In this blog we will look at some strategies to help encourage dental patients to refer new patients and how to reward them with different contests.
Ask for referrals
First, it’s going to be important to ask for referrals.
You want to make it personal during appointments.
It’s important to thank patients for their loyalty and just to mention: “we like having you as a patient and we like patients like you. And if there’s any of your friends you think could benefit from our services, we’d love to have you recommend us.”
Then you can:
- have some different printed or digital materials.
- have little referral cards that patients can hand out to family or friends that have your contact information and a space for the referrer’s name.
- share referral requests on social media and with email newsletters.
- encourage your existing patients to refer more patients.
Also, help train the staff to engage with the patients.
Help your team feel comfortable to talk to satisfied patients and after a patient visit, ask if they’d be open to referring others.
You can highlight the benefits, what’s in it for the patient, whether it’s to be able to offer good care for a friend or family member that may need it, or rewards for themselves with different contests.
Promote your rewards program. Let them know about any contests or rewards that are available for referring new patients.
And then use follow up communications.
Include a note about referrals and post appointment emails or thank you cards.
Be sure to thank those that referred to you.
Different contests you can do
You may have a monthly or a quarterly prize drawing, and for each referral, the referrer gets an entry into the contest. Also the new patient should get an entry into the contest.
Definitely the new patient can be rewarded by entering all the new patients into the contest for their first visit.
Prizes could include:
- an electric toothbrush
- a gift card
- tickets for a local attraction
You can have different social media contests to promote referrals.
Encourage your patients to share a referral post or tag friends and that can help get more referrals.
Tips for running contests
Keep it simple. Make sure the rules are clear and the process is easy for everyone to follow.
Communicate it often, promote it in the office, on your website and social media.
Follow through and publicly announce the winner so everyone builds trust and excitement.
Celebrate the referrers. If they give permission, thank those who refer patients publicly.
And then of course, everything you do, make sure you do it in a way that’s following all the rules of the dental board regulations.
And when you are looking for scripts for contests, you can write scripts for:
- what to say to patients in the office.
- email or text campaigns
- social media posts
- referral cards
- different signs around the office.
Using contests to encourage new patient referrals
So use contests to encourage your existing patients to refer friends and family. And then enter the new patients into the contest. And this can be a good way to encourage new patient referrals.