and… apologies in advance for the bad jokes 😉
Only chiropractors themselves know just how competitive the industry is. You might even say that chiropractic marketing isn’t all it’s *cracked* up to be (wink). Seriously, though, to survive and thrive in this rewarding field of health and wellness, you really do need to *re-align* your goals now and then (double wink).
So referrals, word-of-mouth and super-expensive marketing aside, how does a chiropractor go about filling up that appointment book these days? Pricy Google advertising? Time-consuming online content, websites and social media? Workshops? Email? Answer: Absolutely! On all counts.
But an oft-overlooked avenue for getting new clients is almost certainly the most effective – and it’s as obvious as lower back pain (wink again). What is it? We’re talking about re-activating clients who already think you’re great.
So why are inactive clients worth their weight in gold?
It may come as a surprise to many chiropractors like you, but do you know what? Even if they haven’t made a visit for a long time, most inactive patients and clients will still talk about you at that Christmas get-together as “their chiro”. And the magic of providing great services is that those very same patients will talk about you as though you’re the best gosh darn chiropractor on God’s great earth.
And the really great news? You know that database you so diligently keep? It’s already chock full of inactive clients who can be re-activated quite easily.
Here’s how:
1. Provide superb care and service
The first strategy is the easiest and the most obvious – because you should be doing it already. And we’re not only talking about providing top-notch levels of care and compassion, and coupling it with superb levels of service including trying your utmost to keep all scheduled appointments.
We’re also talking about keeping your active clients fully engaged by implementing a multi-step program to motivate ongoing preventative care. And you can start right now by reminding clients of their forthcoming and overdue appointments.
2. Supercharge your database
Before an active client becomes an inactive one, devise a coding system so that you can easily identify them for re-activation in the future.
Because you see many, many patients, you’ll know that they roughly fall under one of the following 3 categories:
a) Clients who didn’t follow your recommendations or pay their bills
b) Clients who made a one-off visit and misunderstood the beauty of great chiropractic care
c) Clients you’d just *love* to see each and every week.
It will only take a nanosecond to add an A, B or C alongside their name in the database, making it a simple task to prioritise them for re-activation in the future.
3. Keep in touch
Another great thing about these dream ‘C’ clients is that when you ask if they want to be added to your ‘keep in touch’ email mailing list, they’ll probably answer with an emphatic “yes”.
This then becomes the best possible sort of email marketing – keeping in touch with an engaged and willing audience. Then, all of that effort in putting together things like patient newsletters, postcards, and even birthday greetings becomes highly effective.
4. Active re-activation campaign
While keeping in touch might be regarded as a soft way to inspire clients to remain active or to self re-activate, there is a way to turn the volume of that campaign up a notch or three.
Most clients become inactive because their circumstances changed, they had a one-off bad experience, or – even if you’re nothing short of brilliant – they simply forgot about you. But all of these inactive clients may still be open to a personal, honest and humble reminder that you still care about their wellbeing.
In these sorts of letters, emails and phone calls, the focus shouldn’t be on you and your business, but on them, the care they received, and their wellbeing. Essentially, it’s a ‘How are you going?’ approach to indicating that you’d love nothing more than to welcome them back with open arms. Do they have any feedback for you? Was there a reason they stopped coming? Would a complimentary chiro session show them how important they still are to you?
Don’t forget about your inactive patients
Did you know that you’re about three times more likely to re-activate an old client than you are to sign up for a new one? Further marketing metrics studies and research have shown that, if done effectively and consistently, up to 50-60 percent of all lapsed patients can be quite easily re-activated with nothing more than the type of strategies listed above. So don’t forget about them, and chances are they won’t forget about you either.
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About The Author
Adam Arnold
Dr Adam Arnold has over 17 years experience in digital marketing and has been mentored by, and is a mentor to, some of the greatest marketing brains of today.