Dental implant consultations: getting more booked online

Speed matters more here than it does for a cleaning, because this patient is comparing you with someone else.

"Implant leads are shopping. When someone requests a consultation at your practice, they have often requested one at a competitor the same evening..." Manu Guerrero, founder of Medical Marketing, a marketing firm for dentists and clinics

Find where you're losing them

Before you change anything, count five things from the last 90 days: visits to your implant page, requests by phone and form, consultations booked, people who showed up, and people who said yes to treatment. Then find your row.

If nobody can give you these numbers, start a tally by the phone today. Getting found is a separate job, and dental marketing covers it. The rest of this page is about the people who have already found you.

Who is reading your page

Someone reading about implants isn't choosing where to get a cleaning. They may have lived with a gap or a loose denture for years. They may be embarrassed about it. They expect a big number and they're scared of surgery.

They're often reading when you're closed, too. A 2022 summary in the journal Dental Abstracts says 43 out of every 100 patients look for doctors and dentists after hours. Nobody at your front desk can reassure them then. Your page has to do that alone.

They may also arrive with a list. One consumer pricing site tells patients it's often worth getting two or three consultations. It also warns that "free" can leave out the 3D scan. So assume they'll check.

Build the consultation page

Give the consultation its own page, separate from your homepage and your general implant page. Point your Google profile and your implant ads at it. This one page is a big part of dental website conversion for any practice that places implants. Here's what goes on it, in order.

1. The first screen

On a phone, the first screen should say what the visit is, what it costs and how long it takes. Then give them one button to book and a number they can tap.

Example wording, only if it's true for you:

Dental implant consultation: $X, about 45 minutes. You'll get an exam, a scan if you need one and a written plan with prices. There's no surgery that day and no pressure to decide.

2. What "free" really covers

Pick one of these setups, and make sure you can explain it in one sentence.

Whichever you choose, answer these on the page:

• Is the 3D scan included?
• Can I have a copy of my scan if I go elsewhere?
• If I pay a fee, does it come off the treatment?

The second one takes nerve. It also tells a comparing patient that you aren't trying to trap them.

3. What happens at the visit

Walk them through it, with rough times for your office. A typical visit goes like this:

1. We ask about your health, your medications and what's bothering you.
2. We look at your teeth and gums and check your bite.
3. We take X-rays, and a 3D scan if we need to see your bone.
4. We tell you whether implants could work for you, and what else could.
5. We give you the price and the timeline in writing.

Then add the line people are looking for, as long as it's true for you: Nothing surgical happens at this visit.

4. A real answer on cost

You can't give one price, because the job changes from mouth to mouth. You can give a range and say what moves it:

A single implant with its crown usually runs $X to $Y here. It costs more if you need a tooth removed or a bone graft first. You'll see the exact number in writing before you decide, and you can pay monthly through [lender].

If your state restricts how you advertise fees, change the wording but keep the idea. A person who has no idea what this costs will often assume the worst and close the tab.

5. Who does the work

Name the person who places the implant and the person who fits the crown. Say what training they've had, in plain words. If it's all done under one roof, say so. If you send patients to a surgeon, say that as well, because they'll want to know how many offices they'll be visiting.

Then show real implant cases and reviews from implant patients, with written permission from each patient. Reviews about a nice hygienist are lovely, but they won't help this reader.

6. A line for the nervous

Been putting this off for years? You won't get a lecture here. You can take your plan home and think about it.

Only publish that if your team really works that way. If the person presenting plans pushes for a decision on the day, patients may say so in reviews.

Make booking take under a minute

You have two honest options:

• A real calendar. Hold a few consultation slots each week and show those online. This works best when you have set times and the right person free for them.
• A request form. This is fine if you say what it does. California Dental Implants Specialists states plainly that its form requests a visit and doesn't book one. Then it explains how and when you'll hear back.

Ask for very little: name, phone, best time to reach them and what they're interested in (one tooth, several teeth, a whole arch, or not sure). Then ask how soon they'd like to come in. That same practice offers "Just researching for now" as an answer, which is worth copying. It lets people raise a hand without feeling trapped, and it tells your team who to call first.

Three more things:

• Keep medical details off the form. Tell people those can wait for the visit. They'll feel safer, and you'll have less sensitive information sitting in an inbox.
• Ask permission to text. Keep appointment texts and marketing texts as separate tick boxes, as that practice does. Have someone who knows the texting rules check the wording.
• Add the link to Google. On Google Search, go to your Business Profile, select Booking, then Add link. Use the consultation page, not your homepage.

Reply before they move on

If they've asked two other practices tonight, the first friendly reply has a big advantage. During office hours, call within minutes. After hours, send a text straight away and call first thing in the morning.

Hi Dana, this is Maria at Smith Dental. Thanks for asking about implants. I can see you Tuesday at 10 or Thursday at 4. Which is better? If you'd like to ask about cost first, just reply here.

Then there's the phone. Your front desk has answered "how much is an implant?" in every possible tone of "it depends." So far, none of those tones has booked anyone. Give them these three answers instead:

If they don't answer, don't try once and give up. Several friendly tries across two weeks is reasonable. Then stop chasing and move them to an occasional email, if they've agreed to that. Many of these people take weeks or months to decide.

Don't forget the people who are already yours. Look in your records for patients who asked about implants or got a plan and never started. They already know you, so you aren't paying to reach them, and that's why customer retention strategies belong in this plan too.

Between the booking and the visit

Fear grows in the gap, so offer a time within a week if you can. Then send a confirmation that makes the visit feel normal:

• The time, the address and where to park
• The name and photo of the person they'll meet
• What to bring: a list of their medications, their insurance card and any old X-rays
• A reminder of what you said on the page: no surgery that day and no pressure

Send a reminder a couple of days before and another the day before. Make it easy to move the time, because someone who can reschedule by text won't feel they have to vanish.

If no-shows are still high, try a small fee that comes off the treatment, and tell people about it when they book. Try the reminders first, because asking a nervous stranger for a card is a big ask.

Ask what's stopping them

Everything above is your best guess. Your visitors know the real answer, so put one question on the implant page for people who've been reading for a while:

What's your biggest question about implants?

Give them answers they can tap, and let what they say tell you what to fix.

Some visitors want a reply on the spot, though, and at 9pm nobody's there to give one. We built our own product for that, so take this with a pinch of salt. Possible is an AI built on real sales psychology that asks each visitor the right question at the right moment, remembers the answers and guides them to a booking. It's free to start, and here's more on our AI sales assistant for clinics and local services. If your page has no price range or doesn't work on a phone, fix that first. And have someone who knows the health privacy rules look at any tool that collects details about someone's health, ours included.

Check the wording against your state's rules

Breaking some of these rules can put your license at risk, so big claims are worth a second look. The ADA's advertising guide is the one to bookmark. Rules vary, so check your own state before you publish.

Your first week

1. Today: Count your five numbers and find your row. Start the tally by the phone.
2. Tomorrow: Book a consultation on your own site with your phone. Time it.
3. Day 3: Decide what your visit costs and what's included. Write it in one sentence.
4. Day 4: Write the first screen, the visit steps and the cost range.
5. Day 5: Cut the form down. Give your team the three phone answers and the first text.
6. Days 6 and 7: Set up the confirmation and reminders, check your wording against your state's rules and add the link to Google.

The idea of a small first yes also works in orthodontist marketing, where the first visit is much smaller than the treatment too.

Questions about dental implant consultations

Go deeper on conversion tactics.