Dental patient acquisition from your website

"In the last six months, we've seen an influx in online booking, especially for hygiene. We're averaging up to 50 new patients a month, and probably 70% of them book online." Kelly Patton, clinic coordinator at Elevation Dentistry

That's one office, in a story shared by Henry Schein One, a company that sells dental software. Your numbers will differ. Still, it shows how much of the choice can happen online, before anyone on your team says hello.

Start with some simple math

"Patient acquisition" is the trade name for getting new patients through the door. You can only tell if it's working when you know two numbers.

What one new patient costs you. Add up what you spent last month on finding new patients: ads, your agency, your website and any special offers. Divide that by the new patients who actually sat in your chair. If you spent $1,600 and 8 people came in, each one cost you $200. Calls and forms don't count yet.

What one new patient is worth to you. Take what a typical patient pays you in a year. Multiply it by the number of years they stay. A patient who pays $600 a year for five years brings in $3,000. Then take off what it costs you to give that care. If you keep a third, that patient is worth about $1,000 to you.

Those are made-up numbers, so use your own. Now compare the two. Paying $200 for someone worth $1,000 is a good trade. Paying $200 for someone who comes once and never returns usually loses you money.

Be careful with the number of years. Henry Schein One reports that the average practice keeps about 70 of every 100 patients, so don't assume everyone stays. This is why customer retention strategies belong in the same conversation. If patients stay one more year, each new patient is worth more. You can then afford to spend more finding the next one.

Build one page for new patients

Put everything a new patient needs on one page. Link to it from your top menu and your home page.

Start with money. Using U.S. surveys from 2013 to 2016, the ADA's researchers looked at people who needed dental care and didn't get it. "Could not afford the cost" came up about 11 times as often as "afraid or do not like dentists." Fear is real, but money is louder.

Build the page in this order, using only what's true for you:

1. Say you want them. "Taking new patients now. Our next first visit is usually within 5 days."
2. Say what the first visit costs. "First visit with exam and X-rays: $X without insurance. With insurance, most new patients pay $X to $Y."
3. Name your insurance plans. List the plans you're in network with, then the ones you'll file for out of network. "We accept most major plans" leaves people guessing. Add "List last checked in October" so they can trust it.
4. Say how people without insurance can pay. That might be a payment plan, a membership plan or financing. Name whichever ones you offer.
5. Walk through the first visit. "It takes about 60 minutes. We take X-rays, the dentist looks at your teeth, and we talk through what we found. Nothing happens unless you say yes."
6. Give the nervous person one line. "If it's been ten years, you won't be our first. Tell us when you book and we'll take it slowly."
7. Show who they'll meet. Use real photos and first names. Include the person who answers the phone.
8. Give them a way to book. Put a booking button and a phone number they can tap at the top of the page. Put them again right after the price.

Then give each big reason people come its own page. Someone with a toothache wants your number and today's openings. Someone thinking about implants wants to know who does the work and what it costs.

For big treatments, make the first step small. A dental implant consultation is much easier to say yes to than a mouth full of implants. Specialists have a twist too. In orthodontist marketing, the person reading is often a parent, so write to them. Getting every page to bring in more bookings is called dental website conversion. This new-patient page is the place to begin.

Make booking take under two minutes

Take out your phone and turn off Wi-Fi. Book a visit on your own site and time it. If it takes more than two minutes, or you give up, you've found your next job.

• Show real open times if your software can. A form that says "request an appointment" only starts a conversation.
• If you use a form, keep it short. Ask for a name, a phone number, new or existing patient, and the best time to call. Leave out any box for symptoms. What people type there is health information, and you then have to protect it.
• Say when you'll reply. "We'll call you by noon on the next business day." Pick one named person to do it.
• Put your booking link on Google. Find your profile on Google Search, select Booking, then Add link.
• Use the page people see after they book. Tell them where to park, what to bring and how long it takes. People who know what to expect have one less reason to cancel.

One warning before you add ad tracking. Ad trackers are small bits of code from companies like Google or Meta that report what visitors do. The federal health department says trackers on pages where patients log in can usually see private health details. A court threw out part of that guidance for public pages in 2024, but the rest stands. Ask whoever handles your privacy rules before a tracker goes near a patient portal or a booking form.

Count who gets through

Now follow a new patient from your website to your chair. Use the last 90 days, and write one number in each row:

Fix the biggest drop first, then count again. Also ask every new patient "How did you find us?" and write down what they say. In a month, you'll know which spending earns its keep.

Keep your count going all the way to the chair, whatever your marketing report says. A report can show clicks up 40% on the same day your hygienist is rearranging the floss samples because the 2 o'clock never came.

Be careful with new-patient specials

A special can help a nervous or careful person take the first step. It can also bring in people hunting for the cheapest exam in town. So run a second-visit test. After three months, how many people who came for the special have booked again? Compare that with people who paid the usual price. If the special crowd doesn't come back, do the math above for them and see what they really cost you.

Then check the rules before you publish, because they change from state to state. The ADA's guide to advertising law gives these examples:

• Free has to mean free. Illinois makes it unlawful to charge a new patient for any dental work done at the same visit as a free exam.
• Some ads need set wording. Florida requires ads for a free or discounted service to carry a set statement in capital letters.
• Your insurance contracts may matter. Some promise the insurer your best price. A deep coupon could then be held against you.
• Groupon-style deals carry extra risk. Many states ban referral gifts and fee sharing, and the deal site's cut can look like either one. If you treat patients under a federal health program, federal law may stop you too.

Ask your state dental association before you run one.

Decide where to spend next

Once your page and your booking work, add one thing at a time. Give it three months. Then judge it by what each new patient cost you. Start at the top of this table, since the first two rows cost mostly time.

If a company promises you a price per patient, ask what counts as a patient. A filled-in form hasn't paid you anything yet. Someone in your chair has.

This math works outside dentistry too. A studio owner working out how to get more pilates clients needs the same two numbers.

The visitor who isn't ready to book

A good page still leaves some people with a question of their own. Is this the right treatment for someone like me? Can I afford it? What if I panic in the chair? Many of them leave, and you never find out why.

That's the moment we built Possible for, so read this knowing it's our own product. Possible is an AI built on real sales psychology. It asks each visitor the right question at the right moment, remembers their 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.

This matters most for people weighing up a big treatment. Someone in pain just needs your phone number. Put your prices and plans on your page first, since a tool can't answer what you haven't decided to share. And before any tool collects details about someone's health, ours included, check with whoever handles your privacy rules.

Your first week

1. Today: Book a visit on your own site and time it. Start asking "How did you find us?"
2. Tomorrow: Do the math. Write down what a new patient costs and what one is worth.
3. Day 3: Write the new-patient page, starting with price, plans and the first visit.
4. Day 4: Shorten your form, name who replies, and add your booking link to Google.
5. Day 5: Fill in the count table and pick the biggest drop.

Three months from now, run the second-visit test. Then choose your next row from the spending table.

Questions about dental patient acquisition

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