What if you could increase your patient retention rate by just making one, simple change to your email marketing campaign? Well, you might be able to do just that with a very low cost addition to your current routine – thank you emails. Dentist offices are a business, and are built around developing and maintaining customer trust through the cultivation of personal relationships, and a quick ‘thanks’ can really show you care about your patient’s business. And, along with showing your appreciation, thank you emails can do a few other things.
Build Trust
A successful dental office absolutely needs trust between the patients and the dentist – without that trust, the office will fail. We talked about cultivating trust a little already, but this point is worth stressing twice. Your business is, after all, built on both your talents as a dentist and how trustworthy you are. Conveying that you care about your patients, and their oral health, through something as simple as a thank-you email can really help solidify the trust they have in you as their dentist.
Name Recognition
Thank you emails tend to serve two purposes. First, they fulfill their titular role as a way to thank patients for their business. But, along with that, they help keep your name at the forefront of your patient’s mind. A simple thank you email will help you retain current patients, along with showing that you appreciate their business. Additionally, you can use thank you emails, or even cards, as a way to remind customers that they should set an appointment a little on down the road, if they haven’t already.
Call to Action
Ideally, customers will set their next appointment before even leaving the office. However, if they have had work done, the last thing they will want to do is commit to a date half a year in advance to get their teeth cleaned, again. A thank you email is the perfect, low pressure reminder for those customers who did not set a second date, as it gives the customer a call to action to schedule an appointment at their earliest convenience. You want your last interaction with your patients to be as positive as possible, which isn’t always easy when you are poking, numbing, and prodding their mouths. A quick call-to-action in a thank you email gives them a more positive feeling and increases the chance of them scheduling another appointment with you and becoming a regular patient.
Can Lead to Online Feedback
Getting customers to leave feedback or review your practice can be a bit like pulling teeth. Yelp is a great SEO tool, but if no one is reviewing your practice then it isn’t going to help much. Thank you emails are a great lead-in when asking for reviews, as long as you aren’t too obnoxious about it. Remember, the main purpose of this email is to thank your patient for choosing you, so that should be the focus. A short sentence asking for a review, however, is fine to include.
Increase Clientele through Word of Mouth
Emails are a great marketing tool because they are very easily shared and forwarded. Dentist offices aren’t exactly the most buzz-worthy topics, but many dentists get their patients through referral. A thank-you email is something that your patients can easily forward to a friend or family member looking for a dentist, and helps start the doctor-patient relationship off right by showing that you care about your patients.
Conclusion
Thank you emails are an easy, inexpensive way to show your patients that you care about them, and appreciate their business. But along with fulfilling that important function, they are also a great way to increase patient retention, foster a healthy referral program, and increase name recognition. Incorporating thank you emails into your email marketing campaign will greatly benefit your practice, and before you know it you’ll have an office full of patients!
