Your dental practice website is the digital front door to your practice and is often how you make a first impression to prospective patients. In fact, three out of four people have looked online to find information about a dentist or doctor, according to the PatientPop patient perspective survey. More than 60 percent do so with frequency.
Although it’s important to have a great dental website design, ideas that improve conversion are what drive practice growth. The likelihood of a prospective patient scheduling an appointment at your practice decreases if they leave your website without taking any action. Great dental websites work for the practice’s business: they focus on getting visitors to take a desired action that improves the odds that they’ll convert to a patient.
Creative dental practice ideas to increase website conversion
Display calls to action prominently.
The pages on your dental website should provide website visitors with valuable information and an opportunity to take a desired action. A call to action (CTA) is essential for converting website visitors into new patients — even if they may not be ready to book their first appointment just yet.
Displaying a clear CTA prominently on every page will give website visitors the opportunity to further connect with your practice at every step of the patient search journey.
To bring in patients who are ready to book an appointment, be sure to display a link to your scheduling phone number (click-to-call is key) and a link to your online scheduling in the navigation of your dental website. Also display CTAs prominently on your homepage.
Other CTAs to consider include signing up for an email newsletter, subscribing to your blog, or following your dental practice on social media.
Enable online scheduling.
In today’s fast-paced, digital-first world, convenience is king. Dental practices that don’t offer online scheduling risk missing out on new patients who want to book an appointment as easily as possible, without the hassle of making a phone call. According to an Experian Health report on the state of patient access, 73 percent of patients prefer to book dental and medical appointments online. A similar report indicates 68 percent of patients are more likely to choose providers that offer the ability to book, change, or cancel an appointment online.
Online scheduling is an essential conversion tool because it empowers visitors to request an appointment directly from your website, without having to switch to another device or activity. Great dental websites offer seamless digital scheduling to make it fast and easy for prospective patients to make their first appointment online. For best results, add a clear, prominent link to your schedule module to every page of your website.
Add an exit popup.
When executed properly, an exit popup (also known as an exit intent popup) can help dental practices drive conversion with prospective patients getting ready to leave their website. Dental practices that display a compelling popup when visitors try to navigate away from your website can improve conversion rates by as much as 15 percent, according to Conversion Sciences.
While popup strategies vary, creative dental practices may present a variety of ‘offers’ using an exit popup to keep patients engaged. For example, you could display a popup offering a discount on teeth whitening services, or something as simple as offering to have a staff member call at a desired time to book an appointment (this is great for use after office hours). You could also use an exit popup to link to feature a powerful video testimonial, or to get visitors to sign up for an email newsletter. To determine which ‘offer’ drives the greatest conversion for your dental practice, you can try A/B testing multiple offers to help guide your strategy.
Upgrade your website from good to great
Great dental websites lead to stronger practice growth. Even the most creative dental practices can take these important tactical steps to upgrade their website from good to great. Doing so will help support long-term growth strategy by improving conversion rates on your website and increasing new patient acquisition.
What should you do next?
1. Schedule a free PatientPop demo.
2. Measure your website’s performance using our free scanner.
3. Watch our learning session on “Healthcare practice SEO: 3 tactics your competitors don’t use.”
