Table of Contents
Introduction to patient acquisition
Patient acquisition is the amalgamation of all the strategies a healthcare practitioner implements to attract new patients to their practice. It is the very initial step that marks the patient journey, which is further followed by connecting with the patients, converting them, and retaining them. It is done in the form of a combination of marketing efforts that reflect upon the USP of the practice and what is it that makes it different from other practices.
If you are a healthcare provider, then acquiring new patients must come as a challenge to you on and off. While you already have a base of patients who come to you whenever they need care, what about the patients who are looking for a top healthcare provider that can solve their problems and provide excellent care? But first, we need to address one question:
Why do patients switch healthcare practices?
Did you know that as of May 2022, there are a total of 1,073,616 active Physicians in the US?
Now imagine the options that the US population is presented with every time they search for a healthcare provider or a service in their area.
While these are the stats of the whole of the US, there are hundreds of practitioners in each city, which means that the people of the US have ample options to choose from. Even if they avail of service from one practitioner and don’t like the experience, they can simply switch to another.
But why does the switch happen?
People nowadays want a better patient experience and need patient-centric, affordable, accessible, and convenient services. A study in 2021 revealed that nearly 33 percent of patients would switch to a healthcare practice that encompasses modern communication tools such as text messaging and automated reminders.
Here’s mainly why people switch practices:
- Poor communication
- Billing issues
- Unbelievably long wait times
- Lack of proper technology
- Poor customer service
In order to ensure that patients don’t leave your practice for a better alternative, you need to keep these pointers in mind and ensure that patient retention is not a problem for you before you start exploring opportunities for new patient acquisition.
Importance of patient acquisition
Let us say that you have a current base of 100 patients who visit your practice whenever they need any healthcare service. How often do those patients visit you: weekly? Monthly? Quarterly?
Well, there is no guarantee or a fixed duration for a patient to visit you. They will make a visit only when it’s required. Since you cannot expect your existing patients to visit you every four days, how is it that you maintain a steady inflow of patients? It’s simple, by acquiring more patients.
Patient acquisition is important as it keeps your practice running even if your existing patients aren’t visiting you often. While you can retain your existing patients, you can implement healthcare marketing strategies to ensure that you tap the enormous pool of potential people that can visit your practice and constantly keep your schedule full.
Having talked about the importance of patient acquisition, it is also essential that we address the challenges that make patient acquisition a tough nut to crack.
Challenges pertaining to patient acquisition
What is patient acquisition cost?
Patient Acquisition Cost is the cost you incur to get a new patient onboard. From reaching out to that person to persuading him/her to avail your services, how much you spend in the form of money, resources and time; is what patient acquisition cost tells you. Patient Acquisition Cost includes:
- Marketing expenses
- Overhead costs
- Taxes
- Wages
How to calculate Patient Acquisition Cost
Calculating your Patient Acquisition Cost is important as it gives you insights into the strategies that are working well for you and the ones that you need to discontinue. The calculated costs help you understand how much you’re investing to grow your practice and how is it that you should be directing your marketing spend.
Here’s an example:
Let’s say that the following is the cost for each of these parameters:
Marketing expenses = $20000
Overhead costs = $5000
Taxes = $5000
Wages = 30000
Number of patients acquired = 250
So now, the patient acquisition cost will be the sum of marketing expenses, overhead costs, taxes, and wages; divided by the number of patients acquired.
PAC = ($20000+$5000+$5000+$30000) / 250 = $240
This means that $240 is the cost of acquiring every new patient. So, let’s say that a patient, who visits you for the first time, generates an income of $100, then you will start gaining profit during the patient’s third visit.
Comparing patient acquisition cost to Patient Lifetime Value
How much a patient is willing to pay for your services throughout his association with your practice is called Patient Lifetime Value. It is an important metric as it helps you understand how much ROI (Return on Investment) you get on acquiring a new patient.
PLV answers your question with respect to translating patient acquisition costs into long-term gains. For you to be able to maximise profits, there needs to be a margin between your patient acquisition cost and patient lifetime value. The greater the margin, the better return you get.
Let’s calculate patient lifetime value:
For example, you run a dental practice. Each average patient visits you 4 times a year, generating an income of $150 per visit. Let’s say that the patient stays with your practice for 5 years. The lifetime value of your patient will be a product of the number of visits (N), the income per visit (I), and the duration (Y). In this case,
PLV = N X I X Y = 4 X $150 X 5 = $3000
This means that an average patient pays $3000 throughout their association with your healthcare practice.
Key differences between patient acquisition and patient retention
Top 10 patient acquisition strategies
Now that you have a foundational understanding of patient acquisition, here are some key strategies that will help you acquire new patients.
