Introduction
Not a lot of people reach out to dentists, partly because of the expensive price tag that comes with dental treatments and partly because of the lack of engagement that patients have in their dental care. This poses a problem for dentists to find new patients and retain existing ones. However, by increasing patient engagement with the help of the best dental patient engagement software, this can be dealt with smoothly. So keep on reading to find out which software you should choose and what goals you can achieve from this.
What is Dental Patient Engagement?
Dental patient engagement involves engaging the patients in their own dental treatment. This includes decision-making, discussing and partnering with the dental care provider, active communication, and more.
It is not enough for dental care providers to reach out to their patients. If their patients are not responsive or are not taking their dental treatments seriously then this means that their patients are not engaged. Hence, dental care providers must engage their patients with the right tools so that their patients can take their dental health seriously and so that the practitioners can benefit from the same as well.
Keep on reading to find out how you engage with your patients and improve patient relationships with the help of dental patient engagement software, what its benefits are, and more.
How to Engage With Your Patients?
There are plenty of ways to improve patient enagagement or patient relationship. This includes:
- Simplifying appointment bookings by automation
- Reducing paperwork and wait times
- Sending timely reminders to patients for their next dental checkup
- Allowing them an easy option to make an appointment again, in case they miss their previous one
- Asking patients for feedback
- Sending your patients birthday greetings via SMS based on the information available in your system
- Educating and communicating with the patient to make them understand the importance of their dental care, etc.
The simplest way to ensure you are able to do all the aforementioned things is by utilising good dental patient care software. Below, we have shared a list of the six best options.
6 Best Dental Patient Engagement Software
- Emitrr
- Doctible
- Weave
- SolutionReach
- Dental Intelligence
- PracticeMojo
1. Emitrr
Emitrr is our number one pick for the best dental patient engagement software. This is because Emitrr is not only affordable and HIPAA-compliant but offers a complete suite of features, such as message scheduling, reminders, follow-ups on treatment, etc., that could facilitate a dental clinic’s patient engagement. On top of this, Emitrr also has excellent customer support, multiple options for integrations, and user satisfaction levels. Here is a detailed look at what you can expect from Emitrr.
Emitrr Features
- Automate and streamline key patient touch points (Reminders, Reviews, Scheduling, No show follow-ups, automatic follow-ups on treatment and more)
- Connect with your patients on the channel they prefer – text, social media, calls, website and more
- Seamless integration with your EMR (1000+ integrations)
- Allow patients to book 24*7 without needing to call the office
- Send HIPAA-compliant instant messages
- Text confidently with end-to-end encryption
- Send 1 to 1 or broadcast message
- Send appointment reminders & confirmations
- Send and receive images, files (lab reports, insurance, x-rays), or videos
- Automate reminders, no-show follow-up, reactivation
- Send personalized messages to boost patient engagement
- Get important patient information through secure digital forms
- Customizable templates
Emitrr Integrations
Emitrr integrates with over 500 tools and apps including these:
- Dentrix
- Denticon
- Curve Hero
- Dentrix Ascend
- Dentrix Enterprise
- Dolphin
- OpenDental
- Eaglesoft
- Practiceworks
Pros of Emitrr
- HIPAA compliant
- Easy-to-use interface
- Multiple useful features
- Excellent customer service
- Easy to set up dashboard
- Affordable & flexible pricing
- Customizable
- Seamless integration
- No-show reduction
- Versatile
- Saves time
- Automate text, confirmations, recalls, etc.
Cons of Emitrr
No major issues with this software
Emitrr’s Pricing
Emitrr is quite an affordable dental patient engagement software. Its pricing starts at $149 a month and you can opt for pay-for-what-you-choose option to enjoy more flexibility.
Emitrr’s Customer Rating
- Capterra: 4.8/5
- G2: 4.7/5
2. Doctible
Doctible is a well-known HIPAA-compliant dental patient engagement software that is available for both private and group dental practitioners. The software offers three kinds of plans, good customer support, and many useful tools and features to facilitate your dental patient engagement including:
Doctible Features
- Two-way texting
- Custom templates
- Set appointments & reminders
- HIPAA-compliant
- Smart scheduler
- Patient recall
Doctible Integrations
- DentiMax
- Dentrix
- ClearDent
- Sensei
- Opendental
- Total Dental
Pros of Doctible
- Great customer service
- Easy to use
Cons of Doctible
- Poor integration
- Lack of automation
- Expensive
Doctible’s Pricing
- Gold: $199/month
- Gold Plus: $299/month
- Platinum: Custom
Doctible’s Customer Rating
- Capterra: 4.8/5
- G2: 4.5/5
3. Weave
Weave Features
- Automatic appointment reminders & confirmations
- Online scheduling
- Digital forms
- Analytics
Weave Integrations
- Dentrix
- Denticon
- Dolphin
- Dentimax
- Eaglesoft
- Easydental
- Eddson
- And more..
