How Marketing Attribution Helps Dentists Increase Production
Marketing attribution will never be perfect.
There is a famous attribution analogy by Kabeer Chaudhary, CEO at M&C Saatchi, that helps to simply explain attribution and how important it is to recognize all the touchpoints that impact decision-making. It goes something like this:
Johnny is introduced to Jane by his friend Jack. Years later, Johnny’s mother gives Johnny the courage to ask Jane to marry him and Jane says yes. Who gets the credit for the marriage?
Last click attribution would be Mom, first click would be Jack. Linear attribution would credit Jack, Johnny, and Mommy equally. In other words, do not underestimate the importance of the entire patient journey when looking at marketing attribution.
When it comes to dental marketing, results have long been anecdotally tracked by office teams, and despite major technological advancements for dental marketing attribution, there remains inconsistent manual tracking, haphazard use of PMS dropdowns, general feedback, and just plain old opinion, which all combine to negatively impact actual practice production results because those things can influence decision-making in the wrong direction.
Having something data-driven is far better than relying on manual tracking and anecdotal recommendations. Major ‘production generating’ decisions are based on attribution. That’s why we continue to work extremely hard to provide the tools our dental clients need – using Practice ZEBRA® marketing software to help track results – so our clients can make fact-based decisions about their marketing efforts and improve overall practice results.
Working on your upcoming marketing plans? Why not find out how your campaigns could be better implemented, tracked, and analyzed for improved results?
Attribution is the process of determining how various marketing channels and touchpoints contribute to a new patient’s journey and eventual conversion, allowing you to more effectively monitor marketing campaigns and subsequent contributions to production. Multi-touch attribution models can be weighted equally, as noted above, or more commonly, U-shaped, where first and last points get higher importance. In between, there are a myriad of calibrations.
At the end of the day, everyone recognizes that marketing attribution is never perfect. It’s a complex and imperfect means to help shed light on the patient’s path to purchase. This is, however, the information that growth-oriented dental offices want – and need – to ensure they continue to invest in the activities that attract quality new patients and increase production.
Generally speaking, websites receive the most attribution attention (the last click). But beware of feeling overly confident that the digital presence is juicing itself. This is where multi-channel attribution becomes key.
- Finance Online confirms that 80% of consumers act on direct mail communications, and combining print and digital campaigns results in a 400% increase in online results
- USPS Delivers reports that almost 70% of millennials are prompted to go online after receiving marketing mail; 54% of Gen X and 42% of Boomers also do so, and each generation is excited to discover what the mail brings every day
- Sequel Response reports that 56% of consumers try a new business after receiving direct mail
- Postalytics reveals that coordination of digital and direct mail campaigns increased response rates by 63%, website visits by 68%, and leads by 53%
- A commissioned study by PebblePost found that 88% of key purchase decisions involve the home and verified that direct mail 1) drives consideration and plays a central role in the path to purchase, 2) speeds up conversion, and 3) attracts highly engaged consumers who research, spend, and more
- WARC direct mail effectiveness research stated that mail drives action, either through immediate online activity or by facilitating future action.
Almost every new patient will get to your website at some point as part of the patient journey. Recognizing that your website will get the majority of action from your various campaigns means that attributing it, or Google, with all the results would be a mistake. That’s why it’s important to always view the overall correlative impact of all marketing activities, which could include digital and direct mail marketing.
According to the WARC report, setting up accurate measurements is about being prepared with SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) and using available tools, including offers, QR codes, email, phone matching, and address matching.
Hey, accurate attribution is challenging for all of us, but Practice ZEBRA certainly gives dentists a leg up. Just this week, we had a new dentist sign up for an initial meeting using our online scheduling form, on which they indicated they found us via Google search. But then, at the initial meeting, they confirmed that they had received our direct mail newsletter, which piqued their interest! That’s information we need to know so we can continue to make good marketing decisions. We always want to add quality new clients, just like you!
When it comes to direct mail for dentists, the best results come from precisely targeting ideal households using our neighborhood newsletter program. Response is driven by consistent touchpoints and by providing as many response methods as possible.
We ensure that newsletter content is engaging, elevates the practice’s reputation as an authority in their field, and triggers patients to call, scan a QR code, visit the website, check out Google reviews, and/or book directly with an online scheduler. Years of experience and data prove that most new patients will go online to check out the dental office and team before contacting the practice. That’s where direct mail attribution can lose visibility during the patient journey and why address matching is so helpful.
One of the tools Patients NEWS® uses for print attribution is address-matching technology. In addition to “tracked” phone calls, we know which new patients live in those precisely targeted areas that receive the newsletter, enabling our clients to understand the journey patients take before becoming a new patient. I mean, literally, we will pinpoint and select 5,000 to 7,500 primed-to-respond, like-audience households in a market draw area for the practice that could have 50,000+ households! Our address mapping and matching technology assist in not only tracking response but in further enhancing targeting accuracy into the neighborhoods and households most likely to respond.
