Tips To Help Your Practice Get More Phone Calls

Phone calls are the lifeline connecting your dental practice to patients. Use these simple and effective tips to help generate more calls to your office and ideally, put more patients in your exam chairs.

Make Sure Your Phone Number Can Be Easily Located on Your Marketing Materials

One of the most important things your dental marketing materials can have is an easy-to-see phone number. According to Invoca in their State of the Mobile Experience report, 68% of people will only spend two minutes looking for the phone number of a business, and 34% spend less than one minute. This means your practice has very little time to get your information seen. Make sure your number is large enough to be seen at arm's length, and consider putting it at the top or top right of your marketing material.

Use Google Call-Only Ads

Google's call-only ads are designed specifically to appear on mobile devices that have click-to-call capabilities. This means that instead of driving traffic to your dental practice's website, you're driving calls to your office. Call-only ads look and function like PPC ads, but instead of taking users to your website when clicked, the ad prompts the user's phone to automatically call your practice.

Use Google Local Services

Google Local Services allows you to display advertisements to your local market online, specifically to users who are already interested in dental services. You'll be able to control your ad's budget based on how many new patients you'd like to see in your office each week, and you can toggle your ads on and off with ease. While Google Local Services doesn't replace other quality advertising revenues, it can be an excellent addition to your overall dental marketing strategy.

Split-Test Your Ads

Split testing your advertisements can help you determine which is more effective for your target patient base. What drives patients to pick up the phone can be simple things, like the location of a "call now" button or the color of the text or background of your ad. When you split-test, you identify and weed out low-performing ads, which will result in lower advertising costs and an improved return-on-investment (ROI).

Let Your Call Analytics Tell You Which Dental Marketing Campaigns Are Driving Calls

If your dental practice hasn't invested in call tracking software, now is the time. Call tracking assigns a unique phone number to each of your different marketing materials. When patients call your office, which number -- and therefore which advertising source -- they came from is recorded. This, along with other pertinent information, is gathered into what is called call analytics, or a set of data that provides valuable insight into your marketing campaigns.

For example, call analytics can tell you if your billboard campaigns are doing poorly or if your PPC is off the charts. You can use this information to make decisions about future marketing efforts to help generate more calls to your dental practice.

Use Call-Based CTAs on Your Practice Website

Patients that engage with your website can also be prompted to call and make an appointment with strategically placed, phone-based calls to action. You can use CTA banners in the sidebar or at the footer of your website, or you can include a written call to action with your phone number at the end of your blogs and other website content. While you don't want to spam your website with so many CTAs that they become distracting, be sure to use any opportunities that make sense to prompt patients to call into your office.

Include Your Phone Number in Email Marketing Materials

If your practice sends out email marketing materials, include your phone number in an easy-to-spot location. This is particularly helpful for mobile users who can click-to-call directly from their email without navigating to your website. Eliminating extra steps between your patients and your practice can help keep them motivated to engage.

You've Gotten More Calls– Now, What Do You Do With Them?

Now that your dental practice is getting an influx of calls, what should you do with them? Not all patients who call will make an appointment, but ideally, most do. Your administrative staff should be adequately trained on how not only to handle calls professionally but also to use proven strategies to help get them to convert. Make sure your office staff is able to:

• Use good customer service skills to improve the patient experience
• Answer patient questions with a robust amount of knowledge
• Record failed conversions for later follow-up
• Keep the amount of time patients spend on hold to a minimum
• Stay with the patient for the duration of the call vs. transferring to other staff
• Answer the phone within the first few rings, or no longer than twenty seconds

When you implement strategies to not only generate more calls into your dental practice but also nurture those leads to conversion, your overall bottom line may benefit.

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Treloar & Heisel, LLC. and its divisions do not offer marketing advice. Please consult a professional concerning this topic.