How Online Appointment Scheduling Helps Prevent No Shows
February 15, 2022
How Online Appointment Scheduling Helps Prevent No Shows
If you run a medical practice does this sound familiar?
Lead shows interest
Lead calls to schedule an appointment
Appointment is booked
Patient is a no show
Lead shows interest
Lead calls to schedule an appointment
Appointment is booked
Patient is a no show
Rinse and repeat.
If this is a scenario that you know all too well, you’re going to want to keep reading this article.
Why do we spend so much time trying to get these leads to book appointments and then stop trying after it’s booked?
Because we want to keep booking appointment after appointment and the follow up and communication after the appointment is scheduled gets thrown by the wayside.
We get it. We’ve been there. We only have so many hours in the day and optimally we’d like to spend that time focusing on patients instead of trying to nurture patients and spending hours on lead acquisition and conversion.
Importance of Lead Conversion
So let’s talk about that: lead conversion. Until a lead becomes a patient they are still a LEAD! You need to follow through the process of lead conversion until they step through that door and become a patient by fulfilling their appointment.
Of course you still continue the relationship and communication process after they are a patient to get positive patient reviews but that’s a blog for another day.
In this blog, we are going to discuss how to prevent these no-shows and missed appointments (we get it people forget) by using automated online scheduling systems.
Automated Online Scheduling Helps Prevent No Shows
Online scheduling helps prevent no shows. How do we know this? Because we’ve been there. We’ve experienced the scenario that we talked about in the beginning and then we created a system to prevent a majority of no shows.
No shows still happen. In a perfect world we’d have zero no shows, but to err is human and people simply forget. But we’ve designed an automated medical software system that makes it nearly impossible to just forget your appointment or to reschedule it.
How Online Scheduling Prevents No Shows
So how does the system work? How does online scheduling prevent no shows?
Because our automated system keeps consistent communication with the lead even after they’ve booked their appointment.
When a lead shows interest through an online campaign (social media, landing page, etc) they will be led through the funnel to click and schedule an appointment.
That is the easy part, clicking to schedule an appointment. What’s harder is making sure they commit and come into the appointment.
So once they confirm their appointment our system will have scheduled, automated follow ups sent out via email, or text to thank them for setting the appointment and then remind them periodically up until it’s time.
They are also given the option to change or cancel their appointment if they find they are unable to make it. This opens the appointment up for another lead to book (creating opportunities instead of dead appointment blocks)
Our system reminds them the day before giving them a heads up and last reminder so they are ready and prepared.
The best part - none of this needs to be handled by a person. It’s all done automatically through our online scheduling system. It’s that simple.
Want To Utilize Our System To Prevent No Shows?
If you’re interested in using our online scheduling system, let’s talk.
Here at Ad Vital, we understand the importance of keeping appointments and preventing no shows. Ad Vital was created by surgeons for surgeons. We wanted to find ways to cut out time consuming tasks while also building the practice at the same time!
Want to try out our systems for yourself? Schedule a demo. You can try out our Ad Vital systems for 2 weeks to see how it can transform your practice and help you grow and build without burning out.
Still have more questions about how to grow your practice with Ad Vital? Chat with us today!