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Did you know that American dentists have an average patient retention rate of about 41%? In today’s digital age, reputation management and patient feedback will directly influence the success and growth of your dental practice.
So how can you address those factors and boost patient experiences? In this post, we will explain five ways a dental patient satisfaction survey can benefit and strengthen your practice, improving the quality of care and driving growth.
How Can You Collect Patient Feedback?
Before we talk about the primary benefits of patient feedback, know that a dental patient satisfaction survey is the best way to gain honest feedback. First, let us quickly explain the tools you can use to request, collect, and analyze this critical information.
- Ask patients to fill out a paper survey after their appointment
- Create a patient portal and dashboard for online reviews
- Use our Swell integration for automated post-appointment review requests
- Send SMS messages or telephone surveys for fast, simple communication
- Manage your digital presence via a website, on Google, or otherwise
5 Benefits of Using Dental Patient Feedback Surveys to Evaluate Your Practice
1. Gain Valuable Insights About Your Dental Practice
You gain valuable insights when patients can express their honest, unfiltered opinion regarding the quality of care they received during their dental treatment. For example, you can discover areas where your practices could improve, such as customer service or communication. Conversely, you can identify strengths and what appeals most to your patients and apply those positive aspects to weaker areas.
2. Increase Patient Satisfaction and Retention Rates
Patient feedback surveys are excellent measuring tools you can leverage to improve overall experience and satisfaction. By learning what parts of your practice patients don’t enjoy, you can fix those issues and boost patient satisfaction.
In turn, this boosts your retention rates, which are critical to your continued success. Why? Previous studies show that it costs healthcare practices five times more money to acquire new patients than to retain existing ones!1
3. Improve Patient Communication and Build Trust
Another way a dental patient feedback survey can benefit your dental practice is by improving communication, building trust, and establishing credibility. By evaluating patient feedback and then using that information to make positive changes to your practice, you show patients that you genuinely value their feelings and opinions.
In addition, opening the lines of communication between dentists and patients is an excellent way to build relationships, encourage transparency, and improve patient experience. When your patients are happy with your practice, they refer you to friends and family, driving growth and keeping your appointment book full.
4. Boost Your Reputation
In today’s digital world, effective reputation management can make or break the success of a dental practice. In fact, 81% of patients analyze reviews to help them choose a healthcare provider.2 However, you can address this critical task head-on by evaluating patient feedback and using those insights to improve your practice. If you’re not actively managing your reputation and answering online reviews, it will inevitably harm patient retention, referrals, and satisfaction.
5. Identify Your Unique Selling Points
A vital key to success for dental professionals is pinpointing that “secret sauce” that makes your practice thrive and attracts new patients. Patient reviews and feedback surveys let you identify the best characteristics of your practice. Then, you invest time and energy into marketing that unique selling point to gain more patients.
For example, maybe you hold a weekly drawing for patients who receive routine cleanings, and the winner gets a free whitening session or an electric toothbrush. In fact, using dental giveaways to boost patient experience is another excellent strategy to keep your practice flourishing and improve satisfaction.
Patient Feedback Surveys: The Key to Building a Thriving, Successful Dental Practice
The critical data and insights you gain from a dental patient satisfaction survey can significantly benefit your dental practice. When patients see that you value their opinions and genuinely want them to have the best possible experience, the results will inevitably be positive. You can reap the numerous benefits of implementing a patient feedback program using tools from the professionals at Dental Intelligence. Contact us today to schedule a demo to see our innovation in action.
