11 Ways to Acquire Surgery Patients for Your Practice

Physician asking and sharing patient reviews online as a strategy to acquire surgery patients for your practice

This article dives into effective strategies to help you acquire surgery patients for your practice, so you can grow and maintain positive cash flow.

Acquiring new patients is essential to generating revenue in your practice, but the challenge of finding potential new patients can be daunting. 

Read on to explore practical strategies for attracting new patients.

Key Takeaways

  • Personalized marketing is an effective tool for acquiring new surgery patients. 
  • First impressions are essential, so be certain that your online presence is current and consistent.
  • Having an effective system for returning calls, emails, and inquiries promptly can increase your conversion rates. 

Why Personalized Marketing is Essential

Referrals as a way to acquire surgery patients
Image Source httpswwwsmartmdcommarketing for doctors 3

Just as personalized medicine is about customizing treatment plans for patients, personalized marketing is about delivering tailored and relevant information to potential new patients at the right time.

The patient search journey exists on multiple platforms and devices, which means you need to have a wide reach to attract new patients. Customer relationship management tools provide helpful information about past engagement behavior and can help you make decisions about when, how, and how often to connect with your list.

Personalization can be the difference between a patient ignoring your email and clicking through to take the next step and schedule an appointment.

11 Strategies to Acquire Surgery Patients

Consider the following marketing strategies to grow your surgery practice:

1. Know Your Target Market

To grow your practice, you must clearly identify the characteristics of the patients you want to serve. This will help you select effective marketing strategies to reach them. Knowing your target market will also help ensure that you use your marketing budget wisely. 

2. Be Visible

Be visible online and in-person within your community. Your objective is to be the first resource potential patients think about when they have a need that you can resolve. Ensure that you have a consistent online presence across all channels—website, social media platforms, professional networking websites, affiliate websites, and others.

3. Ask for Referrals

Word of mouth is still a powerful referral source. Ask your existing patients for referrals to demonstrate social proof to potential new customers who read online reviews before making healthcare decisions. Be sure to provide them with a link to the platform where you’d like them to leave their review. Making it as easy as possible will increase the likelihood they’ll follow through. 

4. Upgrade Technology

First impressions are essential. If your website or social media presence is outdated, clunky, or nonexistent, your patients will turn to a competitor. Optimize your website for mobile devices, and ensure that your phone number is clickable. 

5. Invite Connections

Make it easy for potential new patients to connect with you by keeping your phone number and scheduling links visible on your website. Invite patients to reach out to ask questions and be sure to return their calls and emails in a timely manner. Reducing friction makes it easier for potential new patients to connect with you.

6. Share Success Stories

While HIPAA rules limit the type of information you can share, de-identified data and patient-consented testimonials can be powerful motivators for potential new patients. Storytelling helps patients see a healthier future through the lens of other patients. Success stories may also include the number of patients you’ve served and the types of patients you typically work with.

7. Enlist Email Marketing

Email marketing is still one of the best ways to reach potential new patients. Most social media platforms limit views on posts unless you pay for advertising – delivering messages to an inbox allows you to reach patients directly. If your current email platform has limited functionality, it may be time for an upgrade.

8. Offer Telehealth 

Offering teleconsults or telemedicine visits can expand your patient base beyond your local community. While patients will still need to travel to your location for direct care, you may be able to conduct pre-op and post-op visits by phone or video. This may also be more attractive to patients who value the convenience of not having to commute.

9. Analyze Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)

What do your existing patients have to say about their experience with you? PROMs offer valuable insights into what your patients value. This data can also help you determine what sets your practice apart in the marketplace. By implementing an effective patient enablement platform that has integrated PROM collection, your patients can share this information more easily.

10. Use Video

Videos give potential patients a sense of who you are as a person behind the white coat. Instagram recently announced that it’s moving away from being a picture-based platform as it transitions to supporting more video content. This is because videos produce more engagement. The same may be true for your practice. 

11. Follow Up

Not following up on leads can be costly in lost conversions. When a patient engages with you in any way, it is an indicator they are interested in your services. Having an effective system for returning calls, emails, and inquiries on time can increase your conversion rates. 

Marketing Metrics to Track

Infographic showing past patient reviews are an effective way to acquire surgery patients
Image Source: https://www.beckersspine.com/hitmeaningful-useemr/item/15772-zocdoc-infographic-reveals-patient-trust-in-online-physician-reviews?oly_enc_id=3836C4755401C4X

Unless you know how your marketing tactics are performing, you can’t make data-informed decisions about how to adjust your strategy.

There are endless performance indicators that you can track, but here are some key metrics to determine if your marketing strategy is effective: 

  • Number of patient reviews
  • Average patient rating
  • Cost per lead
  • Patient satisfaction scores
  • Email open rate
  • Cost per acquisition 
  • Website bounce rate
  • Total website visits
  • SEO ranking
  • Website conversions

Create a Strategy to Acquire Surgery Patients for Your Practice

Do you have a clear patient acquisition strategy to grow your practice? If not, Wellbe can help you leverage digital resources to reach new patients. Our patient enablement platform makes it easy for new patients to find and connect with you.

To stand out from the competition, you need a clear, consistent online presence that shows potential new patients that you can address their needs. Wellbe can help you capture and convert more leads to grow your practice and acquire new surgery patients. 

Contact us today to learn more about our platform.