Go back a few decades and running a healthcare practice was simpler. SEO didn’t exist and neither did the internet. Prospective patients weren’t comparison shopping clinics determined to find the best practice within just a few miles.
Today, medical practices must be competitive and digitally savvy to have a high performance based on patient experience measures. To get a new patient in the door, all the reputation management boxes need to be checked. Come up short on any one patient satisfaction detail or fail to match the latest online review sites and patients pass up your health care practice for another that’s just a click away.
Mastering your practice’s online reputation and leveraging it to generate new patients is essential. Unfortunately, too often positive reviews become a doctor’s ONLY focus as the thing that is expected to make their practice grow, and that’s a mistake.
In fact, it’s the entire patient experience–from the virtual online visit to the physical appointment–that builds up to new patient referrals and practice growth.
Patient Experience Starts And Ends With Web Presence
The all-in-one Legwork software + marketing and website ecosystem enhances the entire patient experience–from the first time someone looks up your practice online until they are a loyal patient, happy to leave 5-star reviews and refer their friends and family members!
Improving the patient experience starts with a mobile-first website that patients find simple, fast, and easy-to-use. A mobile-friendly website creates a great first impression–your practice comes across as current and one of the best options among health systems.
For practices utilizing Legwork automated reviews , prospective patients and referrals get access to all the great experiences your current patients enjoy. Prospective patients trust online reviews almost as much as a word-of-mouth referral, so reading about these positive experiences boosts their confidence and moves them closer to scheduling. If they’re already checking your practice out as a result of your patient referral process, positive reviews can add the validation they need to see to set up an appointment. Even with negative reviews, your response can demonstrate your care and concern for patients, convincing prospects to book with you.
Between scheduling and their first appointment, patients appreciate receiving an automatic appointment reminder . If you also send a comfort survey , you gain the insights you need to take your patient experience of care to another level.
When it comes time for the in-office visit, new patients are not only primed to see their experience in a positive light but will walk into an environment that is running efficiently and feels organized. With Legwork software, all the information the practice needs gets pulled into the platform. From the operatory calendar and task-lists to new patients leads and website analytics, you only need to use one system for patient engagement.
Beyond the patient visit, Legwork software comes into its own with an automated referral program . First, patients get an automatic thank you email after every visit, and new patients are automatically mailed referral cards to hand out to friends and family, and thus refer patients.
In addition to the referral program, automated patient review requests go out and make it easier than ever for patients to share their experiences right from their phone.
Additionally, Legwork provides practices with engaging, clinically-accurate healthcare content to post on their social accounts , blogs, in email campaigns. This serves to drive traffic to the website boosting SEO and ensuring the practice is visible in searches.
With that, it comes full circle and the cycle begins again with the next set of referrals and prospective patients.
For more tips and tricks on creating a 5-star patient experience, check out our free webinar, How To Craft a Patient Experience Worthy of a 5-Star Review .