Pros of Weave
- Texting feature
- Easy-to-use
- Easy communication
- Good customer service
Cons of Weave
- Messaging issues
- Limited features
- Technical issues
Weave’s Pricing
N/A
Weave’s Customer Rating
- Capterra: 4.8/5
- G2: 4.5/5
4. Solutionreach
Solutionreach is a well-known patient engagement and patient retention platform that allows dental practitioners to increase their patient engagement by offering a number of useful tools such as digital intake forms, omnichannel for communication, and more. The software integrates with major dental PMS tools look at the details below for more:
Solutionreach Features
- Appointment reminders
- Recall
- Customization
- Insurance reminders
- Omni-channel messages
- Batch messaging
- Two-way texting
- Digital intake
- And more..
Solutionreach Integrations
- Dentrix
- Fuse
- Denticon
- Curve Dental
- Eaglesoft
- Opendental
- And more..
Pros of Solutionreach
- User-friendly interface
- Handy communication tools
Cons of Solutionreach
- Poor customer service
- Technical issues
- Messaging issues
Solutionreach Pricing
The pricing of Solutionreach starts at $329 a month.
Solutionreach Customer Rating
- Capterra: 3.8/5
- G2: 4.3/5
5. Dental Intelligence
Dental Intelligence is a popular end-to-end dental practice performance solution that offers dental patient engagement tools like online scheduling, patient portals, automated recalls, and more. The company caters to dental practices of all sizes however, has limited integration capabilities. Here are some more details of Dental Intelligence patient engagement software:
Dental Intelligence Features
- Online Scheduling
- Mobile App
- Reminders & Confirmations
- Team Chat
- Voicemail Drops
- Automated Recalls
- Patient Portal
Dental Intelligence Integrations
- Swell
Pros of Dental Intelligence
- Flexible filtering
- Intuitive interface
- Useful features
Cons of Dental Intelligence
- Poor customer service
- Issues with plan cancellation
- Complicated training and set up
- Limited integration
Dental Intelligence Pricing
N/A
Dental Intelligence Customer Rating
- Capterra: 4.6/5
- G2: 3.6/5
6. PracticeMojo
PracticeMojo is essentially a dental practice management software that offers useful patient engagement tools, such as recalls and online appointment booking, to allow dental practitioners to increase their patient engagement rate. The platform offers three different kinds of pricing plans, but to find out the cost, you’d have to get in touch with them. Meanwhile, here are some other essential details about PracticeMojo that you should know!
PracticeMojo Features
- Recalls & reminders
- Reputation management
- Online appointment booking
- Custom campaigns
- Two-way texting
PracticeMojo Integrations
- Dentrix
- Eaglesoft
- Easy Dental
- Open Dental
- SoftDent
- PracticeWorks
- Ortho2
Pros of PracticeMojo
- Updates constantly
- Excellent customer service
Cons of PracticeMojo
- Limited personalization with campaigns
- Complicated training
PracticeMojo’s Pricing
- N/A
PracticeMojo’s Customer Rating
- Capterra: 4.3/5
Features to Look For Before Buying Dental Patient Engagement Software
Digital dental patient portal
Did you know, according to a study, 80% of patients prefer paperless formalities? So, one of the most important features of dental patient engagement software is a digital dental patient portal that allows patients to easily fill out intake forms and other digital forms online or download other resources. Dental practitioners without this tool often rely on websites or paper formalities, which is often very inconvenient for patients. Not to mention, having a dental patient portal can help you save valuable time and money.
Omni-channel communication
Different patients have different communication preferences. Some might prefer SMS while others may find email or calls more convenient. So when looking for dental patient engagement software, it is important to look for a service that offers all three kinds of communication channels. In addition, you should also check whether the software provider offers the option of mass or bulk text. Mass messaging or broadcast features could be a real-time saver when you want to make an announcement, send birthday messages, or reach out to multiple patients for a similar event.
