The Top 10 Patient Acquisition Strategies You're Not Using (But Should Be!)

Acquiring new patients is the single most important thing for someone who runs a healthcare practice. In fact, you could say that all healthcare marketing strategies are directed at patient acquisition.

Attracting new patients directly impacts revenue generation, and as a business owner, you have to think about what is best for you financially. Well, we can say with certainty that in order to grow your practice, you need a solid plan to attract new patients.

Creating a strong patient acquisition strategy will allow you to set your brand apart from the competition and ensure that it is financially equipped to offer quality services. If this sounds like something you are interested in, let’s dive into 10 tried-and-true patient acquisition strategies for healthcare businesses.

• What is patient acquisition?
• Why is patient acquisition important?
• Patient acquisition vs patient retention: What’s the difference?
• 6 Ways Your Business Can Use Customer Reviews to Dominate Local Search
• Download FREE Guide Now
• 10 strategies to improve your patient acquisition
• Ready to take your patient acquisition strategy to the next level?
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about patient acquisition

What is patient acquisition?

Patient acquisition refers to the process of attracting new patients. This can be done through online advertising, optimizing your website for search engines, and implementing patient referral programs.

Patient acquisition is one of the key goals that digital marketers aim to achieve. By attracting more patients and encouraging them to book appointments with you, you can increase your practice’s revenue generation.

One of the cornerstones of patient acquisition is improving the overall patient experience. Offering high-quality healthcare services and adopting an empathetic approach to patient interactions can go a long way in inspiring patient loyalty.

Why is patient acquisition important?

Patient acquisition is the ultimate goal of any marketing effort and determining how the business is performing overall. By attracting new patients, you are essentially generating revenue and establishing your business as a success.

Patient acquisition, combined with patient outcomes and patient engagement, are some factors that healthcare practices can focus on to achieve success. By adopting a strategy that caters to all levels, you will establish your practice as the ideal healthcare provider.

Patient acquisition is important because it is seen as a reflection of just how successful a practice is, as it suggests long-term sustained success achieved from effective marketing and referrals.

Patient acquisition vs patient retention: What’s the difference?

What is more important for a healthcare practice to be successful: patient acquisition or patient retention? To answer this question, let’s first understand the two and how they can be differentiated.

Patient acquisition is all about reaching more patients. If you are implementing strategies that introduce your brand to your target audience, you are essentially acquiring patients.

Patient retention focuses on maintaining long-term relationships with your patients. This involves educating them about the services you offer, engaging with them before, during, and after treatment, and, most importantly, encouraging them to leave a review.

Patient acquisition and patient retention are both necessary for running a profitable practice. They are both crucial for the success of your practice.

You could say that patient retention can lead to improvements in patient acquisition. This is because referrals (i.e., word of mouth) can help you reach potential patients through a trusted source.

Patient acquisition and patient retention can both be achieved by incorporating a review generation strategy. You want your existing patients to be raving about their experience with you so that potential patients can read your reviews and testimonials, gaining unmatched popularity.

It is important to note that the cost of generating new leads and the time it takes to convert them is significant. Healthcare practices have to capture the interest of their existing patients through marketing activities to ensure they build lasting relationships and refer them to their friends and family.

Another way to retain patients is by offering them post-care services and keeping them engaged through the patient feedback loop. If you are wondering how important patient retention and patient acquisition are in a healthcare practice, here are some statistics to help you visualize:

• Businesses in the U.S. have lost over $168 billion per year due to their churn rate.

• Over $35 billion per year is saved by keeping existing customers happy.

• There is a 60% to 70% chance of selling a product or service to an old customer, whereas there is only a 5% to 20% chance of selling to a new one.

• 44% of companies still don’t calculate their patient retention rates.

• It takes 3 purchases to develop brand loyalty, according to customers.

These numbers suggest that patient retention is just as important as patient acquisition, if not more so. Businesses should focus on ways to grow their customer base while also promoting a positive reputation and maintaining long-term client relationships.

6 Ways Your Business Can Use Customer Reviews to Dominate Local Search

Download FREE Guide Now

10 strategies to improve your patient acquisition

Here are 10 strategies that will boost your patient acquisition rate:

1. Transform your website into a patient acquisition tool

Over 90% of users will make up their mind about your brand by looking at your website’s design. It’s the first impression you get to make, and the best way to use it to your advantage is to turn it into a lead generation tool.

You can do that by strategically placing CTAs (calls to action) or encouraging visitors to fill out a booking form. Just don’t bombard them with pop-ups, as that could do the opposite of creating a good impression.

2. Get involved in social media marketing

68% of marketers claim that social media is where they generate most of their leads. This makes Facebook or Instagram your best bet for advertising your services and creating content that potential patients can engage with.

It is also a platform for community building, which is essential for fostering patient loyalty with your existing patients.

3. Focus on organic search engine optimization (SEO)

Optimizing your website to target popular healthcare keywords will ensure that potential patients find your website online. Medical keywords and high-ranking local keywords are some examples of popular keywords you should target.

You can also use Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to better target popular topics in your niche.

4. Develop relationships with referral sources

Patients don’t always know which doctor or healthcare provider is the best for them. This is why they often get referred to specialists in other fields.

