Take control of your digital presence today by using these 10 curated tools to help drive new, and existing patients to your website to book appointments and maintain loyalty:
#1 Email Marketing Platforms
Email marketing is one of the easiest ways to stay in touch with your clients. If you have an existing EMR or CRM, check if there is an email marketing or marketing automation module. If you are new to email marketing, here are several popular platforms to get you started: MailChimp, HubSpot Marketing Hub, Constant Contact, Pardot, and ActiveCampaign.
Tools such as HubSpot Marketing Hub, Pardot, and ActiveCampaign are ideal if you’re interested in launching a full-scale marketing automation effort. These tools allow you to automate communications based on customer behavior.
Several companies offer add-ons and integrations with existing email services:
· Virtru: An encryption platform add-on for popular email services like Gmail and Microsoft. Their software enables you to encrypt data for HIPAA compliance and control who has access to the content you send. This means users don’t have to switch email providers or the way they work to be HIPAA compliant.
· Paubox: Email provider that integrates with Gmail and Office 365. Paubox allows users to send and reply to emails in a way that’s fully encrypted and HIPAA compliant.
#2 Waiting Room Education Tools
Patients in your waiting room are a captive audience, don’t miss an opportunity to educate them. Read Tips for Educating Patient in the Waiting Room for an in-depth analysis of waiting room tactics. Use these tools to maximize waiting room time:
- FriendMedia: An automated in-practice marketing tool that delivers dynamic content on iPads, TVs, and digital in-office signage. Use FriendMedia to highlight special offers and provide education about new products and services.
- BrightSign: BrightSign provides digital signage media players, cloud networking, and presentation authoring solutions.
#3 Before and After Tools
Commonly referred to as the “resume” of your clinic—we cannot overemphasize the importance of a strong before and after portfolio. Help patients visualize results with before and after images. Use a photo tool as part of your marketing to make picture browsing easy and accessible to patients.
- HumazeMD: HumazeMD organizes before and after photos to make it easy to browse the photo library on your website, and during patient consultations. Your photos housed on this platform integrate with your website and clinic consult tools to organize photos by procedure, and patient characteristics. This makes it easy to locate the right pictures for each patient consultation—quickly.
#4 EMR Tools
EMR software captures, tracks, and manages patient data and is the key to developing and monitoring practice key performance indicators. Data in your EMR can support marketing campaigns and help you store important information that can help you provide customized 1:1 recommendations. Read Top EMRs in Aesthetics for a full breakdown of popular platforms.
#5 Online Patient Review Tools
Online reviews are a great way to get free word-of-mouth marketing. Leverage Google reviews to get started. Asking your patients to leave a review on Google helps build online brand presence and supports your SEO efforts. Reviews build credibility without dedicating a budget towards online reputation. Read 5 Ways to Use QR Code in Aesthetic Practices for a guide to using the check-out process to get more Google reviews.
#6 Survey Tools
Stay in lockstep with your patient’s preferences, and impressions of your practice by asking them to complete a satisfaction survey after each appointment. Surveys can be sent via email, text, or added to an iPad for completion during check-out. If you’re using a marketing automation platform you can even automate these follow-up surveys. If you’re new to surveys read 5 Customer Surveys Your Practice Needs to get started.
#7 SMS Tools
Texting has grown in popularity and is an instant way to get in touch with your customers. Use a SMS tool for appointment reminders, promotions, and special events. If you’re looking for a HIPPA compliance texting platform check out TigerText Essentials. Start with your EMR, it may have existing integrations with SMS tools.
#8 Website Tools
There are many options when it comes to content management systems (CMS) to build your practice website or blog. Below is a list of the most popular website builders:
- WordPress: WordPress is a standard publishing platform but may not be as user-friendly for those without web development experience.
- Squarespace: Templates function well on both mobile and desktop but there are fewer bells and whistles integrations than are available on WordPress. Templates are clean and easy to manipulate.
- Wix: The visual editor makes Wix ideal for those with little web development experience.
#9 Social Media Scheduling Tools
Streamline your social media by creating a content calendar, scheduling posts, and managing all of your social media channels in one place. This will help organize, track and gain insights into what social media strategies are most effective. Common social scheduling platforms include Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Loomly.
#10 Call Tracking Software
Consider implementing call tracking software that can give you key insights into key metrics such as duration of patient calls and average wait time. This software also enables you to record conversations for coaching and continuous improvement.
