Attracting more patients to your cosmetic surgery practice demands a blend of marketing, online healthcare reputation building, and improvements in your overall service and patient experience. How to increase patient volume is on the mind of every cosmetic surgery practice. Here are the tips that should be followed always:
- Get more reviews for your cosmetic surgery practice
- Enhance your online presence
- Don’t miss out on the social media platforms
- Positive or negative, respond to reviews
- Train your staff
- Build strong relations with existing patients, referrals will follow
- Target specific markets
- Stay in sync with the latest technology
- Leverage local SEO
- Educate your patients
Acquiring new patients for your cosmetic surgery practice requires utilizing a variety of marketing strategies. This might include social media, search engine optimization for local search, online reputation management, and content marketing. It’s important for plastic surgeons to focus on a variety of marketing tactics to attract new patients.
Read on to learn 10 useful tips that plastic surgeons can use on how to increase patient volume for their cosmetic surgery practice.
Get more reviews for your cosmetic surgery practice
To make an informed decision, patients rely on conversations and feedback that happen on review websites and social media. If your patients love your services and the personal attention you provide, you can be sure they will be writing about it. And if they have a negative experience, they’ll be talking about that, too.
Patients are likely to look for your reviews and ratings on sites like Google, ZocDoc and Vitals before booking a consultation. It’s important to focus on getting a steady flow of reviews and ratings for your cosmetic surgery practice.
Enhance your online presence
Search engines like Google and Bing give preference to medical practices that engage with their patients. They have accurate business information on various websites directories. Search engine algorithms analyze many of the same things patients look for. This information includes your online profile, reviews and ratings, and your overall online presence.
Turn your online presence into a compelling marketing tool by enhancing your listings. Add photos, list of services and videos to your cosmetic surgery practice website. This content improves how you appear when prospective patients look for your services. It can increase the chance that they will click on your website and potentially call to schedule an appointment. Ultimately, it helps set you apart from competitors.
Don’t miss out on the social media platforms
Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter help you continuously engage with customers. Interact with your customers by acknowledging their comments, responding to them, and sharing your blogs. Through social media, patients get to know you and that can help build a strong long-term relationship.
Positive or negative, respond to reviews
If prospective patients see that you are responding to patients and addressing their issues, they are more likely to trust you. Acknowledge all reviews, whether they are positive or negative, and respond accordingly. If you come across a fake review or an issue that cannot be resolved, simply respond with a polite note and thank the patient for sharing their feedback.
Train your staff
Make sure that your staff is well-trained, courteous, helpful and patient-friendly. The receptionist is the first point of contact when a patient comes for an appointment. Your back office staff can make a patient feel comfortable before they even meet the doctor.
Build strong relations with existing patients, referrals will follow
Building trust with your present patients is a powerful tool for referrals. By building strong relationships, your patients will provide word-of-mouth marketing for you.
Target specific markets
Consider targeting patients looking for a one-time cosmetic procedure. This potentially could turn into a patient returning for multiple procedures and becoming a long-term patient.
Stay in sync with the latest technology
Are you sharing your services on your website, in a professional blog or perhaps in a customer email newsletter? Show current and prospective patients that you are up-to-date with advances in the world of cosmetic procedures. This can improve the chances of your website being shown when people search online for doctors offering those procedures. This can help assure patients that you’re keeping pace with new developments in the industry.
Leverage local SEO
If you want your plastic surgery practice to rank well in search engines like Google, optimize your website. Ranking in the top 4 or 5 positions on search results — or at least on the first page — is essential for attracting new patients.
Educate your patients
Plastic surgery can drastically improve a person’s appearance, but it can be a scary endeavor. The inability to get basic answers to questions is one reason prospective patients decide not to consult on cosmetic procedures. By providing education, such as articles, blogs, videos, or webinars, you can remove the mystery and help patients become more comfortable with the idea of having a cosmetic procedure.
How to increase patient volume – Powerful online reputation management solutions like Birdeye come with useful tools to improve your overall online reputation and can attract new patients to your practice.
Originally published