HIPAA-Compliance
There are legal limitations to the way you can communicate with your patients. To ensure you do not get into trouble, it is essential to look for HIPAA-compliant dental patient engagement software. Before committing to any such software, make sure to check if it supports HIPAA compliance and follows best practices in the dental industry.
Appointment scheduling and appointment reminders
Appointment scheduling and appointment reminders are two amazing features that could directly help you keep your patients engaged. Such features can allow you to send automated appointment reminders and allow your dental patients to remain engaged in their treatment with easy reply options, including confirming, replying, or suggesting alternative times on your calendar.
Apart from this, you can also achieve the following tasks with this feature:
- Schedule and reschedule appointments
- Send personalized appointment updates to patients
- Allow virtual check-ins
Collecting & managing dental patient feedback
Patient engagement shouldn’t be limited to treatment but rather extend to post-dental treatment. This can be achieved by choosing a patient engagement software that offers you the option to collect feedback from your patients by sending them review links or feedback forms. This extra step could not only help you in receiving feedback but also ensure greater dental patient satisfaction leading to increased patient retention rate.
Dental Patient Software Integrations
Personalized patient communication is key for better patient engagement. So ideally, your dental patient engagement software should integrate with your existing dental healthcare management software to improve and facilitate personalized patient communication.
Goals of Dental Patient Engagement Software
Generate new patients
One of the primary reasons or end goal of buying dental patient engagement software is to generate new patients. And so to achieve this, the software that you choose must offer the following capabilities or options:
- Reviews growth: Today, patients read online reviews before going to a dental care practitioner, so the more positive reviews you have, the easier it will be for you to attract new patients based on just that. So the software you choose should allow you to send review links to the patients that you’ve served and prompt them to leave a review for your practice. The better the experience you offer, the more positive reviews you will be able to collect and showcase online, thereby attracting more new patients.
- Dental patient reputation management: The software you choose should allow you to automate review requests and should allow you to monitor and manage your dental practice’s reputation across multiple review platforms into a single dashboard. When a tool like that allows you to track and manage your online reputation, it becomes easy to fix the errors and maintain a good reputation to attract more customers.
- Website chat: A potential patient might land on your website and might even feel convinced to reach out and book an appointment with you. But in order for that to happen, you must look for patient engagement software that allows you to have a website chat option. By utilising the website chat feature, with the automated or manual response, you can make it very convenient for a new patient to book an appointment with you.
- Google messages: Google business messaging is one of the hottest ways for potential patients to interact with a dental care provider today. When a dental patient engagement software offers you this feature, you can leverage and create multiple touch points for potential patients to reach out to you and book easy dental appointments.
- SMS marketing: If you have a list of leads or potential customers, then one of the best ways to turn them into your customers is by utilising SMS marketing offered by dental engagement software. Such software allows you to send 1-on-1 broadcast or group messages, offer customization or SMS personalization and allows you to set up auto-responses in case a patient reaches out to you after hours. With such capabilities at your disposal, you can ensure no opportunity to find a new patient goes to waste.
Keep schedule full for all providers
When your dental patients are engaged in their own dental health, they would be more willing to work together with the dental care provider. This includes being proactive and setting up appointments themselves, or atleast informing the dental care provider if they would be able to make it for their appointments or not ensuring the schedule remains full for all providers. This can easily be achieved if your dental patient engagement software offers the following capabilities:
- Fast fill: The software that you are looking for should offer a fast fill feature so that you can always keep your schedule full by tracking the status of your patient appointments. This feature would allow you to track confirmed vs unconfirmed appointments so that you can fill your last-minute cancellations.
- Recall: Your patients might not remember and might not visit you for their routine check up if they are not engaged. So the ideal patient engagement software should offer a recall feature to send reminders to existing patients for their routine check-up and to keep them engaged in their dental care journey.
- Smart schedule/calendar based texting: Allow your patients to book their own appointments online through the website or by sending a link and relieve the burden of your staff members. Additionally, send automated appointment confirmations through email or texts.
- Reminders: Using this capability you can set automatic and personalized appointment reminders via SMS or email. You can even define the cadence and frequency of the automated reminders ensuring lesser appointment cancellations and no-shows.
Retain existing dental patients
When a patient is engaged in their dental health, they are more likely to adhere to what their dentist is suggesting. And when all this happens, the likelihood of patient retention increases. For this, the ideal patient engagement software should offer the following capabilities:
- Dental patient recall: The recall feature we talked about in the above section comes in handy in patient retention as well. So, the ideal software should allow you to send recalls for routine check-ups to your patients. This can not only keep your patients engaged but will also bring you repeated business.
