How To Use Email Marketing To Connect With Your Patients

How To Use Email Marketing To Connect With Your Patients

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Depending on the allied health service you offer, patient care may or may not be ongoing. Even if it’s not, maintaining a connection with the people you treat can lead to word of mouth referrals or them returning if they need your service in future.

The question is, how do you continue to build trust and rapport once patients have completed their appointment? Opt-in email marketing is one way to do this. With statistics to indicate that it drives 81% and 80% of customer acquisition and retention respectively for SMB’s, it can be a compelling tool when used correctly.

Email Marketing Tips For Allied Health Professionals

Receive Opt-In Consent

An easy way to capture consent is when a new client visits your practice. Include a section on the registration forms they are required to complete which asks whether they would like to sign up for email marketing.

Alternatively, place a pop-up or form on your website or blog, that invites visitors to join your mailing list. Should you have an authoritative lead magnet such as an e-book or definitive guide that patients would find useful, use it to request their email address in exchange for downloading a copy.

In any case, outline details such as the type of content patients can expect to receive and how often they will receive it. Also, let them know that they will be able to unsubscribe to your email marketing any time they choose to do so.

Opt-in email marketing for allied health professionals

Create and Curate Content To Connect With Your Patients

Now that you know patients want to hear from you via email, it is time to put together some great content to share. Your goal is to nurture a connection with them, therefore, everything you send should add value to the reader.

Types Of Emails To Send

Welcome Email

As you know, first impressions count. That is why your welcome email should set the tone for the rest of your relationship.

When someone opts-in for marketing, automate an email that welcomes them to the family and lets them know they are in good hands. Outline your practice’s value proposition and lay expectations for communications going forward.

Regular Newsletter

A newsletter can consist of the latest news in your practice, as well as the industry in general. It can include successful patient case studies or a link to your latest blog post where you share professional tips. Use the space to forge meaningful relationships, and establish yourself as an authority in your field.

How often you send this out is of importance too – you want to be regular and consistent. Although, there is a fine line between too often where people feel spammed, and not often enough when they lose interest.

Find out what your peers recommend and test the frequency to see what works best. If people opt out, ask why they did so. From there, you can make adjustments where necessary.

Allied health email marketing

Invites To Your Practice or Local Events

Use email marketing to let patients know that you are interested in their health outside of regular treatment. Send out personalised invites to any relevant conferences, workshops, classes, courses, or health-related events that you may be attending, hosting, or involved in. Not only will they appreciate the personal invite, but the event may also help them to be more proactive in pursuing their health goals.

Birthday Message

As you have patient’s details on file, why not send a short and friendly message to say happy birthday each year? It can serve as another way to let people know that they matter to you, as well provide a gentle reminder that you are still open for consultation should they, or anyone they know, need it.

In Summary

A big part of what you do as an Allied Health professional is to build relationships with your patients. From your professional image to an inviting practice and relatable bedside manner, winning their trust is a key aspect of providing exemplary healthcare. It is no surprise then that this should be echoed in your email marketing efforts.

Reputation and marketing aside, running a practice also involves staying on top of organizational tasks. Should you find yourself running short on time, try iinsight, our case and injury management software tailor-made for allied health professionals. It is intuitive, scalable, and secure, and will help you to manage your patient workload better.

7 SEO Tips To Boost The Search Engine Rankings Of Your Health Practice Website

7 SEO Tips To Boost Rankings Of Your Health Practice Website

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Ever considered how websites appear on the first page of Google’s search results organically, without resorting to paid advertising? It is through implementing the correct Search Engine Optimization (SEO) measures to meet the ranking algorithm.

SEO is hard to ignore – statistics show 75% of people never scroll past the first page results. For allied health professionals, this could mean that other industry practitioners and potential clients never find you online.

There is no single, hard rule to get your health practice website climbing the search engine results pages (SERPS). Instead, here are 8 SEO tips that can benefit your business’s online presence and increase traffic to your website.

