Patient retention; if this term makes you feel uneasy then you’re not alone. You run your clinic to deliver treatments, not marketing. However, did you know it costs seven times as much to acquire a new patient than it does to retain an existing one? With such a competitive landscape in the MSK and Wellbeing industries, ensuring your clinic has effective strategies for building a loyal patient following is more important than ever before. Though it may take a little more effort compared to customers in other sectors, returning patients are more likely than new patients to write a review, refer a friend and ask about any additional treatments you offer.

In our last blog, we covered some of the things you can do to ensure you are best placed to acquire new patients. From improving your online visibility to keeping patients engaged. Once you are comfortable with your acquisition strategy, it’s important to start turning your patients into advocates so let’s take a look at some of the key tools and tips your clinic can use for retaining clients in today’s market:

1. Engage, engage, engage:

Engagement; it’s everything these days. If your patient isn’t engaged or doesn’t feel involved and valued, they won’t be long in moving on. The key is not only to keep them engaged whilst in the clinic but also in between treatments. So, how do you go about this?

Previously we touched on how your patient engagement journey should begin from the point of booking. Utilising your practice management system to deliver and capture additional information before a patient enters the clinic should become standard procedure however, it shouldn’t stop there. By bringing your patients closer to your treatments, you’ll show them that you are invested in their recovery as well as making them feel like more than just a patient number.

Use tools such as Clinical Notes on tablets to have them annotate areas of pain whilst there, use SMS and Email forms to have them update their pain scores in-between treatments, schedule email updates in automation campaigns via MailChimp integration on their birthdays or with tailored offers, use modern tools such as eSignatures to have them sign-off treatments to standout with your use of technology and use patient notes to record things such as their favourite drink to have it ready for them for their next treatment. All these small things add up and you won’t be long in creating advocates this way!

2. Make the most of time:

We’ve all had a bad retail experience, whether you felt like you didn’t get the required level of customer service, your transaction was rushed or the person serving you was under pressure to get things done quickly. Patient treatments are no different to this. You want to ensure you spend as much time with your patient as possible during their appointment, after all they are paying for it.

If you don’t have a receptionist or are a sole practitioner, choose a practice management system that takes care of bookings and diaries for you. Make use of things such as 24/7 reception so you can focus on time spent with patients without having to worry about missing phone calls and as previously mentioned, automate your patient communications to ensure your software takes care of the engagement journey whilst you take care of your patient!

If you would like to know more about how TM3 can improve patient engagement, get in touch with our team.