When a month's results come in below expectations, the first option may be to raise the advertising budget or to look for a channel that performs better. But that assumes the problem is in the advertising itself, when it may sit at a later stage of the patient's journey.
The ad may reach the patient and the patient may get in touch with the facility, and then the reply comes late or the enquiry never becomes a booking. That is why it is important to know the stage at which the patient's journey stops before deciding to spend more.
The full picture of your enquiries
Patient enquiries arrive through more than one channel, such as WhatsApp, Instagram, the website form and phone calls. So a report from a single channel may not reflect the actual number of enquiries that reached the facility during the month.
Bringing the data from these channels into one place shows the real volume of enquiries, and helps you see whether the problem is in reaching patients or at a later stage.
After the enquiry arrives
How fast an enquiry is answered depends on when it arrives and which channel it came through. Enquiries during working hours may get a quick reply, while those that arrive outside them are answered late or not at all.
Tracking reply times, and the enquiries that got no reply, shows whether the facility is making use of the enquiries that already reach it.
The value of enquiries that fall through
Every enquiry that reaches the facility has a chance of becoming an appointment, and then a treatment. When an enquiry stops before the booking, the facility may lose an opportunity it has already paid to reach through advertising.
Linking the number of these enquiries to your average patient value helps estimate their impact, and shows whether the priority is to spend more or to improve what happens after an enquiry arrives.
Identifying the source of the problem
- Few enquiries, with fast replies and a good booking rate: the problem may be reach or the advertising, and this is where the budget and the channels in use can be reviewed.
- Enough enquiries, with late or missing replies: the problem is at the reply stage, and spending more may bring in extra enquiries without dealing with the reason they are lost.
- Enquiries that become bookings, but patients do not attend: the problem is attendance, and here the priority is reminders and follow-up.
Each case needs a different fix, and a bigger budget makes sense when the problem is reaching enough patients.
But if the enquiries are already arriving, the priority is to find out what happens to them next, and where the patient's journey stops.
Before you spend more, it is important to know where the patient's journey stops.