Incentivize New Patients With Special Offers

Offering new patient discounts can be an effective marketing tool, especially if you have a well-organized tracking and follow-up plan in place. Patients who respond to a one-time offer often stay with your practice in the long run, so there’s always the opportunity to recommend additional treatments. However, the practice running the special and the patient responding to it frequently have opposing agendas.

Importance of Special Offers

Special offers are effective at attracting dental patients because they help set your practice apart from the competition. Focusing on why visiting your practice is a good value sets you apart and gives people a reason to make an appointment. Here are some examples of common offers:

• New Patient Offer: Special services or discounts to first-time patients with a new patient offer.
• Referral Offers: Incentivize regular patients to refer their friends and family.
• Bundle Offers: When a patient signs up for one service, give them something extra at a discounted rate.
• Free Offers: Choose something inexpensive, such as a toothbrush or a consultation, and offer it to everyone who comes.
• Contest Offers: Hold a contest with a great prize and have patients sign up when they make an appointment.

Where to Promote Special Offers: 

There are several different options to advertise your offers to potential or current clients.

• Social Media: Promote your marketing offers across all of your social media channels.
• Direct Mail/Email: Send postcards or emails to patients informing them of your offers. 
• Over the phone: Tell your administrators to inform patients about special offers, and mention it in your voicemail message.
• Partnership: Consider sharing promotion responsibilities with an orthodontist or other health care provider if you work together.

Incentivize New Patients

Patients today are looking for special offers and good value. Offer discounts or free consultations to entice them into your dental practice. Discounts like these can entice new patients who had been considering visiting your practice but needed a little extra motivation to switch their current dentist. Then keep track of which services they prefer and which offers they take advantage of so you can better target them with marketing strategies that help them stay loyal.

 Incentivize Referrals

Your most powerful advocates are your current patients. Consider establishing a referral program in which current patients are rewarded when their referrals complete their first appointment. These incentives could include things like free teeth whitening, a percentage off their next visit, or even a gift card.

Reward Existing Patients

The key to business success is to market your patient loyalty. The more you market your program to patients, the more likely they are to use it. It will boost your total income and lead generation. You can reach your business objectives with the right marketing strategy. For example, providing a gift for your patients’ birthdays or celebrating their yearly anniversary with free treatments. 

Reward patients who arrive on time, complete their paperwork, recommend friends and family, and pay their bills on time, among other things. Patients may earn loyalty points for certain activities that you specify, and then redeem those points for branded merchandise, electric toothbrushes, gift cards, whitening treatment discounts, and more – the possibilities are endless!

Patients will be more loyal if they are rewarded, and this will lead to more recommendations and new business. It’s never a bad idea to let your patients know they’re appreciated.

Offer Ideas to Promote Your Dental Office

Consultation without charge: A simple but effective offer is a free case evaluation or consultation. 

Teeth Whitening for Free: This is the most popular discount, and almost every other dentist offers teeth whitening at a significant discount. This offer is best used as a complimentary bonus.

Special Offers on Specific Procedures: You can try offering a discount on a specific procedure if you want to expand your patient base for a specific type of treatment procedure, such as emergencies, implants, braces, or dentures. This will appeal to patients who have been diagnosed with a specific procedure and are now comparing prices to find the best deal.

Discount for patient referrals: A patient referral program should be in place at every dental office. You can offer your existing patients a discount on their next dental appointment in exchange for more referrals.

Family/Group Discount: You can offer discounts to patients who come to your office in a group, similar to patient referrals. This could be a group of friends from college or coworkers. This discount can also be extended to attract families with children.

Discounts for Back to School: If you run a children’s dentistry practice or accept pediatric cases, the months of January and August are ideal for attracting new families and children to your dental practice by offering a back-to-school promotion such as a free exam and discounted cleaning. This deal will boost your office productivity at least twice a year. 

Get Started

The Dental Engine helps dental practices increase their new patients through fully-optimized websites and monthly digital marketing services. This results in an average of 150% increase in monthly new patients within six months. 

We implement all the best practices we preach in our dental growth and training platform. All of our clients get access to the Dental Engine platform to demonstrate transparency and accountability for your practice.