Marketing Attribution Challenges
Multiple touchpoints: In today’s omnichannel landscape, patients interact with brands through various touchpoints, such as personal referrals, direct mail, signage, social media, web searches, online ads, and more. Pinpointing the exact touchpoint that led to a conversion can be challenging, as patients often engage with multiple channels before making a decision.
The dental patient journey is rarely linear. Collecting accurate data across all marketing channels can be challenging. Some channels, such as offline events or word-of-mouth referrals, may not leave a trail that is easy to track, and data quality and accuracy due to manual systems and data entry can vary from employee to employee. Even a typo in a mailing address can lead to no attribution.
What is true is that direct mail (and, for us, neighborhood newsletter campaigns) are proactive, hitting 100% of the targeted patient homes, building awareness, establishing the practice as the authority in the area, and generating interest and activity.
So, considering all these data points, does it make sense to discount address-matching technology as part of visibility into practice success? Or is it just magical that people who have lived in the targeted area for years just suddenly decided to book a new patient visit?
The practice is right there, in a physical location, in the neighborhood, attracting X number of new patients per month (let’s say 30) over the course of several years. Then, after the targeted areas start receiving monthly newsletters, coincidentally, more new patients from those areas enter the practice via phone, website, form fill, and online scheduling – and the overall new patient flow increases from 30 to 50 per month. Knowing that print is proven to drive patients online, was that a coincidence?
This makes watching overall new patient results imperative to maintaining a marketing strategy that truly is impacting production.
One of the things we hear when new dentists join Patient NEWS is that they are frustrated that more people don’t know about their practice. It’s not on the main throughway for visibility, they’re shocked when new patients say, “I didn’t know you were here,” or they’re frustrated with a lower new patient flow in a competitive area. Then they decide they want to set their practice apart in their community with an educational format and engage in our neighborhood newsletter program – and voila! More new patients!
One client who is slightly off the beaten path in a highly competitive area comes to mind. The staff had focused on scheduling active patients post-COVID, and the doctor realized that production was declining without a higher flow of new patients. In came the dedicated monthly newsletter campaign, and after a year of less than eight new patients per month, post-campaign, they’re averaging 20 to 30 per month. Not a crazy leap, but enough to take the practice from $1.2 million to $1.7 million for 2023. And that’s with a pretty average new-patient value of $1700 and an active patient value of $1200. By looking at all activities on deck for attribution, you can see and achieve great results.
With Practice ZEBRA, results are black and white with attribution to phone calls, address matching, and overall new patient flow. This provides consistently updated data and clear and transparent methodology that reveals the overall impact of the campaign on new patient and practice results.
A Forbes article says, “Offline marketing efforts, such as newspaper advertisements, fliers, and television ads, cannot be tracked for attribution as closely as digital efforts can. There will always be a hole. If, however, you ensure that your digital marketing channels are all properly attributed and you are taking all crossover influence into account, and then, overlay other forms of offline marketing on top of that, you will still have a far clearer picture.”
Despite the challenges associated with attribution, it’s crucial to have attribution in place. Even though it may not be perfect, it provides valuable insights into practice trends and which marketing efforts are contributing to overall new patient flow.
Here’s why having a trend line is better than none at all:
Informed decision-making: While attribution may not provide absolute clarity, it does offer directional insights. It helps you understand which campaigns are effectively driving results. This enables you to make data-informed decisions on budget allocation and strategy adjustments.
Optimization opportunities: A trend line can help identify areas where you can optimize your marketing efforts. For example, if you notice that a particular channel consistently contributes to more new patients, or if you lapse certain campaigns for a few months to save budget but then see a decline in new patients, you can allocate more resources and refine your strategies.
Continuous improvement: Despite the fact that marketing attribution is not perfect, it can serve as a starting point for ongoing review and improvement.
To enhance marketing attribution, it’s essential to gather the most accurate data available through all avenues – including calls, web traffic, and address matching. By capturing as much data as possible and investing in analytic tools like our dental marketing software, Practice ZEBRA, you can improve the reliability of your results and gain a better understanding of your patients’ journeys. Remember that while perfection may be elusive, watching the insights that marketing attribution provides is super valuable in the ever-evolving world of new patient acquisition.
One final statistic, released in a WARC market reach analysis, is that direct mail can act as a real differentiator, helping to cut through the noise of messaging across channels and platforms. With an average engagement of 95%, print mail remains one of the most measurable channels.
In addition to the amazing impact of direct mail on digital and overall practice results, at Patient NEWS, we include variable data imprinting on neighborhood mailings to speak to each homeowner by name (US). The same WARC analysis also confirmed that personalized direct mail is read on average 4.5 times, increasing overall results.
Talk to your Patient NEWS representative for more information on neighborhood newsletters, a seamlessly branded online presence, and results visibility in Practice ZEBRA. Remember: We’re the team that answers our phones – and we’d love to hear from you!
The modern dental patient journey is a complicated one, and a strategic omnichannel marketing campaign will always deliver the best overall practice results. Leverage our 30 years of dental marketing experience. Call now!