Your marketing strategy doesn’t stop when you hit the publish button or launch a new campaign. The process you have in place for following up with online dentist leads can actually make or break the success of your online marketing, yet it is one area that can often be overlooked.
What does your follow up process look like? Does the dentist prospect get an automated email? Does your marketing team follow up with a phone call within 24 hours?
Failing to focus on these key internal processes is like throwing your marketing dollars away. What good is an influx of online leads if no one is prepared to manage and nurture them? Consider this:
A recent study reported that an online lead is nine times more likely to convert if contacted within five minutes of submission.
Why? Here are a few reasons:
- Your dentist prospect still has your product or service on the top of his/her mind. You’ve caught them before they’re fully able to move on to their next task.
- The dentist is likely pleasantly surprised to hear from you so soon. Very few other marketers are doing this. You are differentiating your organization from all the rest.
- The first company to contact a lead increases the likelihood of conversion by up to 238%. Let’s be honest - when a dentist is researching a product, he/she is likely contacting your competition too.
And don’t forget – they filled out your contact form. They want you to contact them with more information.
ACTION ITEM: For one month, try following up with every online lead that comes in within five minutes or less. At the end of the month, then review your data and judge for yourself the effects that a more proactive follow up process had on your conversion rate.
For even more proof, check out this dental industry case study, recently published at Apex360, where one Doctor Distillery client was able to more than double the number of their online software demos by making this seemingly minor yet very significant change to their follow up process.
Naomi Cooper is CEO and Co-Founder of Doctor Distillery. With over 15 years in the dental industry, she is a respected dental marketing executive, strategist, consultant, author, speaker and industry opinion leader. Naomi has worked with dozens of leading companies across the dental industry, helping them to develop a cohesive marketing approach and creating tangible results for their marketing efforts aimed at the dental professional. For more information about how Doctor Distillery can help dental marketers reach 180K dentists online, email Naomi at naomi@doctordistillery.com or simply click here.
