By Jonathan Catley, Online Sales & Marketing Manager, MD Connect
Twitter: @MDConnectInc
Twitter: @JonathanCatley
You’ve optimized your medical practice’s website, but your conversion rates haven’t budged. Look for the following causes of poor conversion rates to find the root of the problem.
- Poor phone etiquette.
If you design your website carefully and invest in effective marketing campaigns, your facility will receive plenty of calls. However, if your front desk staff doesn’t practice good phone etiquette, you may lose conversions. Make sure your staff is friendly and polite to everyone who calls your facility. - Prices quoted over the phone.
Quoting prices over the phone can send potential patients away if your staff isn’t careful. For example, if your staff quotes a price inaccurately or without taking the patient’s insurance coverage into account, the patient may choose a competitor. If you allow your staff to quote prices, be sure that they have the resources they need to provide accurate information. Alternatively, consider instructing your staff to direct inquiring patients to a financial counselor for an in-person discussion. - Ringing phones go unanswered.
Some potential patients may try to call your medical practice or hospital more than once, but they are likely to give up quickly if their calls go unanswered. Make sure that you have enough people on staff to man the phones and run the front desk at the same time. - Contact forms aren’t readily available on your website.
Not every potential patient will be comfortable calling your facility directly. Instead, some patients may prefer completing a contact form and communicating with your staff via email. If contact forms are not readily available on your website, you may lose business. - Your website doesn’t utilize video content.
Research has shown that videos can boost conversion rates by up to 2 percent or more. Thus, including videos on your website is an excellent way to engage potential patients, build a connection with the doctors and encourage web traffic to convert. - Your “before and after” photos aren’t flattering enough.
If you offer results-based services, such as plastic surgery, you may post “before and after” pictures on your website to impress potential patients. However, if these pictures are not clear or flattering enough, patients may choose a competing facility. Use realistic images and patients; avoid showing glorified results that won’t relate with the common patient. - Your website images aren’t authentic.
Using generic images on your website is a turn-off for potential patients. Instead, use recent pictures of the actual staff members, doctors and nurses who work in your facility. - You don’t have an answering service.
Not all patients are able or willing to call your facility during business hours. To avoid losing business, invest in an answering service to take calls after hours. - Your website isn’t optimized for search engines.
When potential patients in your area search for services online, your website should be as close to the top of the results as possible. In order to improve your website’s position in search engine rankings, you must invest in a solid SEO strategy. The easiest way to do this is to invest in some form of content marketing (ie: blogs, video, etc…). - You aren’t booking patients in a timely manner.
Patients who call your facility want to be able to book their procedures as soon as possible. If your waiting period is too long, you may lose some business.
If your medical practice is suffering from empty appointment slots, check out some of the areas described above to identify areas where you may be losing potential patients and appointment opportunities.
About the author: Â Jonathan manages the sales and marketing efforts for MD Connect, Inc; a 100% healthcare focused digital marketing agency. This article was originally published on MD Connect and is republished here with permission.