Enabling online scheduling for your practice is a very important first step, but just as valuable is what comes next. Ensuring that patients know about your new online scheduling platform is crucial to its success and here are some helpful suggestions:
- On Hold Message: a common pain point for many offices is the wait times for patients calling to make an appointment. If your phone system allows it, adding a message into your hold music or messages such as "Our office is pleased to offer our patients the option to schedule online. Simply visit our website at www.yourWebsite.com and click our Online Scheduling button"
- Google My Business: many patients, even your established patients, visit Google or Google Maps each time they need to call your office instead of saving your office's number in their device. Google offers the ability to link your online scheduling URL into your profile and will display it under your phone number in their search results. For more details, visit: Google My Business - Appointment Link Setup
- Mass Email: many practices may prefer to send an email to either all their patients or a subset of their patient list, sometimes those who have had visits within the last year.
- Social Media: provide links on your social media profile pages as well as regular posts educating your viewers on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media platforms.
- Professional Contacts: update your professional contacts, including your referring physicians, about your online scheduling offering. Referring physicians may find this extremely helpful because it will allow their staff to directly schedule the patient referrals themselves ensuring their patient has an appointment with your practice before they leave.
- Update Appointment Card: if your office gives out appointment cards, adding a phrase such as "schedule online" can be a subtle reminder for your patients and takes no effort from staff.