Don’t Push Discounts to Get More Leads. Promote Quality to Get More Patients

At People + Practice, we often hear the same refrain from orthodontic practices: a marketing company promised them they will back up a dump truck of new leads right to their doorstep; as many as they can handle. The catch? You have to offer an upfront discount to get them to fill out a form. Inevitably, the leads generated by this kind of marketing are of poorer quality, don’t show up for scheduled appointments, don’t respond back to attempts to reach them, and if they do make it through a consult, they are rarely ready to start treatment. A lot of the time, the patient was attracted by the discount but ultimately can’t afford treatment over the long term or they weren’t ready to begin the orthodontic journey when they filled out the form. At the end of the day, that marketing campaign promising a ton of new leads every month is all just smoke and mirrors, providing lots of email addresses but very few starts in comparison. 

Poor quality leads can hurt your practice! Here’s why:

• Wasted time - The doctors’ consultation time, not to mention the time spent by the front desk and TCs chasing people who are never going to start treatment.
• Making concessions - When you sell a healthcare service like a commodity you end up in a race to the bottom. Your practice is seen as providing exactly the same treatment as everyone else, so the lowest price wins.
• Perception - When your full-fee patients see you dishing out discounts it can create contempt within your patient base. We’ve all been frustrated at one point or another when our cell phone or internet company offers their best deals only to new customers, no one likes that!
• Shortsightedness - Short-term lead volume doesn’t help you build a long-term lasting brand in your community. A discount will attract either the wrong people or those at the wrong stage in their customer journey. Even worse, if you continue to market to them, you might lose them forever as they unsubscribe to your communications on email and social media.

We believe there’s a better way.

People + Practice has a different approach. We believe that a focus on building trust with your potential patients, educating them on your practice and what differentiates you, along with clearly explaining how orthodontics can be affordably folded into their monthly budget goes a lot further to converting a lead than offering a discount alone. Offering discounts without considering the overall affordability of orthodontics and the value of your service and expertise does little to actually convert a patient, and only serves to collect email addresses of those afraid of missing out.

Instead, we create stronger new patient inquiries who have a higher likelihood of converting into patients. Our holistic marketing approach recognizes that orthodontic treatment is a significant  investment but it can still be affordable. Importantly, prospective patients need to have a certain level of education about your practice, and a huge helping of trust, before they’re ready to start treatment. 

“On the path to a healthier smile, trust isn't merely a part of the process—it's the guiding force,” says Amy Epstein, Co-founder and COO of People + Practice. “It directs patients as they decide where to invest their time and money, especially when they're committing now to outcomes they'll see later.”

Here’s how we do it at People + Practice:

• Holistic approach - People + Practice’s marketing data shows that prospective patients, even ones who are sent to you by your closest referral sources, still do their research before choosing an orthodontist. They will choose their own research journey to gain the information they need to become educated on you, your competitors, and what you both offer.
• Multichannel strategy - These patients are likely to encounter your brand on at least three or more channels prior to reaching out to you and being ready to make a commitment to treatment, including your website, your Google Business profile (especially your reviews), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and any other information they can get their hands on to reinforce their decision to schedule a consult. They’ll ask friends, family, their dentist, and see paid ads, and all of it should provide useful content to help them build trust in your practice.
• Building trust and providing vital information - Patients have questions. Is orthodontic treatment something that can help me get the results I’m looking for? Can this provider treat my issue? Do I qualify for the kind of treatment I want? Can I afford orthodontics? Will my insurance cover treatment at your practice? How convenient is it to be a patient at this practice? How do they communicate, schedule visits, and what technology do they use to follow treatment remotely or limit the amount of unnecessary appointments? Before a prospective patient makes an appointment for a consultation, they have already used a number of resources to find out about treatment and your practice - most of them online.

Why a discount alone, simply doesn't work:

While a discount is a great carrot, you can’t turn around and hit them over the head with a huge monthly fee. What deal-seeking patients are really looking for is affordability. A combination of steep inflation, high interest rates, and ballooning consumer debt are stretching your potential patients to the limit. Even though orthodontic care is a high priority, it still has to fit the family budget. You need to adapt to today’s consumer-driven economy.

How can you provide the same quality treatment and personal service if you have to lower your fees to get more patients to begin treatment? The answer is, you don’t. You also can’t let money be an obstacle to starting treatment. Making treatment more affordable is different than lowering fees. To do that, orthodontists have to institute systems that will help patients become comfortable with the total cost of treatment within the constraints of their monthly budget.

The first step is to have a flexible initial payment. An initial fee upwards of $1,800 is simply a non-starter for the majority of people nowadays. If you want to send a potential patient packing off to the competition or some alternative orthodontic treatment option then hit them with a huge initial deposit and see what happens. If you set your barrier to entry too high then your conversion rate is going to suffer big time. Our data shows that practices who see the most success are offering a down payment option of less than $1,000, typically between $500-$700, and often allow that down payment to be broken up into two installments.

As we mentioned, don’t immediately hit them over the head with a huge monthly payment. Try to keep it in an affordable range. Work with the patient to find out how much they can afford per month. You can do this by extending the payment beyond treatment time by about six months. We have heard the resistance to this plan before but the reality is that in the orthodontic industry the delinquency rate is often less than 3% for patients who have set up automatic payments with their credit card or bank account, so don’t worry about getting stuck. This eliminates the dreaded “the check is in the mail” conversations with clients and reduces your risk in general, allowing you to be more flexible with extending payments.

Another way to really make treatment affordable and help families begin treatment with your practice is to find out their insurance benefits before the initial consultation and then start accepting insurance payments directly as partial payment. This will offset costs greatly for most patients and is much more convenient for them. Instead of having the patient submit their own reimbursements to their insurance, work directly with the insurance company. This will make it easier for patients to agree to your financial arrangements and start treatment right away.

We think our marketing plan works best to deliver patients!

Our holistic marketing strategy ensures your brand is everywhere it can be online to meet patients where they already are, provide you with the technology to answer their questions and address their concerns, and communicate that treatment at your practice is affordable without sacrificing quality care and personal service! We also equip practices with technology that allows them to communicate in a seamless workflow that resonates with digital natives. 

Now picture it: Which patient do you want walking in the door? One who trusts you because your online presence and communication has answered their questions and already built trust before they even meet you? Or a lead filling out forms just looking for the practice with the lowest price? We think you already know the answer to that question.

At People + Practice we don’t create leads, we create patients. Let us know if you’re interested in learning about how People + Practice can help you.