Diana Friedman, MA, MBA

	In the digital age of dentistry, the Internet is the place where patients seek information on dental procedures and providers, select a practice, and then engage and transact with that practice. 

Part one of the survey: The digital dental practice: Patient engagement platforms

 study revealed 81% of consumers in North America are online. The same study also found users spend 5.2 hours per day accessing the Internet via their desktop or laptop computers and an additional 2.4 hours on either a tablet or smartphone. Practices that want to reach more consumers need to leverage the immense power of the Internet.

The cornerstone of any effective web presence is a well-branded, mobile-optimized practice website. In an increasingly crowded world wide web, a successful practice must be managed proactively with an effective search engine optimization strategy to keep it visible in search results and include relevant, timely and patient-engaging content. Dental practice websites are all about acquiring new patients.

The dental industry has embraced this new technology with 78% of study participants noting they have an active website. The growing dental market has attracted an ever-increasing number of web development companies. At times, it can be overwhelming to identify who the reputable industry experts are. The current research queried brand awareness of website developers and 

 ranked highest, with 92.61% recognition.

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An additional critical consideration in determining who to collaborate with on your website has to do with identifying a provider who specializes in dentistry. As you clearly recognize, dental practices are extremely unique small enterprises. Their distinctive profile is largely impacted by the dentist(s) leading the practice, their vision, clinical philosophy, community engagement and brand identity. A ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to website design does not allow you to effectively showcase the unique features of your practice and stand out from the crowd in your local community.

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A positive finding of the research study is the confirmation that dental professionals and the dental marketing industry have advanced significantly in their understanding of the digital marketing world. Research studies such as the breakthrough analysis by Sesame Communications of consumer and dental professional website preferences, grounded in the Patient Appeal Rating  principles, have helped dentists become more informed and expert consumers of websites.

As a result, 78% of dentists stated they have a practice website. They now tend to be more engaged in the website development process and bring a clearer vision of their preferred outcome. In turn, the industry has delivered more sophisticated and better websites to address this growing need. This trend is evidenced by the fact that, overall, dental professionals have a positive perception of their websites. A significant 85.06% of surveyed dental professionals noted a degree of satisfaction with their practice website.

With the proliferation of web content and the ever-increasing complexity of search crawling algorithms, it is imperative that a practice have a website that is up to the latest standards in terms of navigation, code, responsiveness to mobile devices and SEO properties. This generally means a practice needs to update its website every 3-4 years to remain competitive in its local market.

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An interesting finding of the study is that most dentists do not feel strongly bound to the developer and host of their present website. While traditionally dentists tend to be brand loyal, this may not be the case when it comes to their website developer. As shown in the chart above, while there is a slight preference by dentists to develop a new generation website using their existing web provider (38.57%), a significant segment of practices (42.15%) are agnostic as to who to use, and 19.28% state interest in considering a new provider.

Dentists have become more educated and sophisticated purchasers of website services. In order to make the optimal choice for your practice, it is important you chose a website provider who has a high retention rate of its clients. In an era when dentists ‘vote with their feet’ and walk to find new providers, a company with a retention rate of more than 90%  is the gold standard.

2014 US Census Bureau, InternetWorldStats, CNNIC

Get Found Get Chosen Study, Sesame Communications, 2009

Sesame Communications has a retention rate of 94% on all its website members.

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Articles

 In the digital age of dentistry, the Internet is the place where patients seek information on dental procedures and providers, select a practice, and then engage and transact with that practice. 

The digital dental practice: Practice websites

	The Internet has become a powerful global game changer, impacting how businesses interact with their market and transact their services. Dentistry has not been immune to the profound effect the 

 has had on how local enterprises market and grow their businesses.

This national research study was designed to evaluate the adoption of 

 in patient engagement and practice marketing areas. In addition, the study aimed to understand what service providers were leading the transition to the digital age of dentistry. In the area of patient engagement platforms, this study focused on better understanding what value patient engagement platforms had for dental practices and whether these investments converted into positive ROI in terms of practice growth, operational efficiency and patient experience.

