Reprinted from Group Dentistry Now, November 4, 2024.
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. For many dental practices and DSOs, lack of measurement is a barrier to improving patient communications and support.
Dental offices on TrueLark have automated 8+ million conversations and have successfully booked millions of appointments. Our 24/7 AI scheduling and communications platform has generated a wealth of data that provides many critical insights on how to improve operations at dental offices.
TrueLark is the only AI platform that automatically tracks and reports on metrics like missed call volumes, call handle rates and booking request conversion rates in real time. These KPIs enable our clients to continuously assess and refine their operations. A cycle of measurement and improvement helps dental offices increase efficiency, meet patient expectations, and drive sustained growth.
1. The Average Dental Practice Misses 300 Calls a Month
Missed calls have a profound impact on revenue. Nearly 80% of missed calls are related to booking requests, and 65% come from potential new patients. Patients want the flexibility to schedule appointments at their convenience. When prospective patients can’t easily book an appointment with your practice, they’ll likely seek a provider that offers 24/7 customer support and scheduling.
Unanswered calls from existing patients also mean delayed revenue, pushing what could have been this month’s appointments into the next. From a cash flow and profitability standpoint, delayed revenue is nearly as costly as lost revenue. Keep in mind, each patient could represent $1,000 in revenue over the year.
2. Practices Miss 1 Out of 3 Calls During Business Hours
Front desk teams are typically inundated with a wide range of tasks—managing check-ins, responding to patient inquiries, handling paperwork, and coordinating appointments. With so much on their plate, it’s easy for them to miss incoming calls, and many practices don’t realize how frequently this happens.
In fact, our data shows that 33% of calls go unanswered DURING business hours. Every missed call represents a missed opportunity, whether it’s a potential patient, an appointment booking, or an existing patient needing assistance.
3. 47% of Bookings Occur After Hours
Half of patient bookings occur outside of business hours. An IVR that says, “Thanks for contacting us; we will get back to you,” is inadequate if you want to capture after hours appointments. Patients don’t want to wait for a call back or navigate cumbersome or confusing self-service options. Today’s systems are limited to answering services, which require staff follow-up, or online booking systems that have no ability to guide patients to the right appointment.
4. Omnichannel Scheduling Books 3x More Appointments
Our data reveals that new patient acquisition occurs across various communication channels, emphasizing the importance of an omnichannel approach. Patients tend to reach out on the channel of their choice. Practices that limit contact options are missing out on significant revenue opportunities and are delivering an inferior patient experience. These statistics underscore the critical need for dental practices to offer seamless, multi-channel communication.
- Online Booking: 70% of patients using this channel are new to the practice
- Missed Calls: 58% of interactions involving missed calls are from new patients
- Web Chat: 86% of website conversations are initiated by new patients
Practices that enable booking via text after missed calls/voicemails, online booking and web chat booking see a significant increase in appointments. Offices that only enable online booking might book around 10 appointments per month through that channel. Those that enable all channels could see this number triple to approximately 30 appointments.
5. AI Automatically Handles 80% of Customer Requests
A well-crafted AI solution can automate the overwhelming majority of patient interactions. Our automation tracking reveals that AI can successfully resolve up to 80% of patient calls without requiring staff follow-up. This means the AI understands the patient’s request and helps them fully complete what they called in for—whether it’s scheduling, rescheduling, or getting a question answered—all autonomously.
The level of automation an AI system can achieve often depends on the specific settings chosen by the dental practice. For example, in a situation where the AI is not configured to cancel or reschedule appointments, the automation rate can drop by 20%-25%. Similarly, if the AI is not configured to book common appointments like emergencies and consults, handle rates can fall by an additional 10%-15%. These types of restrictions can significantly increase the workload for front desk staff, requiring them to manage more tasks manually and potentially leading to longer wait times for patients.
6. 64% of Leads Book Within 10 Minutes or Not at All
A key insight from analyzing millions of patient interactions is the importance of responding to leads immediately. AI marketing automation can send an instant text message to new leads, allowing them to book appointments directly within the text conversation.
Our data shows that 17% book within the first minute, 55% within 5 minutes, and 64% within the first 10 minutes. However, very few leads book after 10 minutes, meaning delayed follow-ups drastically reduce conversion rates. Practices often spend thousands of dollars a month on marketing campaigns through ads and promos without adequately implementing last mile lead conversion.
AI Automation Can Improve Outcomes at Your Practice
Implementing AI offers key benefits for your dental practice or DSO:
- Reliability of 24/7 Customer Service in a Challenging Labor Market. In an industry facing persistent labor shortages, AI provides a cost-effective solution. A platform purpose-built for dental communication automates the full range of patient support tasks. What’s more, it does this at a fraction of the cost of traditional staffing. The monthly cost is often less than the weekly wage of a front desk employee, allowing practices to reallocate labor resources to higher value activities.
- AI Brings Accuracy and Simplicity to Scheduling. A sophisticated AI platform enables seamless, accurate booking for complex, multi-service, and multi-person appointments. It guides patients through tailored questions to match them with the right appointment type. This streamlined process reduces errors, optimizes scheduling, and maximizes resources. In addition, an AI platform can adapt to varied DSO needs, supporting provider-based, operatory-based, and block scheduling. This ensures that every patient is matched precisely with the right provider and treatment room, ultimately boosting EBITDA and efficiency.
TrueLark Is the Only AI Patient Communications Platform You’ll Ever Need
TrueLark is an end-to-end AI platform designed specifically for multi-location dental practices. Unlike point solutions, TrueLark handles every aspect of patient interaction—seamlessly automating tasks like scheduling and inquiries while providing personalized, 24/7 support. Designed for scalability and smooth integration, TrueLark helps dental businesses operate more efficiently and unlock hidden revenue.
To see TrueLark in action, book a demo today.
