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5 Successful Patient Retention Strategies To Keep Your Dental Practice Thriving

Keeping your appointment book full can be challenging as patients cancel and reschedule. Here are some tips to improve your patient retention.

Dental Intelligence

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January 18, 2023

Successfully running a dental practice is no easy task, especially keeping your appointment book full. As you know, building patient relationships and loyalty takes a significant amount of time and effort.

Below, we outline five patient retention strategies for dental practices, which can help you develop a genuine rapport with every patient who walks through your door. Read on to gain an edge on the game with our proven techniques for patient loyalty, retention, and satisfaction.

5 Effective Strategies Dental Practices Can Use to Improve Patient Retention

Did you know the average patient retention rate for dentists is a mere 41%?1 Furthermore, it costs far less to retain a current patient than to gain a new patient. Data show that acquiring a new patient costs healthcare practices five times more money than retaining an existing one!

1. Implement a Patient Loyalty Program

One of the best ways to improve retention rates at your dental practice is by launching a patient loyalty or reward program and offering incentives. Implementing a rewards program improves patient experience, benefits your reputation, and may even result in new referrals.

For example, our patient loyalty program rewards patients for specific actions, such as patient referrals, on-time payments, appointment punctuality, and so on. Each positive action earns loyalty points, which the patient can redeem for rewards such as discounted services or free products. It’s an effective strategy that will benefit your dental practice and strengthen patient relationship management!

2. Upgrade to State-of-the-Art Technology

If your goal is to boost retention by improving patient experience, it’s time to invest in a technology upgrade. By streamlining administrative tasks like scheduling appointments, filling out paperwork, accepting payments, or outlining treatment plans, your patients benefit from greater convenience and efficiency. You can use the following technology upgrade ideas as patient retention strategies to increase satisfaction and patient experience:

3. Create a Safe, Comfortable, Anxiety-Free Environment

For many patients, the thought of going to the dentist fills them with anxiety, and sitting in a cramped, packed, and dull waiting room makes the experience even worse. However, you can address these issues proactively by making your dental practice a safe, comfortable, and stress-free environment. Here’s how:

4. Stay on a Strict Time Schedule for Appointments

No patient wants to show up promptly to their appointment and sit in the office lobby filling out paperwork or waiting for an hour because the dentist is running behind or late. Therefore, do everything you can to ensure that your patient appointments are prompt, efficient, and on time — it goes a long way towards maintaining loyal patients and improving their experience.

5. Encourage Patient Feedback

Launching a platform where patients can express their honest feedback regarding your dental practice is one of the best ways to capitalize on patient retention strategies. For example, you can offer loyalty points for every patient who leaves an online review for your practice. In addition, reading online reviews allows you to gain critical insights regarding your practice and helps you successfully manage your reputation.

Improve Patient Loyalty and Retention Rates with Dental Intelligence

With the five patient retention strategies we just listed, you can improve patient experience, streamline your practice, and keep your appointment book full. Check out the Dental Intelligence blog to learn about patient loyalty program ethics and read more informative posts that can help you intelligently shape the future of your practice. Contact us today to schedule a free demo of our all-in-one product.

Resources

1 ADA article

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