SEO Tips To Boost Your Health Practice Website Rankings

Website SEO analytics

Although there are several types of SEO, we have included some easy and actionable Local, On, and Off-Page SEO tips in this post.

1. Ensure Your Website Supports Fast Loading Speeds

Both Google and your website visitors will baulk if your website renders slowly. The algorithm favours sites with quick loading speeds, and stats show that 40% of visitors will abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Of those, 80% won’t return.

Remedy this by hosting your site with a reliable company, and ensuring that your content, images, and files are set to a size that won’t hamper loading time.

2. Map Out Your Keywords

Keywords form the backbone of meaningful content used to attract visitors to your website. Knowing the language and terms people use to research your industry or type of services you offer means you can write it into your website content to answer the search queries.

There are both free and paid tools to help you perform keyword research. Start by considering how your target audience would search for your services. As an example, you might want to explore the metrics for the search terms occupational therapist Sydney, or occupational therapist near me if that is the service you offer. After entering these into the keywords explorer, the tool will display search volume results, provide extra keyword suggestions, as well as display the keyword difficulty (ability to rank in the Google’s top 10 results).

Overall you want to find a balance between using broad keywords that see high search volumes, and ones with less intent that have lower competition in your content.

This is just a brief overview of the importance of keywords for your website. We will cover this topic in more detail in another blog post.

Keyword planning

3. Work Keywords Into Website Blog

One of the most valuable SEO tips you will receive is to start a blog. This is where your website will realise the benefits of your keyword research.

While service pages which detail your health care services are essential, the real value comes in creating long-form content, such as blog posts, where you can optimize writing around your keyword.

4. Optimize Posts Correctly With Headers, Image Tags, As Well As Meta Descriptions

When writing a blog post, there are certain practices around formatting headings, images, and metadata that you should observe. These help Google’s spider bots to identify and make sense of what you are writing about, as well as make it easier for people to find and read the content you publish.

5. Link Out To High Authority Sites

Links to and from your blog content can send positive signals to Google. An outgoing link to a high authority website shows that you have researched the topic, and establishes trust with the search engine and reader.

6. Encourage Backlinks

Similarly, once your content is published, you might find that other industry professionals link to it as they consider you to be an authoritative source. This provides Google with another signal to say that your content is meaningful to visitors.

7. Set Up Google My Business Listing

As your patients are primarily going to be people who live in your community, it is important to set up your Google My Business Listing. This can boost your website’s local SEO, and help connect patients in the area to your practice.

Google My Business listing for local SEO

Final Thoughts

While our SEO tips should help you to boost your online presence, our allied health, OH, and vocational rehabilitation software can help you to manage your case workload.  Get access to the free e-book to find out how it can support you with the administrative caseload so you can spend more time doing tasks that matter, like providing health-care.

5 Simple Online Marketing Ideas For Allied Health Professionals

5 Simple Online Marketing Ideas For Allied Health Professionals

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Caring for patients is at the core of what you do. However, they have to walk through the door in order for you to fulfil this calling. As it is our goal to help allied health professionals reach their potential, we compiled some actionable marketing ideas you can implement in your practice.

5 Simple Marketing Ideas Allied Health Professionals Can Implement

Leverage Your Website

Your website is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing inventory. Not only does it affirm the existence of your practice, but following the correct SEO practices will help to raise your visibility on search engines.

You are an expert in your field; use your website as a platform to share authoritative and informative content that appeals to your ideal patients. In your content, target keywords they will be researching to drive them to your website and subsequently through the door.

Email marketing

Harness The Power Of Email Marketing

The statistics in favour of email marketing are overwhelming. Almost 99% of people check their email daily, and it is the preferred communication method of opt-in promotional messages for 77% of us. For allied health marketing purposes, compiling an email contact list is a means of building relationships with potential and current patients.

Set up a regular newsletter to go out where you share some of your great blog content. Include some of the latest news and advancements in your industry to keep patients informed of what is going on.

