Marketing Definitions

Marketing definitions. We begin with definitions to ensure you become familiar with our terminology, understand how to generate accurate stats, and to grow your knowledge so that you can identify better lead measures to move the needle for positive change and achieve your wildly important goals. The first column is dedicated to terminology, followed by definitions, industry benchmarks, and examples of how to apply the information based on best practice. Let’s jump right in and read through each term and definition.

Shopper conversion. A shopper is a person in search of eye care for themselves or a family member. Their search generally starts online to compare clinic locations, business hours, ratings, and reviews. Next, they may choose to book an appointment through your online scheduler or call to gather additional information. Shopper conversion is the measure of how successful the clinic is in capturing these callers and converting them to patients. You only get one chance to make a great first impression. Many times that first impression is an online resource followed by the member of your team who makes the first contact. Listen to your tone, pace, articulation, be knowledgeable in information you are presenting, but keep it simple and smile through the phone. Use the caller’s name, thank them for calling, and allow them to hang up first.

Calls received. Calls received references the number of calls received from shoppers, also known as shopper calls. Shoppers may ask, “How much is your eye exam?” However, you know through shopper call training there is so much more information the patient actually needs to know in order to build value and allow you to demonstrate why your clinic is different and better. Eye care is not a commodity and it is everyone’s job to educate the patient about your comprehensive eye exam and other competitive advantages. They also want to be reassured that you will help them with any questions they may have. Make them feel at home with your expertise and friendliness.

Calls converted. The number of shopper calls converted to patients.

Conversion rate. The Shopper conversion rate is a measurement of calls converted divided by calls received. For example, if 7 calls were converted out of a total of 10 shopper calls received the conversion rate would equal 70%.

Family member conversion. Family member conversion, or FMC, are achieved by recognizing the person you are speaking with, or their family members, have not had a comprehensive eye exam in more than one year and do not currently have an appointment scheduled with your clinic. These people may be accompanying a current patient, they may visit your clinic to request and adjust and polish, they may be family members of the patient who called to make an appointment for themselves. Asking “Are any other family members past due for their yearly vision and eye health exam?” will generate many FMC’s, as well as by obtaining family members with unused insurance benefits, while confirming insurance eligibility for the primary appointment.

New patient acquisition. Acquiring at least 30% new patients year over year, is essential to prevent schedule drop-off. Your schedule template should be designed to take this into account.

New patient count. The number of patients who have kept an appointment who are either brand new to your clinic or their last date of service is greater than 3 years.

Established patient count. The number of patients who have kept an appointment who are returning to your clinic and have a last date of service of less than 3 years.

Recall campaign. A recall campaign is performed to engage with patients who are past due for their yearly vision and eye health exam. You may also have problem-focused recall efforts in place to ensure continuation of care in monitoring and/or treating chronic or sight-threatening conditions.

Auto-recall messages sent. These recall messages are set up through your patient communication software platform. Typically you can throttle your settings to send up to 200 messages per day. Ensure this system is sending daily, some systems require a “sync” to be preformed when updates to either software have taken place.

Office recall. These recall efforts are performed by your staff through many channels including; phone, letters, postcards, or other manual methods.

Referral sources. Tracking referral sources are important in order to determine where to invest marketing efforts. This takes little time and is extremely valuable. Asking “May I ask how you heard about our clinic?” at the end of booking a new appointment will ensure accurate data is collected. You may have to access your demographics tables to customize or add additional options for your unique referral data. On the Marketing Dashboard, your Top 5 Referral Sources are highlighted with green font.

This was a great introduction, now let’s head over to the stats page.