It’s 2017. We live in an online age, whether we like it or not.

If you have started using social media for your business you may be aware that this online beast needs constant attention to notifications and feeding of new content.

This is another task that Clinics are now having to keep up with, and while there are benefits, at times the whole exercise can be a bit of an annoying chore. Being contactable through various platforms can be beneficial and queries received can and do lead to booking appointments.

What about those queries just looking to book appointments though?

How long does the electronic back and forth go before the booking is confirmed?

How many messages/DMs/emails does it take and how long is that whole process?

This simple request and transaction can be handled in a much easier way.

Online bookings offer the ability to display your availability, allow the patient to choose and book a slot, and register the patient’s contact details in your database

At the end, both the clinic and the patient receive a nice email confirmation of everything. So why would this be of interest to your clinic if the bookings are being made by other means?

What is the real benefit and what justifies the cost of adding Online bookings?

Save Time

Even if you are already in the swing of monitoring communications channels, giving your patients the ability to quickly book will save those back and forths which are purely about booking in. This will give you time to deal with other notifications concerning issues or queries.

Make the most of your online spend and effort!

If you have a website you already spend money on hosting it. If you go as far as search engine optimisation or social media adverts, you’ll want to see a return on this spend. Online bookings will allow you to make the most out of any attention to your brand online. You are already driving traffic to look at your site, once you have them there you ask for an email or for a phone call. Unfortunately, as some online stats may show, this can be a step too far for busy people to complete. Online bookings can help you convert the ‘online spend’ into quantifiable returns.

Get online clientele!

You know the patients that you have, but what of the ones you don’t? There could be a client base you miss out on that online bookings would appeal to. How many late evening or early morning messages do you currently get? There could be patients just searching on Google for a Clinic who are in need of therapy and just want a confirmed appointment. If they get a time confirmed that suits them, perhaps this could be enough to make you stand out in your area - who knows!

Below we put together a sample of some stats from a few clinics using the online booking module…

– Over 30% of online bookings came from brand new patients - people who may never have booked with your clinic using traditional methods.

– New patients who booked online were 50% less likely to cancel their appointment.

– One clinic saved an average of 1 hour per month on admin time whilst also providing great patient service - a win/win!

Naturally, every clinic is different, but this really shows the potential of online bookings to work for you and your patients.

If you would like to find out more about online bookings, contact us here.