There are many reasons why you should consider using practice management software. It can help you manage your appointment schedule, track your sales pipeline, and even integrate with other business systems. But, there are also plenty of ways to leverage this technology if you’re just starting out or if your current software isn’t meeting all of your needs. Here are four ways that practice management software can help improve the day-to-day operations within your business.
Track the customer journey
To improve your practice, you need to know exactly what’s happening during each step of the patient experience. This can be challenging because it involves tracking a lot of information in real-time, but there are lots of tools out there that make this easier than ever.
For example, many practice management solutions let you set up an automated survey for patients after they receive treatment. The survey asks them questions about their experience and then emails you an aggregated report detailing how those patients feel about their treatment experience, including areas for improvement. You can use this information to improve your office or even see if certain staff members are receiving higher or lower ratings from certain types of patients (for instance, older people tend to rate staff more harshly). By tracking these metrics over time as well as using A/B tests with new marketing materials and techniques, you can increase your patient retention rates substantailly.
Manage your business’s social media presence
You can also use social media to manage your business’s brand, reach new customers and improve customer service. Social media can be a great way to find new employees who will fit in with your team or even help improve the products you sell.
Make sure that you are posting regularly on all of your social media platforms—don’t just post once every few weeks. If you do this, people will stop following because it isn’t interesting enough for them. This can also hurt how much traffic your website gets from search engines like Google and Bing, so keep up with regular updates.
Request and manage client reviews
Requesting and managing client reviews is a crucial part of practice management. You can’t make money without clients, so it’s important to know how to get them to come back for more—and one way that happens is if they love the work you do.
Client reviews also help you attract new clients by helping your practice appear at the top of Google search results, which makes up 90% of all online searches. As such, your website must have a solid selection of client testimonials on it to help generate interest among prospective patients.
Because these opportunities are so important for generating more business, it’s essential to take full advantage of them whenever possible.
Automate appointment reminders
It’s important to use practice management software that allows you to automate appointment reminders. This helps maximize the likelihood of your patients showing up on time, which is great for both you and them.
One of the best ways to make sure people remember their appointments is by sending them a reminder via email, text message, or phone call days in advance. You can choose how much time in advance they receive their reminder based on the type of appointment they have with you.
For routine visits such as annual checkups or well-child exams, remind patients three days beforehand if it’s less than two weeks away, two days beforehand if it’s between two weeks and one month away, or one day beforehand if it’s more than one month away. For urgent appointments such as sick visits or emergencies (where there are no other options), remind patients 24 hours before.
Conclusion
There are many ways to use practice management software, and the four outlined here just scratch the surface. Practice management software can be used for so much more than just accounting: it can help you manage your business and its customers, automate your workflow, and even keep track of important paperwork like contracts or invoices.