Run Advertisements
There is no running away from paid ads, Google, Facebook and Instagram ads are a great way for you to attract new patients.
It’s a great way to constantly build your database once you have enough people that know about your business and are willing to receive business communication from you via email and SMS you can continually move people through your funnel and gain more patients.
Create Content that is SEO-friendly
In a world wherein content reigns supreme, you must also make use of this dynamic and utilize content to promote what you do. The best part about content creation is that it is free of cost and an organic way to acquire more patients.
All you need to do is become more active on your Website, Linkedin, Healthgrades, Google my business page or wherever else your audience spends time you can also choose a platform that aligns with your available bandwidth the best.
The idea is to position yourself as a thought leader on these various platforms and back that up with useful, engaging and SEO-friendly content on your website.
Focus on Reviews
Reviews constitute to be an important factor for people to make their purchase decisions and in your case, reviews from your existing patients can be the passage for you to attract new patients.
Whenever a person looks for medical care, they often do a Google search of the service required and then make their decision by analyzing reviews for each of the medical practices or healthcare providers online. The one with the best reviews and star ratings usually wins the race.
So, make sure that you garner as many reviews as possible from your existing and past patients, to be able to present your business in a positive light and make it more credible, needless to add you’ll always show up on the top slots for local searches.
With Emitrr’s online reputation management capability, you can send automatic review requests to your patients and also customize those requests as per your requirements. Also, you can easily manage all the reviews that you garner from different platforms under one roof.
Be active on social media
With 4.6 billion people using social media at present, it is imperative that you have the relevant social media strategies in place to attract that huge customer base. Social media is an opportunity for you to be discovered and to create a good first impression.
Connect with your audience with images, informative videos, fun quotes, and everything else that defines what you do, and how you’re different from others.
Use Email and SMS Marketing
Email marketing is a great communication tool to promote your medical practice and keep your customers informed about any developments or new additions to your services.
With email marketing, you can connect with people at your convenience and convert them into your customers.
You can use SMS to engage with your audience and share special offers etc. to drive in more patients.
Pro tip – Combining Email and SMS communication with paid ads is a great way to convert more patients
Keep an Eye on your Competitors
Just like you, there must have been other healthcare practitioners who are making just the amount of effort to acquire more customers. How are you different from them?
Do a competitor analysis, and see the gaps in their offerings. Make use of those gaps to highlight how you’re better so that your potential customers can be transformed into loyal patients.
Focus on Psychographic Market Segmentation
In order to reach out to a broader audience base, you need to move beyond just age, gender, and health concerns. What are the patient’s priorities in life? What are their goals and beliefs? How can you help them fulfil those priorities?
Think about it and carve your strategies to show that you really care. Your deep interest in their motivations and beliefs will make you more connected with them and will set your practice apart from the competition.
Invest in print ads
While Digital Ads can add ample value to your online reputation, it is important that you also tap other forms of media such as print to get your name out. This physical outreach can help you make your way to an audience that is not digitally inclined.
With this, you can make sure that you reach out to people with different interests, preferences, and backgrounds.
Offer Educational Content
As a healthcare practitioner, your job is to not just treat patients, but also educate people on leading a healthy life.
In an era where searching for every small health issue on Google directs you to the possibility of having cancer; it is important that people know to get medical information through a trusted source.
Be that trusted source and assist people with their health concerns, not just in your clinic but online as well.
Focus on patient retention too
Merely acquiring patients shouldn’t be your point of focus. If people are entering the doors of your clinic and leaving without turning back, there is something wrong with your strategies. When you acquire a new customer, make the extra effort to retain that customer. Follow patient retention strategies to ensure that you do not lose out on steady revenue.
Acquire more patients with Emitrr’s capabilities
In a world where healthcare practitioners face cutting-edge competition, how is it that you plan to rise above?
Emitrr can help you achieve your customer acquisition and retention goals through capabilities that keep you close to your patients. With its features such as business messaging, online scheduling, appointment reminders, webchat to text, reviews, reputation management, and text message marketing; you can easily acquire more patients and build lasting relationships with them.
Businesses that use Emitrr as their one-stop portal report a 30 percent increase in their customer base. The efficient interface allows for easy integration with your CRM and also helps you grow your reviews and enhance your online reputation.
With Emitrr’s capabilities, you can ensure that you don’t miss calls, track and manage reviews across multiple platforms, follow up with your patients with utter ease, and efficiently maintain a database of your patients.
So what are you waiting for? Book a demo and stay one step ahead of your competitors.
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