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Digital patient engagement platforms (sometimes identified as ‘Patient Login’ systems) have reached the early majority stage, with 50.55% of study participants stating they use an automated patient appointment reminder system; the leading functionality of patient engagement platforms. The highest percentage of users (24%) leveraged the automated appointment reminders included in their practice management software. The remainder of practices used a specialized patient engagement platform provider, with 

 having the highest brand recognition at 71.65% of the leading providers.

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The leading value associated with the automated appointment reminder functionality reported by practices was a reduction in no-shows. 74.25% of respondents noted that a reduction in no-shows was an important benefit of their patient engagement system. Furthermore, a significant 73.89% of participants in the study stated that this functionality actually reduced no-shows. This finding confirmed a previously published research study by 

Editor's Note: See our exclusive interview about the study with Diana Friedman below...

This study included 1,707,664 appointments scheduled in 64 dental practices over a five-year period. The study found that practices moving to an automated appointment reminder system experienced a 19.58% reduction in no-show rates resulting, on average, in a 

 increase of $31,460.
	The second significant benefit of an automated appointment reminder system is patient preference. The study showed patients overwhelmingly prefer automated reminders, as an astounding 79.5% of patients prefer text or email appointment reminders over phone calls.

Patient engagement systems have helped reduce no-shows, bring in new patients, allow practices to provide a higher level of patient care, and more.

The third most important benefit of a patient engagement system cited by 72.37% of research participants was improvement in staff efficiency. Managing the practice schedule is the most critical role of the administrative team, as this ultimately determines the production the practice will achieve. 

 confirmation often is a time consuming undertaking. In a busy and hectic practice the administrative team is not always able to reach and confirm all patients, which may negatively impact production and ultimately practice 

, as collections are derivatives of the production the practice achieves. Implementing an automated appointment reminder system not only drives the revenue and patient satisfaction parameters noted above, it also allows the administrative team to focus on other tasks which enhance the patient experience and drive significantly more value for the practice.

The fourth most significant benefit of a patient engagement system cited by research participants was improvement in new patient acquisition. A significant 70.74% of dental professionals noted it as an important benefit. Patient engagement portals help practices attract new patients by remaining engaged with existing patients and providing gentle and consistent reminders to refer friends and family to the practice. The software functionality often makes referring a prospective patient to the practice a quick and easy process encouraging more referrals.

 cited by research participants was patient retention, which is achieved by providing the highest level of customer care to patients. This finding is not surprising as dentists dedicate great attention and care to managing the 

 and creating an environment in which patients feel comfortable and confident to proceed with treatment recommendation. Online patient engagement systems effectively optimize patient retention as well as recare and treatment activation.

Another key part of this study evaluated the actual features of patient engagement systems, and the value placed on them by dental professionals. A key learning from this analysis which begs further discussion is the finding that 71.39% of participants stated an important benefit of a patient engagement system is the ability for patients to access the information from any mobile device. Considering the fact that over the next year experts expect mobile devices to exceed computers in terms of the device used to access the Internet, this point is critical. Interestingly, not all dental 

 presently provide this advanced functionality.

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	Patient engagement systems effectively address a strong patient preference to communicate digitally and transact with the practice online. Significantly, providing this patient benefit actually results in significant gains for the practice in terms of production, efficiency and 

, we look at survey results in the area of digital marketing.

This article originally appeared in the October 

2014 issue of Dental Products Report. For articles on other practice management tips, 

click here to subscribe to DPR's newsletter bit.ly/1oJNUaR.

 The Internet has become a powerful global game changer, impacting how businesses interact with their market and transact their services. Dentistry has not been immune to the profound effect the digital world has had on how local enterprises market and grow their businesses.

The digital dental practice: Patient engagement platforms

	Online marketing is becoming essential for many small businesses. Patients increasingly turn to the Internet to seek and connect with service providers. The dental market has gone digital, with leading practices developing a Web presence via websites and social media initiatives. This shift has made the Internet a more crowded and competitive space for practices. Increasingly dentists and specialists are implementing sophisticated online promotion advertising to fortify their search engine visibility. Specifically we are experiencing a tremendous growth in online Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising.

