Practice Marketing: Measure Your Results
Posted July 12, 2016 by Danielle H
With so many marketing opportunities available to dental practices, it’s important to know which campaigns are effective. Many practices fail to follow through on this key component of marketing: Tracking Patient Referrals!
If you’re not sure what to track or how to measure success, read on for some great tips to get you started.
What to Measure
New Patients by Referral Source vs. Total New Patients
Compare the number of new patients that came from a specific referral source or marketing campaign to the total number of new patients over a given time frame. This information helps you determine what percentage of your new patients came to the office from each referral source.
Cost Per Patient Acquisition
To determine the cost per patient acquisition use this formula: Ad Cost/# New Patients. Compare the Cost Per Patient Acquisition of each marketing campaign to see where you get the greatest ROI.
Production Value by Referral Source
Examine each Referral Source or Marketing Campaign and determine the total production value you’ve generated. This comparison provides the greatest value when the report is run over longer periods of time (6-12 months or longer). In doing so, you will gain insight into whether or not patients visited your practice more than once. If your campaign offered a discounted rate for the patient’s first visit, use this information to determine if your strategy paid off.
Ready to get started? Here’s How…
Step 1:
Create a list of the most common ways patients are referred to your practice. Include things like paid advertising campaigns, referring providers, website, google ads and insurance listings.
Step 2:
Add each of these referral sources to XLDent or your dental software.
Step 3:
Ask every new patient who they were referred by or where they heard about your practice. Enter this into the referral tracking area of your software. Create a script to help team members use consistent language and make sure that everyone has an understanding of the referral sources that pertain to your practice.
Step 4:
Establish an office policy for generating reports. Determine what information will be gathered and how you will measure your results.
Step 5:
Use this information to make marketing decisions that generate the greatest ROI.
Want to learn more about how XLDent Dental Management Software tracks referral information? Get in touch with us today!