When it comes to choosing a doctor for an elective procedure, patients are in the driver’s seat. Since these procedures are not typically covered by health insurance, they have their pick of clinics and physicians. Understanding the patient journey and how you can influence it will allow you to optimize elective surgery marketing and generate a steady flow of initial appointments.
How Patients Choose an Elective Procedure Doctor
In addition to removing the element of insurance networks from the equation, the process for choosing a doctor for an elective procedure is very different from that of picking a primary care or other covered provider. With covered providers, patients have some level of comfort that the insurance company has vetted the doctor; this assurance is missing with elective procedure physicians.
Initial Research
This lack of comfort, the out-of-pocket costs, plus the fact that elective procedures are rarely urgent, means that patients will spend a significant amount of time researching their options. For example, when choosing a dermatologist for cosmetic procedures such as laser skin resurfacing, a patient might first research the procedure itself to see what is involved, and may also search “how to choose a dermatologist,” for example, to investigate important criteria. Creating educational content creation on common procedures that ranks for keywords and a robust local SEO program will be key in this initial stage of patient research.
The Online Search for a Provider
Once the patient is clear on the procedure itself, the search begins for a provider. A common search at this point is for “best plastic surgeon near me” or “best facelift near me.” In addition to organic and paid search results, many patients will look at the local search results to find a provider or clinic near to where they live. To stand out here, your practice’s Google Business Profile needs to be optimized.
Part of the Google Business Profile is your reviews. The patient’s next stage in choosing a doctor or clinic is scrutinizing online reviews, both on search engines like Google and physician sites like Healthgrades or WebMD. If a patient is looking for “the best dental implant specialist near me,” she will want to see good reviews (4.5 stars or more) and plenty of them, which is an indication of experience as well as quality. Part of your marketing plan should be systems to solicit reviews and testimonials from current and past patients. If you are in a situation where you have negative or mediocre reviews, it is imperative to correct this problem with healthcare reputation management.
Making the Shortlist: Website Strategies
At this point, patients will have narrowed down the list of potential physicians to a handful and the rest of the information that they will use to make a decision will reside on the practice’s website. This includes:
- Before-and-after galleries
- On-website reviews and testimonials
- Case studies
- A list of the doctor’s experience and credentials such as board certifications
- A thorough and transparent listing of prices and outcomes
The Importance of Building Trust
It is important to note that, while this may seem like a very logical and analytical process, there is a lot of emotion involved in the decision process. Most elective procedures involve cosmetic appearance, which is personally important and emotionally fraught. Appearance influences not only how others view the person but also affects self-esteem and mental health. Because of this and because appearance-enhancing procedures can be involved, expensive and can go horribly wrong, building trust with the prospective patient is key.
Your online strategies and execution should lay the groundwork for building trust between the practice and the patient so that the patient books his first appointment. But trust building doesn’t end there; it needs to be a part of every patient interaction thereafter, from how your staff treats patients in the waiting room to billing.
All of this can feel overwhelming. Most medical practices have their hands full with their own scheduling, procedures and billing and don’t have the time or expertise to handle digital marketing.
Leave that to the pros at Pro Creative Marketing. We can come up with a marketing plan that will produce a steady stream of new patients. Schedule a free consultation today.