When the three-month lockdown hit Victoria’s dental practices hard, a lot of practices needed to shut their doors. But new practice owner Dr Ted Yu kept his running. He’d started his practice just 18 months earlier with a patient base of zero and got it up to 500+, with over 50% of his new patients coming direct from HealthEngine. And he wasn’t going to let a global pandemic take that away from him.
Ted wanted to be ready to go and grow Camberwell Road Dental as soon as the COVID restrictions lifted, and it paid off.
Stats snapshot
-
Zero to 600+ patients in 2 years
-
Immediate 400% growth in first 2 months after lockdown
-
Record 34 new patient bookings via HealthEngine for Nov/Dec 2020
-
HealthEngine ROI: 468%
-
97% HealthEngine patient rating and 5-stars on Google
Picking up business post-lockdown
As patients rushed to get urgent dental work done, and HealthEngine launched its online campaign reminding patients to book before their 2020 health insurance benefits expired, business instantly picked up for Ted.
His Camberwell dental practice saw an immediate 400% business growth in the first two months after lockdown, and double the number of bookings compared to the same period in 2019.
“We’re seeing a massive backlog of patients needing check-ups and dental work, and many patients are finding their regular clinics are fully booked. So they’re going to HealthEngine and finding and booking available appointments at my practice,” said Ted.
He was also open over the Christmas period, when many other practices were closed, which brought in new patients too. And many are now returning to Ted’s practice because they’ve had a really good experience.
”“By far, HealthEngine has been the best solution for generating new patients and increasing growth to build up my business. No other online booking platforms is as proactive as HealthEngine when it comes to advertising on Google to promote your practice. And for new start-up clinics like mine, this is extremely valuable. They’re doing all the SEO work so I don’t have to.”
Dr Ted YuPractice Owner - Camberwell Road Dental
HealthEngine lays foundation for surviving and thriving
Ted set up his practice in early 2019 with a patient base of zero. No website. No online presence. No online booking system. Just one chair and the eight years of dental practice he had under his belt.
“I was the new guy in town, and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy starting from scratch in the long established and highly competitive suburb of Camberwell. But one thing I was sure of was that I wanted to give my patients the convenience of online booking, because everyone expects that these days.” said Ted.
“I use HealthEngine to book appointments with my own GP, and find it very easy to use. So when HealthEngine approached me when I set up my practice, I was keen to sign up. Not just because I’d had a good first-hand booking experience, but because they could give my practice instant market presence on HealthEngine. It was the quickest and easiest way to get my practice and my available appointments in front of patients actively looking to book their dental.”
The best solution for building a dental practice from scratch
As part of his launch and growth strategy, Ted also did a leaflet drop and engaged an online marketing company to get his website set up and assist with SEO and Google Ads.
From 7,000 leaflets, at a cost of $1,000, Ted’s print investment returned just one single patient. And after six months, the online marketing company were still falling drastically short of their promise to deliver 25 new patients a month. So Ted switched tack and engaged a second SEO company to help his website climb the Google search results.
But while his own website didn’t quite attain a spot at the top of the search results, HealthEngine did. Consistently. Which meant his HealthEngine listing got more bookings.
“By far, HealthEngine has been the best solution for generating new patients and increasing growth to build up my business,” said Ted.
“There are plenty of online booking platforms out there, but none are as proactive as HealthEngine when it comes to advertising on Google to promote your practice. And for new start-up clinics like mine, this is extremely valuable. They’re doing all the SEO work so I don’t have to.”
“I found out doing that yourself can turn out to be super expensive. There’s no short-cut to getting leads, and it’s really hard to track and quantify the return on investment. But with the monthly reports I get from HealthEngine, it shows me the new patient and return patient totals. I can actually see I’m getting a good return on my investment.”
An average of 15 new patients per month direct from HealthEngine post-lockdown has delivered an ROI of 468% for Ted.
Online reviews provide an extra boost of dental patients
Beyond HealthEngine, Ted’s keeping it simple. He’s managing his own Google Reviews and sending text messages to patients after their appointments to invite them to leave a review. His consistent 5-star rating on Google, together with his 97% patient rating on HealthEngine, has encouraged many new patients to give Ted’s practice a try.
“I’m still getting bookings from patients who can’t get an appointment with their regular dentist because they’re fully booked. And I’m also starting to get a lot more referrals from my growing patient database, so that’s generating new business too.”
Ready to grow your practice?
Pop your details in here and our team will be in touch. No obligation. No hard-sell. No-brainer.