	PPC Internet advertising uses keywords and phrases targeting the right practice patient demographic and promoting a specific service mix. The advertisement text appears above the search engine results and the practice pays the search engine (for instance, Google) only when a prospective patient clicks on the link. It is important that the agency developing and placing the advertisement be Google AdWords Certified  as effectiveness demands highly technical expertise.

	Effective PPC advertisements go beyond good ad text and optimize results by managing the website landing pages to which prospective patients are directed to from an advertisement. It is important when clicking that patients do not land on your homepage, but rather on the specific page relevant to the advertised service.

	The effectiveness of a paid search campaign is dependent on many factors: The process of optimizing a campaign is complex and multifaceted, and many traditional paid search management companies fail to address these aspects.

	The traditional method prescribes a simplistic approach of grouping many keywords into a single campaign, directing all visitors to a site’s homepage and duplicating the same ad text across all search engines. Many traditional management companies follow a simple “set it and forget it” approach, therefore ignoring continual optimization altogether.

	Online advertising and search engine marketing is constantly evolving, and so it is imperative your paid advertising service provider stay on top of trends and proactively monitor campaign results and make necessary edits. 

	An effective PPC campaign includes the use of relevant ad copy and keyword groupings, multiple ad groups per campaign, customized geo-targeting specific to a practice’s office locations, conversion optimization of landing pages and a robust call tracking system to measure lead generation. Based on quantified results and new patient tracking the practice can assess the return on investment and make the appropriate adjustments to its advertisements and budget.

Analysis of leads generated by PPC Google campaigns

	In November 2010, Sesame Communications conducted a 60-day review of 63 active Sesame Elite Search Premium accounts. This service develops, executes and tracks Google AdWords campaigns for dental and orthodontic practices. The study reviewed complete campaign data from August through September 2010. The study tracked call rates as well as cost per lead. In the study’s 60 day time span there were 6,134 clicks and 583 total leads generated. Advertising budgets ranged from $100 to $3,000 per month, with an average of $366.38. Categorization of new patients was based on caller self-identification (see Data from Sesame Elite Search Premium Analysis, below).

	The Sesame Elite Search Premium study demonstrated that campaigns converted 9.5% of clicks into leads, based on 563 phone calls and 20 e-mails.

 Another 79% of callers self-identified as new patients. The average cost per lead was less than $50, compared with the national average of $275 for new patient acquisition.

	It is important to note that Sesame Communications tracked the call rate (leads ÷ total clicks) for PPC Google campaigns over the past two years and documented that the call rate has increased 71% from 2009. This is likely the result of prospective patients increased level of Web savvy and sophistication. Further it validates that patients clicking on advertising links are more advanced in their purchase process.

	This breakthrough study of dental and orthodontic online campaigns confirms that PPC Google AdWords campaigns significantly increase phone calls and e-mails to the practices. Furthermore, the data was analyzed using Sesame First Call™ to track and record all calls and showed that a significant portion of the callers into the practices were self-identified as new patients.

	In a crowded Internet world, PPC advertising is an effective way for a practice to appear at the top of the search engine placement. When managed effectively, PPC advertisements have the potential to grow your practice by customizing an advertising campaign based on your defined demographic, your goals and the main products or services that you provide.

	Research shows that effectively executed campaigns   generate leads to the practice at a low cost. The quality of those incoming leads is solid with 79% of the calls identified as new patients. This suggests that paid search is a valuable tool for targeting new patients. This makes intuitive sense because according to Google, when users see highly relevant ads, and the ads are shown only in response to a user’s query, the user is likely to be further along in the buying cycle, and more likely to convert.

	As more dental and orthodontic practices move online, it becomes essential for doctors to incorporate an integrated online marketing strategy.

 Online marketing is becoming essential for many small businesses. Patients increasingly turn to the Internet to seek and connect with service providers. The dental market has gone digital, with leading practices developing a Web presence via websites and social media initiatives. This shift has made the Internet a more crowded and competitive space for practices. Increasingly dentists and specialists are implementing sophisticated online promotion advertising to fortify their search engine visibility.