People value appreciation. Simple marketing ideas to tie into this could be to send patients a quick personalized email on their birthday or congratulate them on a treatment milestone.

In all its forms, email marketing can help to establish you as an authority, build relationships with patients, and keep your practice at the forefront of their minds. Even if you have resolved their particular health issue, people are more inclined to refer friends or family in need to someone they trust.

Be Active On Social Media

Platforms such as Facebook provide you with potential access to a large audience. As it is a two-way interaction, social media is ideal for engaging with an audience and building relationships.

Be prepared to answer questions, talk to people, and get to know your followers. Share your blog content, create polls, comment on other allied health professionals’ posts. You want to get your name out there and become the go-to for industry advice and support.

List On Professional Directories

This can be with local health provider directories in your community, as well as the more obvious ones such as the National Health Services Directory. Without a word of mouth or doctor’s referral, these types of directories provide a trusted source for patients to search for a specific health care provider.

Allied Health Directory

Paid Advertising

Last of our actionable marketing ideas is to gain exposure for your practice using paid advertising. Google or Facebook can be effective for this, as you get access to their extensive dataset and can closely target your ideal patients.

 

Getting to grips with marketing and nurturing patients through the door means you can take on more cases and help those who need it. We have a solution to help you streamline the workload as well – get in touch for a Demo of our case management software rehabilitation providers and occupational therapists alike, love.

What Makes a Good Website For Allied Health Professionals

What Makes A Good Website For Allied Health Professionals?

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Allied Health professionals spend years studying and developing patient care skills. Once they open up a practice, there is business admin to keep on top of too, although this can be lessened with efficient personal injury claims software. Understandably, learning how to manage their business online presence and what makes a good website is not as high a priority.

However, the internet is ingrained in everything we do. Patients needing healthcare will likely research providers on the internet before selecting one. Should there be any obvious missing markers which help to explain who the practitioner is and what they do, patients could seek information and treatment elsewhere. As a result, health care practices need to go online to meet potential clients in the space they frequent.

Read our checklist to find out what website elements patients will be looking for when they consider health care providers online.

Checklist For Allied Health Professionals: What Makes A Good Website?

Offer Simple Navigation

Your allied health website has a purpose: to give potential patients an overview of your credentials, services, and contact information. If your website does not present all of this in an easy to navigate format, you could see drop-offs in online visitors. The site setup and layout should, therefore, reduce the cognitive effort it takes to move from page to page and discover pertinent information.

allied health website information

Have An About Page

This is where you should outline the professional information of the allied health care practitioners operating within your business. Each has their credentials and area of expertise which should be mentioned. Patients seeking health care want to know that they are in the hands of capable professionals who are qualified to provide them with assistance.

The About page should also list any accreditations or affiliations you have, such as NDIS service provision. This is valuable information that patients might find helpful if they need to submit an insurance claim.

List Health Care Services

Patients will search for specific treatment based on their injury or disability. Therefore, display a list of your services so patients know that you can be of assistance.

Even if you operate a private practice, you likely have a variety of patient service offerings. Highlight what these are, for example, one on one sessions, group classes, programmes designed for specific conditions, etc. Alternatively, if you work with several consultants, such as occupational therapists and physios, list who can be found in the building and include what they offer in patient care.

Use Great Images

Images are a valuable part of what makes a good website. Patients want to put a face to a name, as well as take a look at the practice before booking in. Photos lessen the unknown, and should not be overlooked in the healthcare industry where patients rely on trust and referrals.

It is relatively simple to take quality pictures of your practice and the building, as well as get headshots of the health professionals working from it. Should you not know your way around a camera, hire a local photographer who can assist with this.

allied health offices

Include Prominent Contact Details

The purpose of being online is to get access to a bigger pool of potential patients. Of course, if they aren’t able to contact you, this defeats the point.

From an online contact form to listing your address, phone number, and email, ensure that it is simple for a person to look you up. Providing links to your social media accounts is also advisable if you have business profiles as this can help to cement the online legitimacy of your practice.

