The Brevium Blog
How To Build Patient Retention and Loyalty With Technology
Acquiring new patients requires spending $26 to $125 in marketing to generate one lead. You then need to invest time and staff energy into turning that lead into a scheduled patient. Then , while you are investing to bring patients in the front door, you are losing many of those same patients through attrition. You could be retaining many of those patients for five to 25 times less cost than you are spending to find the new ones.
Retaining patients is easier than you might think. Your patients’ experience in your office as they interact with office staff and caregivers is the most important factor in patient retention. Next is communication, and it is here that you have a number of technology tools to boost your patient interactions and increase retention.
Employ Email Marketing
Send a newsletter and promotional emails to your patients to stay in touch between visits. Use these communications to inform patients about upcoming specials, events or changes in your practice that will keep patients coming back.
Patients Respond to Text Marketing
SMS (text) messaging is another great and easy-to-use tool you should be using to keep patients engaged. Services such as Brevium can help you send text messages from a central web application. You are probably already using texting for appointment reminders, but it is also a tool many patients prefer for two-way communication such as when you want to follow up on treatment recommendations or your patient needs to ask you a question.
Depend on Practice Management Software
Practice management software designed for your specialty enables you to track, organize and act on customer data. Effective software helps your business gain a deeper understanding of who your patients are and what they need, allowing you to make better treatment plans. The software can also help you boost patient retention by making it easier for staff to access patient information such as past visits and medication history from one location, making scheduling appointments simpler.
Drip Campaigns Keep You in Touch with Patients
An excellent way to stay engaged with patients between visits is through an email drip campaign. A drip campaign is a set of automated emails that you use to educate patients while staying in touch. The emails address each patient personally and are sent on a regular timing such as monthly. For content to include in your emails, you can use available patient-education materials that are available from your healthcare association to encourage patients take care of themselves. You can also inform patients of your practice’s post-COVID-19 precautions, changes to office hours and other information that helps you provide the best care possible.
I want to know how Brevium can help my practice retain patients