I’m working with a Chiropractor who is using Facebook ads to help boost their number of leads coming into the clinic. In looking at their numbers we quickly figured out that the costs per new patient, although high, was acceptable. However, it was quickly apparent that the large number of leads they were getting was not resulting in a significant growth of new patients.  When I looked at their data, I could see how many appointments they were getting from the leads, and how many new patients, but nothing else. What about the conversation rate from lead to direct contact? What about from direct contact to appointment set? What about from appointment set to appointment show up? Then finally from appointment show up to new patient?

When looking at your overall marketing efforts to get new patients, you need to have an excellent measurement system in place to see where prospective patients are dropping out of your new patient engagement process (better known as a sales pipeline). Are they dropping out between capturing the lead and making direct contact with them? Perhaps there is a need to speed up your follow-up process. Are they dropping out between the direct contact and the appointment? What kind of script are you using to get them scheduled? If they are dropping out between being scheduled and showing up, do you have an effective reminder system that ensures they don’t forget? And if you are not converting from the appointment to becoming a patient, how well do you execute a day-1 and day-2 script to help them understand the need for a treatment plan?

Also, look at the conversation rates from different ads, or even different marketing strategies. If your ads are not hitting your target market, you may be getting a poor response. And even if you are getting a good response, very few want to move forward with any kind of treatment. 

Remember, impressions and clicks are important, but they mean nothing if you cannot get the person on the other end of those impressions and clicks to give you their information and move through your process to get them to accept treatment. 

When you accurately measure multiple conversation rates, you can spot problems and fix them quickly so you can lower your cost per new patient and continue to grow your patient base.

Kevin Weir - 9/7/2022