5 Steps to Increase Your Chiropractic Office's Patient Retention

Sometimes, welcoming a new patient can be easier than holding onto a familiar one. Does it sometimes feel like your chiropractic office’s waiting room has a slow leak? Follow these five steps to fill up your office, and keep it that way!

1. Create a Stellar Atmosphere

From the moment your patient walks in, you’ll want to create an atmosphere that they would love to revisit. Make sure that the front office staff is warm, welcoming, helpful, and greets the patient with a smile. When working with the patient, do everything you can to foster a relationship clearly built on trust and respect. Consider educating the patient on their condition and treatments, so that they feel included, respected, and self-motivated. Taking these steps will create a warm and trusting atmosphere that will bring previous patients back for more.

2. Guide Patients through Finances

Patients often get hung up on the details for making finances happen. Try to make this process as clear as possible, and help them along the way! Make sure that your front office staff knows the ins and outs of your payment process and the instructions on the website are clear. If you and your staff can guide your patients through this (sometimes difficult) process, they will know that they have a practice they can count on.

3. Take Verbal Steps Towards A Return

As obvious as it may seem, many chiropractic offices forget to actually invite their patients to return! Make sure that the patient knows to return, and that they feel like their return will be wanted. Also try to regularly ensure that the patient knows the exact date of their appointment. Be sensitive to their schedule and needs, but be assertive in making appointments. Suggest times for them instead of leaving the scheduling open-ended. If the patient has a set time, knows when it is, and feels welcome, the chances of retaining that patient are much higher.

4. Review and Adjust

Try to gain as much feedback as possible about the customer experience as possible, and adjust accordingly! If your patients see improvements that line up with their desires, they will be very impressed and more than ready to return. There are various ways to gauge the environment in your office. One option is asking your patients to fill out a satisfaction survey. You should also consider inviting a third party to come in and evaluate your practice, as they might be more willing to give constructive criticism. Last but not least, try “being the patient” for a while, and see how you feel about treatment in your practice from the patient’s perspective! If you can find areas that need improvement, and execute, your patients will be happy to return.

5. After the Visit

Keeping all this in mind, consider friendly reminders to make it back to the office, particularly if they are overdue. No matter what, warmly remind them that you’re there for them and want to see them! Make sure they know that they are welcome, and know the services that you can provide with a repeated visit. When managing your chiropractic office, it can be difficult to keep a consistent patient group. We hope that taking these steps will keep your patients returning, and allow you to welcome a new group of patients as well!