It is no secret that the key to a well-rounded dental marketing strategy is creating a good experience for your patients. However, a lot of people fail to incorporate this into their marketing properly and as a result, their dental marketing strategies will suffer.
Remember that your patients are the primary focus of your dental practice, so their experience should always be at the forefront of your marketing strategy. Here are some of the ways that negative patient experience can hurt your dental marketing.
Your patients can post negative reviews online
One of the most common ways that a negative experience can hurt your practice is that dissatisfied patients can and will post about their negative experiences online. Because of online technology, everyone has an equal chance of having their opinions heard.
Negative patient reviews, especially if there is a lot of them, can hurt your dental marketing strategy. Because other users will read these reviews to determine if your practice is the right fit for them, it can affect your practice in the long run.
Your patients will tell their friends and family
While online marketing is an effective method of getting new patients, word-of-mouth is still one of the most effective ways of getting new patients. If a single patient has had a negative experience with your dental practice, then there is a very good chance that they will tell their friends and family about it, who in turn, may tell their friends and extended family, which can greatly impact your chances of getting new patients.
Your patients might leave you
Another serious effect of negative patient experience on your dental marketing is the fact that your patients may up and leave your practice to look for dental services elsewhere. If one or two patients decide to leave, you will probably be fine, but if plenty of your existing patients decide to leave, then this is a serious cause for concern. You should know that it’s going to cost your dental practice more to obtain new patients than it would be to retain old patients.
What can you do about it?
Now that you know how negative patient experience can hurt your dental marketing, you might be wondering what you can do about it. To start with, you can talk to the patients and determine what can be done to improve patients’ experiences at your dental practice. Make sure that you remain responsive and stay on top of improving your dental practice to provide patients with a good experience at your practice.