things you can do to ease their mind.

99. Use visible sanitization 

The best thing you can do to ease your patients’ minds is to make sure that sanitation measures are strictly followed. Masks, hand sanitizer, and visible sanitization measures should be done at a minimum in front of your patients to show that they’re safe. Provide sanitizer throughout the office. Even though dentists have already been extremely vigilant about sanitation, it’s important to talk about it and let your patients know the steps you’re taking to keep them safe. 

100. Minimize interactions with people 

Social distancing is one of the main ways we can all do our part to stop the spread of the virus. Your patients want to avoid unnecessary contact with people. One of the ways you can do that is by allowing for contactless check-in, plexiglass between your reception and your patients, and making sure that your waiting room is always empty.  Now is a great time to use technology to your advantage. Apps like Opencare, to communicate with your patients and iPads to check-in. 

101. Display safety standards and proof of infection control

 When we asked our Opencare patients how they felt about their dentist having proof of infection control and following proper sanitation guidelines, 29% said they felt confident and trusted their dentist to follow proper protocol. Another 40% said they felt confident, while 18% said they felt worried, and 12% said they felt anxious and would want to see certification or proof. Much like our first suggestion, make safety visible to ease your patient’s mind. Display signs outlining symptoms of COVID-19, reminders to sanitize and wash hands and even email your patient ahead of their appointments or message them on Opencare with a “What we’re doing to keep you safe message.

For more information on how to ease your patients’ minds during the pandemic, get your free guide to reopening during COVID-19 here.

So, which of these 101 dental office marketing ideas will you apply today?  Remember to focus on the dental office marketing tips that make the most sense for your practice. 

The post 101 Dental office marketing ideas to steal today appeared first on The Floss By Opencare.

Most dentists already know the value of social media and SEO marketing. When starting a dental marketing plan, most practitioners will set up their Facebook accounts, fill in their Google My Business pages, and opt for PPC ads. However, not enough dentists know the value of marketing with Instagram.

That’s right– Instagram isn’t just a spot for the most niche businesses or e-commerce platforms. Instagram could be an extremely beneficial social media marketing platform for dentists. Let’s take a look at why a dentist Instagram account is a great tool.

How to Market a Dental Practice: Understanding Dental Marketing Online

Figuring out how to market a dental office is one element of the industry that can be a struggle for many dentists. Dental marketing involves forming a connection with potential patients, which is not so different from most general medical marketing you’ll see online. Through providing insightful and helpful free information via blog posts or native ads, dentists can build a trusting relationship with potential patients and turn leads into conversions.

Much of this can be done through social media. For Instagram in particular, two different things come into play to help dentists get more attention and traffic. Dentists have an opportunity to build a trusting relationship with patients through those insightful and helpful resources. Along with that, Instagram is a visual platform that would make an excellent place to post before and after photos to demonstrate the physical value of the dentistry itself. Marketing on Instagram is quite perfect for dentists and dental offices.

How Can Instagram Help Dentists Market Their Practices?

To start, dentists need to understand their platform. Dentistry may seem like a topic that isn’t “fun” or “exciting” enough for a visual platform like Instagram, but that simply isn’t true. There’s a community for everything on the platform. It’s the responsibility of the dentist (or social media marketing specialist) to find the communities that are interested in dentistry or getting work done and to engage with them via valuable, interesting content.

A few Instagram best practices include:

• Keep things personal. Instagram is a very personalized and casual platform. In order to really connect with potential customers, you can’t approach it with boring, unrelatable content. Just because your account represents a business doesn’t mean the content you create can’t be fun. Share dentistry-related memes, fun selfies, and other humorous content to get attention.
• Keep it visual. A lot of dental work is cosmetic, and you can find some serious marketing success my posting before and after photos of finished work. You’ll have an endless stream of content in this sense. And potential clients want to see proof of the work that you’ve done for other people. Consumers don’t trust businesses as much as they used to back in the day, and that includes healthcare or cosmetic healthcare professionals. It’s up to you to prove your worth.
• Community first, promotion second. A majority of your Instagram marketing should be focused on celebrating results, community building, and fun inspirational content. For every ten posts your make on your account, only two of those posts should be dedicated to promoting your practice. This ensures that your Instagram is organic and likable, rather than just an ad-spamming platform that viewers will get tired of.
• Know your audience. Ask yourself: What do my patients like the most about me and my dentistry practice? What kinds of oral problems do they usually tend to have? What specific goals do they have when working with me? Consider these answers each time you post new content on your dentist Instagram account.
• Always use a business account. The main difference between a business and a personal account on Instagram is that you’ll be able to set up advertising with a business account. You’ll also be able to display business hours, your practice’s address, and your phone number on your profile. Plus, you can take advantage of insights and activity on your posts with a business account.
• Advertise, but make sure you’re taking a content-first approach. Instagram ads can be really helpful, but make sure that you focus more on curating or creating valuable content, rather than generic advertisements.

If you want more Instagram dentist marketing ideas, considering looking at what your competition is doing with a simple search through the app.

Dental Instagram Accounts Examples

There are quite a few dentists out there that are taking advantage of Instagram. A few dentist Instagram accounts include:

• @smileandcompany
• @Drtoscanodds 
• @joycethedentist
• @Grandstreetdental
• @Dentalimpressions
• @drmuntheralherani
• @the.dentistmom
• @avantgardedentistry
• @dryazdan

Take a look at how these dentist Instagram accounts are pulling in new patients with their content to get inspired! But remember, your unique voice and niche abilities in your practice are what will attract possible future clients.

Looking to grow your dental practice through social media? Opencare is a dental-focused platform that is dedicated to helping dentists grow and manage their practices. From patient growth the claims management to insurance verification, Opencare has the right services to boost your management and marketing practices.

The post How to grow your dental office with Instagram appeared first on The Floss By Opencare.