Do you know your patient acquisition costs? If you look at the amount of money you spend on marketing each week and divide that by the number of new patients you see, you’ll have a rough estimate of your customer acquisition costs.
Chiropractic care is competitive and pay-per-click advertising can run from $8 to $10 per click for a popular keyword. With an industry conversion rate of 2.4%, it’s clear to see that acquiring new patients is costly. Once you’ve obtained a new patient, you want to get the most out of your patient acquisition cost by retaining the patient.
The longer you retain a patient, the higher the patient’s lifetime value. Here are six reliable ways to improve your chiropractic patient retention rates.
Create a Comfortable Environment
The total patient experience starts in the reception and waiting area and carries through hallways to treatment rooms. Nobody wants to wait in a boring room staring at beige walls while flipping through magazines that are months or years old.
Instead, offer public wi-fi and post the password prominently so patients don’t have to ask for the information.
Throughout the public areas, use soothing colors, relaxing images, and artwork to reduce stress and anxiety. Blue tones, soft greens, and grays promote a feeling of serenity. Artwork with green and yellow adds life to a room.
Create an environment that isn’t dreaded, but warm and inviting. Pay attention to details such as the odors from disinfecting and cleaning supplies. When your patient is less anxious and more relaxed, they are more likely to return and increase patient retention rates.
Minimize Wait Times
No matter how comfortable you make the environment, nobody wants to be kept waiting. Perception and expectations influence the amount of time people are willing to wait.
Show patients you respect their time by keeping wait times to a minimum. They will perceive the wait time to be short. Consistently keeping patients waiting for long periods of time conditions them to expect long waits. Once this happens, they won’t worry about arriving promptly. An analysis of 21 million outpatient office visits found that almost one-fifth of wait times were over 20 minutes while the median wait time for Medicaid patients was just 4.6 minutes. According to Vitals research, the average wait time to see a primary care physician is 18 minutes. Clearly, some providers are keeping patients waiting far too long. Athenahealth studies show that 20% of patients change doctors because of long wait times. Long wait times kill chiropractic patient retention rates.
If something throws a wrench in the day’s schedule, contact patients and let them know about the extended wait before they arrive.
Clearly Communicate Treatment Plans
Let your patients know exactly what their treatment entails. Be prepared with specific information about the treatment and give them an idea of it’s a short-term or long-term plan.
Using vague wording such as, “plan on coming in a couple of times a week for a few weeks” sounds more like a suggestion for care instead of a firm treatment schedule.
Create a schedule for treatments and have the patient schedule appointments for the next few office visits. This proven chiropractic patient retention method can be further enhanced with automated follow-up calls, texts, or email messages two days before the scheduled appointment. The schedule of treatments can be updated during any visit if a change is necessary.
Connect Consistently
Keep the name of your practice at top of mind by connecting with your patients on a consistent basis. Send personalized birthday cards to show you care. When you send Valentine’s Day, Independence Day, or Thanksgiving cards they will be received as an unexpected surprise. Be respectful of the religious or social inclinations of your patient base.
To make your chiropractic business stand out, send greeting cards on an occasion other than the Christmas holiday. Make sure to use a hand signature on your cards to make the message even more personal. For a double whammy, get all members of the office staff to sign the card.
In addition, send electronic newsletters regularly and use social media to keep your patients up to date on the very latest in chiropractic care and overall health and nutrition. While these communications aren’t specifically focused on promoting your services, they do increase retention.
Solicit Feedback
Find out what your patients are thinking. Use surveys to calculate your Net Promoter Score and track patient satisfaction with your services. Patients that are unhappy with their lack of results will place less value on your service and certainly won’t return in the future. Follow-up with patients that cancel their appointments.
If a patient opts to discontinue their care plan, talk to them and find out why. If there are obstacles in the way, work with them to overcome these obstacles.
Offer Financing Options
Help patients meet their financial obligations for the treatment plan and you’ll increase your patient retention.
Healthcare financing options abound, so find the vendor that provides the level of service that will meet the needs of your patients and your practice.
Discuss financing at the same time as you discuss treatment plans. Patients who understand what to expect from the treatment, how long treatment will take, the total cost of treatment, and their options for payment are assured they can afford to complete treatment. You are assured of patient retention.
Need to Increase Revenue or Chiropractic Patient Retention?
Are you exploring ways to increase the revenue from your chiropractic practice or improve your patient retention rates? Talk to the Chiropractors at Nutri-West of New York and schedule a free consultation.