By entering into partnerships with other healthcare providers, you can attract patients who are looking for specific services that you provide. These partnerships can be endorsed with bonuses and incentives, allowing your practice to get more bookings through referrals.

5. Use targeted digital advertising

Using pay-per-click (PPC), display ads, or social media marketing (SMM) will help you reach your potential patients. Not only are these marketing tactics incredibly effective, but they also enhance the impact of your SEO practices.

6. Engage in conventional advertising

While digital marketing is cost-effective, engaging in conversion advertising still accounts for 53.3% of the global advertising market size. You can still reach your target audience through newspapers, radio, and television.

We recommend combining traditional advertising with digital channels to get the best bang for your buck.

7. Network with local hospitals and clinics

Building relationships with local hospitals can help you reach a larger patient pool. Not only is it a great way to build a positive reputation for your practice, but it also allows you to reach new segments of the market, making it a profitable area for your business.

8. Provide patient-centric care

Healthcare practices tend to underestimate how profitable it is to adopt a patient-centric approach. This means treating patient retention as part of patient acquisition.

In order to develop a patient-centric approach, you can take some time to understand the patients’ needs and improve areas of patient acquisition where there tends to be friction. The more seamless the patient experience is, the more likely your patients are to be loyal to your practice in the long run.

9. Offer incentives for referrals

If you are looking to encourage your patients’ loyalty to your practice, you can do that by giving your patients a little token of appreciation. This can be in the form of incentives for referring your practice to their friends and family, or for earning points when they choose your practice for its healthcare services.

This will encourage your patients to keep coming back because their loyalty is rewarded.

10. Get more Online Reviews

Patient acquisition and patient feedback are dependent on each other. This is because 90% of your patients read online reviews before they decide to book an appointment with a new healthcare provider.

Your online reputation and the way you interact with your patients in response to both positive and negative reviews help potential patients gauge whether or not they can trust your practice. The stronger your online presence, the higher the patient acquisition rates.

You can encourage your existing patients to leave reviews, and you can also automate review responses to ensure that when they do leave a review, they are getting a response right away. This will boost your online presence, resulting in more engagement online.

Ready to take your patient acquisition strategy to the next level?

What sets a successful practice apart is the ability to manage your online presence and nurture patient relationships as part of a wider patient acquisition strategy.

All successful healthcare providers know that how you treat your existing patients directly impacts the practice’s ability to attract new patients. Whether it is through engagement on social media platforms or offering referral programs, patients come when they see other patients speak highly of their experience.

Patient acquisition is an ongoing process, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to attracting new patients. The best course of action for your practice is to study patient acquisition trends to see which approaches worked best for you and invest in those areas.

So if workshops and collaborations have brought the most new patients to your practice, we recommend focusing on more collaborations with local healthcare providers to reach your target audience more effectively.

We also recommend investing in specialized software that manages patient interactions for your healthcare practice, such as DemandHub. By using software that optimizes different aspects of patient acquisition and retention, such as appointment booking and review generation, you can streamline the growth of your practice.

Using DemandHub will not only boost your patient acquisition rate but also help you manage the initial interactions smoothly, which goes a long way in building long-term relationships with those patients.

If this seems like something you are interested in, book a demo to learn more about DemandHub.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about patient acquisition

What strategies can healthcare providers use for patient acquisition?

Healthcare providers can use the following patient acquisition strategies to attract new patients:

1. Social media marketing

2. Community outreach programs

3. Collaborations with other local healthcare providers

4. Offering referral discounts and vouchers

5. Optimizing your website for search engines to reach a wider audience

How patient acquisition affects healthcare revenue?

Patient acquisition is the process of attracting new patients. The success of your practice depends on your ability to attract new patients and retain them. This directly impacts revenue generation and the profitability of your business.

How can providers use digital marketing for patient acquisition?

The primary goal of digital marketing is to educate potential patients about your practice, the services you offer, and the importance of those services for their health and well-being. Combining SEO with social media marketing and paid advertising will help you reach your target audience and effectively promote your services.

What role does patient satisfaction play in patient acquisition?

When your patients are satisfied, they will recommend your services to their friends and family. Improving patient satisfaction is one of the most misunderstood yet effective patient acquisition strategies.

It combines word-of-mouth referrals with positive patient reviews to market your brand and give it the ‘seal of approval,’ encouraging potential patients to book an appointment with you.

What is patient acquisition vs patient retention?

Patient acquisition is the process of attracting new patients to your practice, while patient retention involves improving patient satisfaction to build long-term relationships with them.

You need both patient acquisition and retention to grow your practice because of how the two affect revenue generation and online reputation management.

What is the ratio of patient lifetime value to patient acquisition cost?

The lifetime value of a patient (LTV) is how much revenue is generated during the period the patient is with the practice. The patient acquisition cost (CAC) is the cost of acquiring a new patient (marketing, advertising, etc.). The ratio of patient lifetime value to patient acquisition cost indicates how much the practice spends on acquiring the patient versus how much they profit from that patient.

These figures determine how valuable the patient has been to the practice over the years and how patient acquisition can determine the success of your practice.