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Dentally Portal can be set up to fit your practice working patterns; whether you are a hygienist only practice, a specialist treatment centre or general practice dentist. You can set up Dentally Portal to work for you and your patients.
We have put together a few best practice tips to ensure you and your patients are getting the most out of Dentally Portal, read on to learn more.
Dentally Portal Best Practice Guidance
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Setting up and configuring your Dentally Portal is super easy, and you might find yourself thinking, what do I do next?
We have put together some tips on the outside factors that can affect your Dentally Portal usage and have broken down our advice into three simple sections.
- The Three C’s
- Advanced Visibility
- Lucrative Layouts
This is just advice and doesn’t have to be in place to use Dentally Portal.
The Three C’s - Clear Concise Communications
Communicating with your patients should be exactly as the title suggests. No matter if this is through email, SMS or online chat, Keep the information you are providing short and simple.
Here are a few tips on how you can engage your patients with the content you are writing;
- Offer a greeting to acknowledge the reader before delving into what you need from them.
- Provide only useful, valuable, necessary information.
- A friendly parting message can help your readers see you as genuine.
- Don’t overuse exclamation points.
- Stick to the ideal communication length below.
We have found that the ideal length of an email is between 50 and 125 words*, an email of this length is found to engage your contacts and deliver the relevant information efficiently.
Next time you are logged into Dentally, why not check the communications you are sending and see how they compare against these tips?
Advanced Visibility
When a new patient looks for ‘dental practice near me?’ Do you want to be the first search result in your area?
Appearing on the first page of the Google search results can be easy to achieve once you set up a Google My Business account. This is completely free for you to do and only takes a few minutes to complete. It will improve your online visibility in many ways including;
- Enabling you to appear as a business on Google maps.
- Empowering your patients leave reviews and comments that you can reply to.
- Giving your customers the ability to go straight to your booking page using Google’s business links.
- Provide free reporting tools to give you an insight into your business’ performance since using Google My Business. Google's guide here explains how to use their free reporting tools alongside your business account.
Using the Google My Business feature to boost your online visibility makes it easier for your current and future patients to find you online.
Take a look at googles guide on how to do this here.
Lucrative Layouts
The last tip of today's best practice guidance references the layout of your communications and website.
Emailing Patients - We are often asking our patients to do something when we are emailing them, whether that be to book their recall appointment, or to check out the latest whitening offers on our website.
Including the action at the top of the message is key!
In 2022, the average open rate for emails across all industries sat at around 21%*. Meaning people don’t always open and read the whole message. Getting to the point in the first couple of sentences can be crucial for email communication to be successful.
When looking at the communications Dentally sites are already sending out through Dentally Portal, we have found that emails of one or two sentences, directly from the dentist perform the best. Personalisation is a great way to gain your patient's trust, addressing emails and SMS directly to them, signed as coming from the dentist, is an ideal way to engage your patients.
Website Layout - Including a link to your Dentally Portal clearly on the homepage of your website is a great way for patients to book in with you. Follow these tips to make sure your link is clearly hosted online;
- Make sure the button is clearly labelled, for example: ‘Book Online Now’
- Ensure the button is easily seen and not hidden behind other content or hard to see against the website background.
- Recommended optimal placement of a call-to-action button across multiple devices is in the top right of screen.
Remember you can share your Dentally Portal URL across other platforms as well, such as Facebook or Instagram. Including the URL alongside your latest deals and offers can be a great way to direct patients straight to your booking page.
Following the best practice guidance above will set you on the right path to achieving great results from Dentally Portal. Join the hundreds of practices already using Dentally Portal and get in touch with the Dentally team today.
At Dentally we are constantly looking at our data and researching what performs best to ensure we are making the most beneficial changes for you. If you are interested in helping us through Dentally Portal BETA testing and feedback, then get in touch with our development team via hello@dentally.co
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