- Marketing campaigns: Sometimes, you need to go the extra mile to retain your patients. This could mean running an offer or discount and spreading the word. So, your patient engagement software should allow you to run marketing campaigns so that you can reach out to the patients you haven’t seen in a while, retain them, and make them engaged with your service again.
- Follow up on no-show/cancellation: Even if your patient cancels an appointment or does not show up, it does not mean they are unhappy with your services; in most cases, they simply forget about the appointment. Hence, a patient engagement software that offers you the option to send automated follow-up SMS or email on no-show or cancellation could allow you to get an appointment booked from your patients again, which, otherwise, might have led to patient loss.
Improve dental patient experience
Lastly, one of the major goals of having a patient engagement software is to improve patient experience which eventually leads to better reviews, patient retention, and continued business. But for this, you must look for software that offers you the following capabilities:
- Easy communication tools: Look for a dental patient engagement software that allows you to communicate with your patients easily. Features like mass texting, broadcast messaging, group texting, message scheduling, two-way texting, etc. can not only simplify it for the patient to be engaged in their dental healthcare, but can also improve their experience.
- Dental patient portals: The dental patient experience begins right with their first interaction with you. So, having a patient portal using which your patients can make appointments, fill out online forms, download reports, etc., without needing to physically visit the dental office again and again could be just the thing to improve patient experience.
- Patient feedback/survey: Keep your patients engaged even after they take your dental service by sending them a patient feedback form or survey link. This simple thing shows that you care for your patients; it improves patient experience and even keeps them engaged in your dental service, leading to potential patient retention.
Why is Emitrr the Best Dental Patient Engagement Software?
After reviewing some of the best dental patient engagement software, we think Emitrr is the best option that you can possibly pick and here is why we believe so:
1. Feature rich
At the end of the day, patient engagement can only be achieved when you have the capabilities and features to engage with your patients in every possible way. Thankfully, Emitrr is rich in features. Be it scheduling, appointment reminders, recalls, follow up, reputation management, campaigns management, calendar sync, etc. Emitrr has it all, you name it.
2. HIPAA-compliant
There is a legal restriction to the way you can reach out to your patients and even the most feature-rich software could be useless if it is not HIPAA compliant and it allows safe texting. Thankfully, Emitrr is HIPAA-compliant dental patient engagement software, and you can be absolutely sure that all your patient communication is done within safe bounds.
3. Affordable dental patient engagement software
Everyone wants the best, but everyone has a different budget. Thankfully, Emitrr allows you to customize and pay for only the features that you really need, making sure that you can stay within your budget without compromising on the features that your dental business needs. When compared to other software that charge a fixed price and bind you to features that you may not necessarily need, Emitrr definitely is a better option.
4. Seamless dental software integration
When you buy a new software, you would want it to seamlessly integrate with your existing patient management tools, or else, it might disrupt your work flow entirely. Yet again, Emitrr outshines all the other dental patient engagement software by allowing 500+ integrations including integration with most-used dental software like Dentrix, Denticon, Curve Hero, Open Dental, and more.
5. Excellent customer service
You may buy software considering features and price, but in case a problem arises later, you must also receive the proper customer support, and Emitrr’s competitors often seem lacking in this aspect. However, Emitrr takes great pride in offering unmatched customer support 24/7 through various channels, ensuring you are taken care of not only during but also after the onboarding process.
Dental Patient Engagement Software FAQs
It is important to engage with your dental patients so that they can be involved in their own dental health and care. Additionally, when you keep them involved in their dental care by utilising dental patient engagement software like Emitrr, for example, then you can improve patient experience and satisfaction, leading to increased revenue eventually.
Emitrr is the best dental patient engagement service because of its features, price, customer support, integrations, etc. Some other options include SolutionReach, Weave, etc.
Dentrix base subscription starts at $500 a month with additional set-up fees of $995
Conclusion
Patient engagement is the key to improving patient experience and patient satisfaction. By automating routine patient communication, focusing on patient care, sending birthday greetings, sending automatic follow-ups on treatment, ensuring good first interaction, etc. you can achieve so much.
When you take into account this aspect of dental care, then it becomes easy to not only make dental healthcare more effective and easy for patients but as a dental care practitioner, it also becomes very easy for you to retain patients, attract new ones, and increase your revenue. All this, however, can only happen when you deploy one of the best dental patient engagement software, such as Emitrr.
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