Blog Or News Section

Another way to win over potential clients and build trust is to write a blog or news section. While this may seem like a mammoth task that will take you away from spending time with patients, the potential benefits are not to be ignored. Not only will it establish you as an authority in your field, but it will also improve your website’s SEO which factors into search engine rankings on Google.

blog for allied health professionals

Ending Off

Consider your website to be the shop window to your business. Ensure that it reflects the quality service you can provide to your patients by including the elements of what makes a good website.

Once clients are streaming in, you will need some assistance with better managing your workload. Sign up for our free ebook which provides insights on 5 Ways To Better Manage Allied Health Cases.

Allied health case management software

The Key Attributes Of Allied Health Practice Management Software

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Although performing admin tasks is a necessary part of any health practice, it does take away from the time you get to spend with patients. However, the right web-based allied health practice management software can help you manage this. It improves business efficiency so you that you have greater capacity for what is important: delivering outstanding healthcare to your clients.

Key Attributes Of Allied Health Practice Management Software

We have spent years working alongside allied health professionals to get input on their case management software needs. Here are some of the key attributes that we all agree make for efficient business practice:

Budget Management

Setting and sticking to a budget is key to ensuring both you and your consultants keep inline with the funds and time allotted to each case. Instead of doing this manually, efficient front desk software for allied health practitioners allows thresholds to be set and automatically monitored.

With a budget management feature, it is possible to receive daily KPI’s via email or desktop alerts. You can also review the remaining budget or time allocation for specific cases. Because there is collaborative, real-time access to the status of each case, budget compliance is much easier.

Document Management

Today, most of the patient information we record is done digitally to improve business efficiency. An efficient document management system means you or your consultants can access and update patient information on the go from a single point that allows for professional collaboration. This includes uploading documents, checking past consultation notes, as well as adding in new ones.

Consequently, data protection is a point that needs to be addressed. Your patients’ case files contain sensitive information which you are ethically and legally bound to protect. As a result, you should ensure that your allied health practice management software complies with industry regulations regarding data protection.

The Key Attributes Of Allied Health Practice Management Software

Billing Reporting

Whether it is putting in bulk payment requests to the NDIS, or generating invoices or billing statements for your clients, your management software should make it simple to do this.

Keep in mind that it will have to meet certain statutory requirements for the NDIS. So, finding software built in accordance with these needs will reduce the admin on your plate. Similarly, software that integrates with your accounting system will save you from having to perform two entries – one for your patient and another for your accounting program.

Custom Forms Creation

Health professionals often need to produce custom forms for their patients to fill out. This could include consent forms, treatment planning, outcomes assessments, surveys, or goal tracking. However, without the correct tools, these forms are not always easy to create. Furthermore, on the patient end, incorrectly filled out or incomplete forms can leave gaps in the required information.

That is why your allied health practice management software should not only make form creation easy, but it should also see the improved accuracy of your collected data. The ability to add conditional questions, dynamic content, and required field population is therefore required to achieve this.

Custom online forms

Calendar and SMS Reminders

Software that gives access to automatic calendar syncing and appointment scheduling will help your team to stay on top of patient visits and workflow. Having a real-time overview of your consultants’ available time slots, even if they are scheduling appointments while out of the office, means there is no need to worry about double-bookings.

An SMS feature can work to notify your team of their upcoming appointments and tasks within a specific time frame. Furthermore, you can use this feature to confirm appointments and send reminders to patients to reduce no shows.

CRM Database

Efficient allied health practice management software will include a CRM that provides a central place to store and manage all of your team members business contacts. With access to it, the team can attach notes and documentation to a contact or company, as well as create tasks for coworkers.

It also makes marketing efforts more efficient as you can filter the database to find specific contacts, and then export the information.

front desk software allied health professionals

Final Thoughts

While we have touched on the key attributes to look out for in case management software, top systems, such as iinsight, can do even more to help you streamline your workflow. Set up your free 14-day trial account to see how our allied health case management software can simplify your practice.