So you’ve created a great landing page. In fact, it has generated many leads. How do you ensure that the leads you captured don’t end up in the internet limbo? Where do health care marketers often fall short in their strategy, and how can you avoid these digital lead pitfalls?
Here are the most common reasons why those leads end up in someone else’s doorstep and not your own practice — and what you can do about it.
Three Common Digital Lead Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
1. You failed to assign a staff member to answer leads.
What’s the use of a great landing page or social media marketing if the queries are left unanswered?
Some patients call a facility and leave a voicemail but never hear back until after 45 hours. Just because they are potential patients doesn’t mean they don’t get impatient. By the time your staff gets to review the voice messages, this patient may have gone elsewhere, especially when they are in pain or suffer from bothersome symptoms.
Solution:
Ensure you have a healthcare marketer at the start of the campaign, who’s focused on lead follow-up process, and checks voicemail messages, answers emails, sends out text information, and tracks social media comments. This way, your marketing investment doesn’t go to waste. The marketer converts digital leads into patients and directs them to the proper channels. Don’t penny-pinch and dump this crucial task to an overworked administrative assistant.
2. You failed to orient your staff to the digital marketing process.
Usually, when you start a digital marketing campaign, you capture these online leads and store them in a designated software or spreadsheet. Failure to have this contact management system in place will result in your data traveling everywhere and going nowhere. Imagine missing that one inquiry and losing a family of five who just moved in town and was looking for a new dentist or eye care provider.
Solution:
Your marketer and the staff should know the process of how the system captures the leads, where you store the information, and how they can access them. The simpler the system, the better.
An example of such a system is as follows:
- The online form and phone system capture a lead and send it to the appropriate staff.
- The staff returns the call or email within the expected time, eg, 24 hours.
- Afterwards, the staff and the patient discuss how the provider can address the patient’s needs.
- Then, the staff schedules the appointment and sends a confirmation and a reminder.
- After the appointment, the staff sends out a survey for patient feedback and gather online reviews.
- The staff schedules follow up, sends out newsletters, keeps the patient updated with education materials and new breakthroughs, and sends invites to connect via social media.
3. You failed to engage your staff in the health care marketing strategy.
Don’t mistake health care marketing for an advertising campaign. Marketing your practice goes beyond digital marketing strategies, social media campaign and promotion, offering discounts and freebies, and getting your brand out there.
Marketing extends not just to patients but also to your employees. Your staff carries your brand. Apathetic staff who don’t care for your practice, in return, won’t care for your patients. Staff engagement goes deep and touches the hearts of the patients and keep them coming back.
Solution:
Establish your culture and brand of excellence during staff onboarding and orientation. Incentivize staff engagement and provide reminders through annual retreats and continuing staff development programs.
Many health care practices waste tons of resources when they fail to convert leads to patient appointments. Don’t commit this expensive mistake. To see how we can connect you to more qualified patients, call now for your FREE practice review.