Patient engagement at the first point of contact

patient engagementNeil Hillyard discusses how you can ensure that prospective patients become ‘real’ patients.

In our previous articles, we have looked at orthodontic marketing, using social media to attract patients. Also most recently, how you can develop a patient focused website. All this has led to the important moment when the patient, after considering all that you and your competitors have to offer, has decided to contact you to take their enquiry about starting treatment to the next stage. We’ll look at how you can ensure your patient enquiry processes are aligned to the needs of your prospective patients.

It’s still all about the patient

A theme across our articles is to encourage you to put the patient at the centre of your marketing activities. Considering the patient experience in everything you do is one of the key ways you will differentiate yourself from others. In doing so, it will make the decision making process for the patient so much easier.

Patient engagement

On the assumption that the patient has seen and become engaged with your social media posts. Which in turn has directed them to your website. You should have a fairly good idea of what the patient is likely to expect when they first contact you. If your marketing suggests the patient will be welcomed by a knowledgeable and friendly team who are on hand to answer all your questions. Do not be surprised if the patient, when they call you the moment you open on a busy Monday morning or five minutes into your second major IT failure of the day, gets a little confused if the response is anything less than what they had been led to believe.

Apprehensive patients

For many patients, making the first contact with…

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