by By Simplifeye
Technology that improves patient experience has gone from “nice to have” to “need to have” practically overnight. Eighty percent of Americans consider speed, convenience, knowledgeable help, and friendly service key to a positive experience1. Not surprisingly patients are willing to pay a premium for convenience and are more loyal to companies that deliver high-quality experiences. So how do you deliver an exceptional patient experience when you’re already understaffed and overwhelmed? Technology makes it easier than you think.
Speed of service is critical. Our increasingly digitized lifestyle is making attention spans shorter than ever before. Microsoft did a study that showed that the average adult’s attention span has declined from 12 seconds to just eight! Patients are searching online for dentists at night or on the weekend when they have free time, not during the business day. You need to have a way to answer their questions 24/7. When it comes to appointment scheduling, simply having a form on your website is not enough. This is where you need to embrace technology.
Adding managed live chat to your website offers the ability for patients to get their questions answered any time of the day or night. Forty-two percent of customers prefer online chat as their communication method2. By having trained experts with extensive dental knowledge and customer service skills representing your practice, you can deliver an unparalleled customer experience around the clock without any burden to your front desk team.
Dr. Yalice M. Cardona, owner of Kreative Dental Care shared, “I was losing a lot of potential patients because people don’t want to pick up the phone. Now I can capture those patients through chat.” When practices implement live chat on their website, they’re often surprised to find that their existing patients are also chatting, even during office hours, because it’s faster and more convenient than having a phone conversation with the front desk.
Adopting self-service solutions like live chat and direct scheduling drives cost savings and operational efficiencies. By encouraging customers to seek answers to their questions online, practices stand to reduce bogging down the front desk with phone calls, emails, and voicemails, enabling them to focus on more complex issues and deliver better care. Rather than relying entirely on the front desk team that may have them waiting on hold, patients can get help anytime, anywhere.
Technology can enhance the patient experience by offering a faster response, more convenient ways to book appointments, and knowledgeable help where and when they need it. However, nothing can replace the value of the human touch. The most important benefit of technology is using it to empower your team to deliver a higher quality of care to patients that are in your practice.
Simplifeye empowers doctors by automating the business side of their practice. We do this by providing software solutions that digitize and improve existing processes that are core to many medical practices. For more information, visit https://simplifeye.co/
1PwC. “Experience is everything: Here’s how to get it right.” PwC, 2018, https://www.pwc.com/us/en/advisory-services/publications/consumer-intelligence-series/pwc-consumer-intelligence-series-customer-experience.pdf. Accessed 23 August 2022.
2MacDonald, Steven. “25 Live Chat Statistics for 2021 (Backed by Unique Research).” SuperOffice CRM, 4 May 2021, https://www.superoffice.com/blog/live-chat-statistics/. Accessed 24 August 2022.
