Don’t Push Discounts to Get More Leads. Promote Quality to Get More Patients

Dr. Leon Klempner

 

At People + Practice, I often hear from orthodontic practices about marketing companies that promise an influx of leads, contingent on offering an upfront discount. For the most part, these leads are typically of poorer quality—patients who don’t show up for appointments or aren’t ready to start treatment. Such marketing campaigns end up generating numerous email addresses but very few starts. You end up spinning your wheels a lot but getting nowhere.

 

How Poor Quality Leads Can Hurt Your Practice

  1. Wasted Time: Doctors and staff waste time on consultations and follow-ups with non-committed leads.
  2. Making Concessions: Selling healthcare services like commodities leads to a race to the bottom, reducing perceived value.
  3. Perception: Full-fee patients may feel contemptuous seeing discounts, much like customers frustrated by better deals for new clients from their service providers.
  4. Shortsightedness: Short-term lead volume doesn’t build a long-term brand. Discounts attract the wrong audience or those not ready for treatment, leading to unsubscribes from your communications.

Instead Build Trust Over Discounts

Building trust with potential patients, educating them about your practice, and explaining how orthodontics can fit into their budget, is a better way to market your services. Discounts without this foundation only collect email addresses of those who may not convert into patients.

Creating Stronger Inquiries

A holistic marketing approach emphasizes the significance of orthodontic treatment as an investment. Prospective patients need to trust your practice and understand your value before starting treatment.

“On the path to a healthier smile, trust isn’t merely a part of the process—it’s the guiding force,” says Amy Epstein, Co-founder and COO of People + Practice. “It directs patients as they decide where to invest their time and money, especially when they’re committing now to outcomes they’ll see later.”

A Better Digital Marketing Strategy

  1. Holistic Approach: Our marketing data shows that prospective patients, even ones who are sent to you by your closest referral sources, still do their research before choosing an orthodontist. They will choose their own research journey to gain the information they need to become educated on you, your competitors, and what you both offer.
  2. Multichannel Strategy: These patients are likely to encounter your brand on at least three or more channels prior to reaching out to you and being ready to make a commitment to treatment, including your website, your Google Business profile (especially your reviews), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and any other information they can get their hands on to reinforce their decision to schedule a consult. You content needs to build trust across these channels.
  3. Building Trust and Providing Information: Patients have numerous questions about treatment, costs, insurance, convenience, communication, and technology. Before a prospective patient makes an appointment for a consultation, they have already used a number of resources to find out about treatment and your practice – most of them online.

Why Discounts Alone Don’t Work

While a discount is a great carrot, you can’t turn around and hit them over the head with a huge monthly fee. What deal-seeking patients are really looking for is affordability. A combination of steep inflation, high interest rates, and ballooning consumer debt are stretching your potential patients to the limit. Even though orthodontic care is a high priority, it still has to fit the family budget. You need to adapt to today’s consumer-driven economy.

Making Treatment Affordable Without Sacrificing Quality

  1. Flexible Initial Payment: Avoid high initial fees. Successful practices offer down payments of less than $1,000, often between $500-$700, and allow installments.
  2. Affordable Monthly Payments: Work with patients to find affordable monthly payments, extending payments beyond treatment time if necessary. Automatic payments reduce delinquency rates and financial risks.
  3. Insurance Benefits: Accept insurance payments directly to offset costs for patients, making financial arrangements easier and encouraging immediate treatment starts.

A Marketing Plan That Actually Works

The above strategy ensures your brand is prominent online, meeting patients where they are, answering their questions, and communicating affordability without compromising care. At People + Practice we equip practices with technology for seamless communication that resonates with digital natives.

Now picture it: Which patient do you want walking in the door? One who trusts you because your online presence and communication has answered their questions and already built trust before they even meet you? Or a lead filling out forms just looking for the practice with the lowest price? I think you already know the answer to that question.

Dr. Leon Klempner,

NYSSO Board, Suffolk County

Leon Klempner, DDS is CEO of People + Practice, a digital marketing consultancy exclusively for orthodontists, and the co-host of The Golden Age of Orthodontics podcast. Dr. Klempner also serves on the Executive Board of The New York State Society of Orthodontists.