Whether you own or manage a dental practice, you know that you need a steady stream of new dental patients every year to grow your business.
It is not just about adding a few patients. The average attrition rate for a dental practice is about 17% per year. If you have a healthy, single-dentist practice with 1,500 to 2,000 patients, you would need to replace 255 to 340 patients every year — or about 20-30 new patients every month — to maintain your current client base.
Patients also move, stop going to the dentist and decide to switch providers. Over the past two years, the pandemic discouraged many patients from making appointments and some never came back. So your patient loss may be more significant.
This means you must take advantage of all opportunities to capture new l patients. Fortunately, dental practice software from TrueLark can help you retain your current patients and acquire new ones. TrueLark works with your existing practice management software including: Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, and Denticon.
The Key to Attracting New Dental Patients
In today’s crowded marketplace, you need to differentiate yourself from your competition to acquire and retain new clients. According to the American Dental Association, “attracting and retaining patients is about creating value for them as a medical professional and business owner, and a friend.”
To create value, you need to provide a professional, affordable, and safe environment and build a relationship with each patient. Once you establish your quality of service, your relationship with them often helps you retain them.
However, you are limited in your ability to build relationships when attracting new patients. You can accomplish some of that by personalizing website content and communications and ensuring your marketing reflects what patients want. Dental patient communication software can help you differentiate your practice, so you stand out in the marketplace.
An Efficient, Seamless Way to Communicate with New Patients
You can engage patients and prospects instantly by creating an easy way for them to interact with you. Whether it is during peak times when your front desk staff may not be able to pick up the phone quickly, overnight after the office has closed, or on weekends when you are relaxing at home, the right dental patient management software can still be working for you.
Many dentists already have some kind of “appt request form” or “online booking” that requires staff to follow up on the request and get them scheduled. This is inefficient and results in a loss of leads.
With TrueLark, a patient receives an immediate response when they connect with you via your website, text, or phone. Their information is captured automatically, and an AI agent acts as your virtual assistant to book appointments, reschedule appointments, and answer common questions.
Patients can find an opening on your schedule at their convenience and book an appointment without interacting with your front office staff. They can also reschedule appointments instantly, which helps you reduce the number of no-shows and cancellations you must deal with. If they call the office, and the line is busy, or the call goes to voice mail, TrueLark automatically engages with them by SMS text and offers to book an appointment or help with any questions.
Stand Out from Your Competitors
Patients overwhelmingly say they prefer to book appointments online at their leisure, but only 26% of dental practices today give them that option. With TrueLark, you can stand out from your competitors.
When you make self-service appointment booking available, your bookings will increase and you will increase the number of new patients you bring into the practice.
More than 75% of patients say they want the option to schedule, cancel, and rebook appointments online. So, by offering this service, you are providing the customer with the experience they prefer. It can also help attract new patients to your practice rather than another dentist. Four out of 10 patients said they would consider switching to a new provider if online appointment scheduling were available.
The TrueLark dental practice software solution works for a stand-alone dental practice or a multi-practice organization. Patients can book one or multiple appointments quickly via phone, website or text, so you can fill your calendar and maximize revenue. TrueLark also integrates with your practice management software or booking platform in real-time to help you better manage your patient flow.
By modernizing appointment scheduling and patient support, you make it easy for patients to engage with your practice, which increases the odds that they will choose you as their dental health provider.
Dental patient management software is the key to growing your practice. Book a demo to learn how TrueLark can help you retain current patients and attract new ones.
