Thursday, October 21, 2021
By Eric Johnson - Founder & CEO - membersy
Many people are naturally and understandably apprehensive about visiting the dentist. When they finally make an appointment and bring themselves to the dentist’s office, the relationship between staff and patient is uniquely personal, forged by trust and a positive experience.
It’s easy to see why. As Ferris Jabr writes in The Atlantic, “A masked figure looms over your recumbent body, wielding power tools and sharp metal instruments, doing things to your mouth you cannot see.”
That’s why dental practices are more than just interchangeable service centers where people stop for a quick cleaning and a free toothbrush. They are communities that share a common bond by putting their trust in practices to enhance their oral health.
As a result, today’s dental consumers demand a more connected and personalized experience than ever before. They also know the practical limits of their affections and affiliations. Several factors, including rapid consolidation, consumer-centric retail movements, and a post-pandemic operational environment, are transforming the sector in real-time.
Dental practices can support consumer demand and enhance patient retention by empowering dental consumers with the tools to maintain vibrant patient connections. Here are five ways that dental practices can cultivate care communities that last.
#1 Create a Membership Program
Everyone wants to feel like they belong, and they want to be rewarded for their loyalty. Dental practices tap into this desire by offering membership opportunities that foster direct relationships between dental practices and consumers.
While the particular benefits will look different for each practice, membership creates uniquely personal and financial connections between practices and consumers, encouraging loyalty and enhancing profitability. What’s more, practices can offer exclusive rewards, discounts, or other membership benefits that elevate dental care from a semiannual appointment dictated by insurance to an ongoing experience that puts patients first.
#2 Offer Subscription-based Payment Options
Millions of people lost their employer-sponsored health insurance in the past year. This significantly reduced the number of dental appointments, eroding patients' oral health and diminishing revenue for dental providers.
A subscription-based payment option helps resolve these challenges. Powered by a cadre of tech startups, this payment methodology is increasingly popular among younger generations, many of whom operate outside of the traditional health insurance framework. It also caters to a growing group of gig and contract workers, providing once unattainable dental care in an affordable and personalized format.
Subscription-based payment options don’t have to replace existing insurance payment models, but they can supplement these offerings, allowing dental practices to reach more patients on their terms.
#3 Personalize the Experience
Moving forward, dental practices that want to engage their communities will create an online experience that does more than achieving SEO supremacy. For starters, practices will harness their websites to provide easily accessible member dashboards that give patients a personalized look at their oral health.
In addition, this technology allows patients to schedule their own appointments, view their oral health history, and manage their subscription benefits. Dental care isn’t a one-size-fits-all endeavor, and digital tools help practices personalize their approach, engaging more people and fostering direct relationships that last.
#4 Prioritize Mobile Engagement
Today’s dental patients aren’t just digital-first. They are mobile-centric, and practices need to meet them where they are. Investing in a mobile app can accelerate personalization while tapping into their mobile-first mentality.
When dental practices provide a mobile app or tap into existing mobile app ecosystems, they can deliver push notifications that reduce strain on patients by providing timely reminders of upcoming appointments or opportunities to take advantage of membership benefits. Meanwhile, mobile technology can be harnessed for everything from quick communication between the practice and consumer to patient education.
#5 Embrace Price Transparency
Vibrant patient communities are predicated on trust. One way that dental practices earn their patients’ trust is by embracing price transparency. This trend is becoming more prevalent in the healthcare space generally as a recent federal law required hospitals to post the prices negotiated with private insurers.
Dental practices can meet consumer demand by increasing price transparency and shifting payment models to accommodate a community-based approach to healthcare. Of course, when dental practices offer a subscription-based payment model as part of their payment repertoire, they have even more freedom to determine the price appropriate for their practice and patients, further personalizing the experience and allowing more people to pursue the care appropriate for their optimal oral health.
Conclusion
Patients' relationship with their dentist is uniquely personal, and many patients are fiercely loyal. However, a rapidly shifting healthcare landscape is straining those relationships, forcing patients to reconsider their options. Dental practices can keep these communities vibrant, connected, and engaged, three outcomes worth pursuing today.
About the Author
Eric Johnson is the founder and CEO of membersy, a digital health company democratizing access to quality, affordable dental care through subscription-based dentistry. While building his career in the dental care space, Eric founded membersy in 2015 with the mission of helping dental professionals take back the dental care narrative from big insurance companies through pricing transparency and a personalized membership experience for patients. For more information, please visit membersy.com.