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By Steve Poley
Product Manager, EyeCarePro
March 18, 2020
Every business day, the average optometry office needs 10-12 patients booking an exam. If your practice isn’t booked to full capacity with appointments, read on…
Practices are always looking for new patients. At EyeCarePro, I help manage over $500,000 in digital advertising. One of the most effective ways to attract new patients is through pay-per-click advertising. Here is how it works and how you can get more patients clicking and calling to book an exam.
Be where patients are looking for an eye doctor
How does an OD get considered by a patient? They show up in the search listings when the patient searches for “eye doctor near me.”
Every month around the average OD office there are 2,000+ search requests for vision care–people looking for an eye doctor, eye exam, optometrist or “eye doctor near me.” This person wants to see an eye doctor. They are ready to click or call for an appointment. That’s why an OD should consider pay-per-click, or keyword-search, advertising.
What is Pay-per-Click Advertising?
“Pay-per-click” is the general term for search-word advertising, or search-display advertising. It is paid for only when a person searching clicks on the ad. The cost per click can range from $1 to $20+. If the ad runs, and nobody clicks on it, then it costs the advertiser nothing.
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However, most search-advertising platforms will quickly stop showing ads that are not clicked. Search platforms like Google, Bing and Yahoo will display an ad more frequently when it gets clicked and generates revenue for the search engine.
ROI of Pay-per-Click Advertising
On average, it costs $750 per month to be effectively visible in keyword-search advertising. Most well-marketed practices with a good web site should see 20-40 patients calling about an eye exam, or clicking to make an appointment, 4-8 weeks after starting pay-per-click advertising. That’s about $20-$35 per patient call or digital appointment booking. One patient might be worth at least $300.
The Magic Moment
Keyword-search advertising is expensive relative to radio, suburban newspapers and local television. However, you are reaching someone ready to book an eye exam. They want a phone number to call or a link to click on to make an appointment. This is the magic moment when all the delays and excuses are gone. They are ready to book an exam.
How to Measure Success
Most keyword-search-advertising measures impressions, clicks and click-rates, and then calculates cost per everything but a patient. The most important measurement is a patient phone call or online request to book an exam. If the phone doesn’t ring, or the patient doesn’t get in touch digitally, then nothing counts. We track all the internal performance measures to run the most effective campaign.
The final measure is “Did the phone ring?” or “Did the patient click to make an appointment?” EyeCarePro tracks marketing-generated phone calls and the number of patients who click on make-an-appointment links.
After two months, an OD office should see $25 or lower cost per patient online booking or phone call … looking to book an eye exam. That’s a patient who will likely generate at least $300 during their office visit in exchange for the $25 cost to reach them.
What DOESN’T Pay-per-Click Work For?
Pay-per-click advertising is too expensive for branding, education and general awareness-building. This form of digital advertising is like spear-fishing, allowing you to zero in on your marketing targets within close range, right at the time when they’re ready to make an appointment. Everything else is fishing from the side of a bridge.
Be Careful of Before You Jump In
It’s difficult to use merchandise brand names in pay-per-click advertising. Google will reject most ads with trademarks from other companies. You can attempt to run ads against competitor’s names, but the results will be poor. You’ll pay a premium and most patients searching for a competitive office/doctor are not good leads. They might click or call, but they will not convert to an appointment. Not all clicks are good clicks.
Keyword-search advertising will grow a good practice and push a bad practice out of business. If your web site is subpar, slow, or not mobile-friendly, then ads will not work.
If your reviews are less than four stars, and fewer than 100, then work on reviews before you run digital ads.
If you lack photos, reviews and online social media postings, then work on those. Keyword-search advertising works best when all other online marketing is in order.
Make sure your keyword-search measures phone calls to make appointments and actual appointments made online. Don’t be snowed by impressions and clicks that are not directly connected to booking appointments.
Finally, ask yourself about converting phone calls to appointments. Are you converting more than one of three calls? Many are not.
EyeCarePro knows how to manage your entire digital presence and how you can do better.
Steve Poley is an product manager for EyeCarePro. To contact him: steve.poley@eyecarepro.net
