Why More Dentists Are Embracing Dental Software

Key Takeaways

·      Good dental software automates tasks like scheduling to improve practice operations, cut costs, and satisfy patients.

·      Patient engagement software is a reliable resource to text patients in real-time to confirm appointments and reduce no-shows.

·      Online reputation can be easily managed with a dental practice management system, which offers tools to attract and manage reviews.

·      Automated tools equip dentists with several marketing strategies, such as email campaigns, to stay on their patients' radars.

Dental patient engagement software has become the go-to solution for dentists in a fast-growing industry to help manage daily operations. Meeting patients’ high standards and leveling with competition in today’s digital environment has been challenging for dentists. Many are motivated to seek high-tech solutions now.

If your practice could use some relief, you’re not alone. Here are a few ways other dentists have benefited from investing in multi-purpose, cloud-based dental practice software—helping them make sizable differences that actually drive growth.

Online Appointment Booking for Patients

Online appointment booking is one of the critical components of managing a dental patient’s treatment journey. Allowing patients to schedule visits and make changes easily, without calling the office, streamlines the process and saves time. 

Today, patients want a seamless and organized online scheduling experience. A confusing booking process can negatively impact their perception of the practice and prevent them from reaching out. Offering patients the convenience of online scheduling meets their needs and respects their time. 

Since 67% of patients prefer online scheduling, dental practices should implement a smart online scheduler to reach the widest audience possible. Moreover, forty percent of appointments are reserved after business hours. Doctible’s software solution offers a 24/7 scheduling tool, allowing patients to book any time after hours.

Ultimately, using an online scheduler gives dental practices flexibility in managing their patient acquisition strategy. And, since booking is entirely digital, continuous back-and-forth phone calls don’t dominate staff time.

Real-Time Patient Engagement

Every interaction with your patients matters. Effective patient engagement directly impacts their experience with your dental practice. The responsiveness from your staff, reliable appointment reminders, and customized messaging are vital to how patients interact with your office and think about the care you provide.

For that reason, savvy dentists use Doctible’s dental patient engagement software to forge better connections with all patients by automating various tasks. Better connections mean better patient experience and more positive reviews and referrals for practices.

Now more than ever, patients prefer texting. Requiring all communication to run through phone calls or email channels can be interpreted as inflexible and inconsiderate. Many patients don’t have the time to call your office or check their email inboxes frequently enough. Consequently, their pre- and post-appointment engagement suffers—and so does your reputation.

Real-time communication (such as two-way texting and automation) is fundamentally better for patient engagement. Real-time conversations make your dental practice easily accessible for any questions. Furthermore, HIPAA-compliant texting saves time at the front desk and allows patients to be more aware of and involved in their care.

Customized appointment reminders also directly benefit your calendar. This feature cuts down on phone calls to confirm appointments. Text and voice reminders are sent automatically, allowing patients to let practices know whether they’ll be there or if they need to reschedule. With these convenient reminders, missed appointment rates are reduced by 38%.

Fewer no-shows curb costs as dentists aren’t spending extra money on staff hours and wasted time. They also reduce appointment backlogs. As an added bonus, Doctible gives patients a heads-up if traffic may interfere with their commute to an appointment to reduce late arrivals. 

Controlling Dentists’ Online Reputation

It can be said that patient communication nourishes a dental practice’s reputation. With that in mind, poor communication can be detrimental to a dental practice’s health. As such, good communication requires the ability to listen.

Doctible’s patient engagement software offers specific insight into patients’ experiences. Multiple forms of feedback from patients detail exactly how dentists can improve their operations.

With automated post-appointment review invitations, your practice can acquire valuable patient feedback and fine-tune areas causing it to fall short.

Sean T., a dental practice owner, highlighted the advantages of using Doctible to gain more reviews:

“Doctible simplifies the process for patients to write reviews on sites such as Google and Facebook, which makes it easy for offices to increase the number of quality reviews they receive from patients.”

Moreover, Doctible filters negative reviews by sending them directly to you instead of posting them online. At this point, you can manage your online reputation and maintain your high star rating. Plus, Doctible shows patient satisfaction trends, which reveal the bigger picture of how you’re doing with patients.

The online reviews you gain from dental management software do more than help you clean up your act. They enhance your online visibility, positioning your practice higher in search rankings. And with better local search engine optimization (more commonly known as local SEO), more patients will find you.  

Customized Dental Marketing Strategies

In 2023, it’s critical for every business to realize the power of good marketing. Many successful dental offices have nailed their messaging by taking the necessary steps to understand their audience. Then, tailored campaigns based on customer behavior.  

Once you’ve gotten to know your audience, dental patient engagement tools from Doctible can provide additional, valuable marketing resources. With Doctible, your practice can customize targeted, scheduled emails to make important announcements, offer discounts, or send holiday wishes. So patients don’t forget about your practice, even when they haven’t been in for a while.  

Moreover, Doctible Campaigns display metrics like open rate and campaign reach so that you can actively monitor the effectiveness of your messaging.

Manage Patient Experience with Doctible’s Dental Patient Engagement Software

Better patient communication, a stellar reputation, and greater online visibility are essential to running a business in the dental industry today. But without the right software, it’s a steep hill to climb. You don’t want to fall behind.

Dental patient engagement software simplifies and automates tasks to equally give all patients the best experience possible. Using a top-rated, centralized platform like Doctible helps practices form better connections and become established highly-rated dental practices.