At BoomCloud, we regularly speak with dentists who are eager to learn more about how they can grow their practices from the ground up. We have found that strategically investing in the right types of software can help set up your practice for continued growth and success.
If you are a new dentist thinking about starting your own practice, you already know that it’s important to select a practice management software system that will help streamline your practice and grow with your practice for years to come. However, you may not know that there are other types of dental software systems that you’ll want to use in your practice as well.
Different types of software can help dentists manage their new practices and set them up for long-term success, including some budget-friendly options that are excellent choices for cost-conscious practices just starting out. Also, some types of software can be useful down the line once your practice has become more established and you’re looking to take things to the next level.
Email Marketing Software
When opening a new practice, attracting new patients is crucial. As your practice grows, retaining the patients that you’ve worked so hard to attract will become just as important. One very easy low-effort way to stay engaged with your patients is by regularly communicating with them through email newsletters.
Creating newsletters is easier and more affordable than ever before. Services like Mailchimp and Revenue Well offer easy-to-use email newsletter templates and a free tier for small business owners. Even if you only have time to create a newsletter once every so often, it will still keep your practice at the top of your patients’ minds when they remember that it’s time to schedule their next hygiene appointment or if they have a problem that requires immediate attention.
Online Appointment Scheduling Systems for Dentists
Today, many patients expect to be able to book appointments immediately online. By enabling patients to schedule appointments online, you’ll be able to have patients book appointments 24/7, instead of only during business hours. Roughly 45% of appointments scheduled through online systems are booked outside of business hours.
This means that by forcing patients to call your office to make an appointment, you may be missing out on many patients. In addition, by having your staff spend less time on the phone, they can focus on other tasks and on providing the best patient experience possible.
Depending on the system you choose, you may also be able to solicit more patient reviews to build your online reputation and gain additional exposure to new patients. Therefore, the benefits and payoff of this type of software extend beyond the immediate ability to offer your patients a convenient way to schedule appointments and check availability.
Practice Management
Multiple practice management platforms are available.
Curve Dental can help with practice management to keep scheduling simple with drag and drop scheduling, in addition to useful patient and scheduling reports.
Open Dental also can help with practice management, as well as custom reports and online patient web forms.
Podium is amazing for patient communication and email, turning online prospects into potential leads and answering questions and scheduling appointments.
Dental Analytics Software
So how is your practice doing? Different software packages can crunch the numbers.
Dental Intelligence runs in the background, tracking everything, analyzing, automating, finding opportunities, and communicating with you and with automated patient follow-ups.
Divergent Dental Resources is a reporting tool that comes delivered to you. There is no fancy dashboard or too many widgets you won’t know what to do with. You can view the metrics you want to see and have them delivered to your inbox with no crazy passwords to remember.
Practice By Numbers translates data and metrics into easy to understand numbers that you and your office manager can use to drastically increase productivity and revenue generation.
Insurance, Communication, and Membership
Other tools manage a variety of additional tasks.
JetPack is an upcoming software package currently in beta. Connect to more than 250 insurance companies, and it will show you which companies you use the most and how much time and money you’re saving. It also easily verifies patient information with access to dashboard reporting.
Automated patient communication software is useful for reducing no-shows and cancellations, improving patient recall, and soliciting patient reviews. Typically, it works by integrating with your practice management software so that it can automatically message patients who are overdue for appointments or who require appointment confirmations. Once you have a sufficient number of patients visiting your practice where it doesn’t make sense to perform these tasks manually, then it can make sense to invest in one of these systems.
Finally, there are many benefits to creating a membership program for your company. Creating an in-house membership plan will give your practice recurring revenue every month while helping patients gain access to the dental care they deserve. These plans involve some setup and ongoing maintenance.
Membership programs are available to help you with this process. Your practice can now build recurring revenue, which increases practice value and allows you to truly care for your patients. Practices with BoomCloud can grow their membership programs by 1000%. For help with growing your membership program, patient communication, and scheduling, check us out!
Mr. Comstock is the founder of BoomCloud, a successful software company that allows dental offices to quickly create, organize, track, and automate their in-house membership program. Visit BoomCloud for more information or contact Jordon and his team at (800) 260-9285 or email info@boomcloudapps.com.
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