With the recession in full swing, dentists have so many fears looming with regards to their practice. It has become a lot more difficult to hold on to patients and dentists are uncertain as to how to keep their patients loyal. When it comes to running any business, and that includes dental practices, there are only two emotions which should matter – happy and sad. When you think about it, a patient walks out of your clinic feeling either one of these two emotions. You should always aim towards keeping each patient smiling and glad that he or she scheduled an appointment with you.

1. Reward Patients.

One of the easiest ways to extract patient loyalty is by giving out rewards. According to basic psychology, people are more likely to continue doing something when they are rewarded. So give your patients reason, other than the fact that you provide quality service, to drop by and book an appointment with you. You do not have to provide your patients with classy and expensive freebies. You can maybe give out loyalty cards and assign them points which may be used to redeem certain services. The idea is to show your appreciation to loyal patients by rewarding them for continually choosing you.

2. Personalize

Make each trip to the dentist a unique experience for all of your patients. You can instruct your front office workers to welcome each patient in a creative manner. For instance, you can probably greet new and reactivated patients by writing their names on a blackboard. You can also ask your front office workers to give new patients a tour of the entire clinic. The little things like smiling or greeting patients can mean the entire difference.

3. Simplify

Making a patient happy should be simple. One of the prime reasons for why a patient is put off is when things are made complicated for him or her. Instead of making your patients hold for a long time, make sure that your front office worker manages phone calls without inconveniencing the person at the other end of the line. You can also simplify a lot of things on your dental website. Get rid of the clutter and make it easier for your visitors to navigate through the pages and find the information which they need. These little things can do a lot to put a smile on your patient’s face.

Post by Elliot Pearson. He writes for Dentist Identity who provides dental patient marketing and search engine optimization for dentists nationwide.