“To optimize your marketing ROI, you need to ensure your lead response time is done quickly – preferably within 15 minutes. The challenge is, most clinics do not have a consistent follow up protocol.”
– Michael King, LASIK Marketing Agency
Companies across all industries have increasingly turned to the internet to generate sales leads. A typical medical practice will spend thousands of dollars each month on pay-per-click, social media, and other paid advertising to drive prospects to their website with the goal of booking an appointment. However, digital marketing strategies only go so far. New leads mean absolutely nothing if they aren’t pursued within a timely, consistent, personalized, and measurable manner. Here are the keys to avoid wasted marketing dollars and maximize every patient lead:
1. Rapid Response Time
It can’t be stressed enough, time is of the essence when it comes to following-up to patient inquiries. Consumers are increasingly making decisions “in the moment”, often out of an emotional need to solve a problem or fulfill a need. Google calls these “micro-moments” where consumers make multiple, perhaps even hundreds, of small decisions along their journey toward a solution.
That’s why it’s never been more important to capture prospects at the right time by responding quickly when they take an action, like completing an online form.
In fact, a report from InsideSales indicates contact quality rates decrease by 10x after the first 5 minutes of a prospect submitting a form. This proves with every passing second after a lead takes action, practices run the risk they could quickly lose interest or change their mind.
2. Convenient Availability
Practices often avoid extending availability outside the hours of 9:00am to 5:00pm because it’s either difficult to ask staff to stay longer or the cost of hiring additional staff outweighs revenue generated from call volume.
However, roughly 50% of patients research outside of business hours such as after work or on weekends. With this high statistic, it’s important for practices to consider how many more prospects could be captured with extended hours of coverage. When many other practices may be closed, there’s an incredible opportunity to initiate a conversation that gets potential patients further engaged and hopefully, into the office.
3. A Consistent Process
When there isn’t a plan, process, or system in place to help field incoming leads, many inevitably fall through the cracks or are mismanaged.
Alternatively, a prospect could be turned off completely by too many repeated contacts from different people at the practice. Clear communication and a standard, trackable process can make the difference.
OptiCall’s Capture web lead response program uses a systematic process that includes multiple touch points over the span of three months until the patient takes action. A combination of direct outreach and relevant content over a sustained period of time helps your practice stay connected to the prospect and significantly increases their likelihood of re-engaging when they weren’t initially ready to book. Click here to download the Capture Infographic.
4. A Personalized Approach
Just because a prospect submitted a form on your website, doesn’t necessarily mean they want you to reply digitally. Consumers want to connect with practices according to the communication method that works best for them. This can vary significantly by generation, time of day, and a variety of other factors.
Responses should also be personable – paying attention to details like tone of voice and language, to ensure the prospect feels welcome and cared for.
5. Accurate Reporting
The only way to determine whether your lead management process is effective is to track and report on performance. Key performance indicators (KPI’s) should measure performance with every touch point – from driving marketing leads to the website, to engagement and conversion rates at each point in the process. Monitoring analytics on a monthly or even weekly basis can help you understand what’s working and where there’s room for improvement.
Case Study: Effective Lead Management Put to the Test
OptiCall’s Capture program was initiated for a medium-sized medical practice that receives an average of 200 leads per month.
With a focus on response time, consistency, extended hours of availability, and the reporting on key metrics, the practice has seen a 20% increase in leads booking consultations.
In addition to more leads converting to consultations, the practice has saved 40 hours a month of staff time that would have been spent on lead follow-up. With more time, staff is able to focus attention on patients within the office.
Opticall’s Capture Program enables us to have certainty that our prospective patients are receiving a positive, timely and professional first impression of our clinic.Michael King
LASIK Marketing Agency
– Michael King, LASIK Marketing Agency
How Will You Capture More Patients?
If you want to learn more about maximizing your leads, join OptiCall’s Dylan Kemna and LASIK Marketing Agency’s, Michael King for an upcoming webinar “How to Manage Digital Leads to Maximize Marketing ROI”:
Date: Wed, Oct 17, 2018
Time: 1:00pm PST / 4:00 PM EDT
Free Practice Assessment
OptiCall offers a free lead response assessment that can determine how many leads are either contacted too late or never followed up on, and the impact on your practice’s bottom line. Complete the form below to request your free Capture assessment.
