8 ways to get more customers for your practice
Getting more customers for your practice isn’t just beneficial—it’s essential to keep your patient flow steady and ensure long-term growth. The key to success lies in following the Customer Value Journey (CVJ), which outlines a patient’s stages, from first hearing about you to becoming a loyal patient.
In this post, I will guide you through 8 effective strategies to enhance patient experiences at each CVJ stage.
Customer Value Journey Recap
The Customer Value Journey is an 8-step framework designed to transform new patients into brand promoters. Skipping or overlooking any step can disrupt the journey, resulting in a leaky bucket in which your practice continually loses prospects!
Let’s get started
1. Aware: Building Online Presence
A strong online presence will let more people know about what you offer. Many practices struggle with this initial step, crucial for making potential patients aware of your existence.
Start by creating compelling profiles that represent your practice and what you offer. If you are overwhelmed, we recommend focusing on ONE of the big four platforms: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Google Ads.
Maintain consistent branding across all channels to ensure your practice is easily recognisable and relatable to your target audience.
Remember that with a robust online presence, your practice may be noticed.
2. Engage: Sharing Valuable Contents
Once you’ve acquired awareness, engaging potential patients with valuable content becomes paramount. You need a high-converting landing page to receive your ad visitors.
Consider the content you can leverage to turn a glance into a stare. For example;
- Informative content: This educational content should answer prospective customers’ questions before booking an appointment. This approach helps build trust and positions your practice as an expert.For example, in this video, Dr Anchaal Gupta from iVISION Laser addresses a common query: ‘SMILE vs SMILE Pro: Which eye surgery is better?’ Her clear and knowledgeable explanation helps patients distinguish between these similar procedures, reinforcing confidence in her expertise.
- Entertainment content: This can include behind-the-scenes videos, fun facts, or mysteries about eye surgery. Such content humanises your practice and makes it more relatable, keeping your audience interested and engaged. For example, the MYTHBUSTERS’s video series by Eye Laser Specialists
By balancing both types of content, you can attract and retain the attention of potential patients, contributing to a positive customer experience journey.
3. Subscribe: Offering Free Guide or Self-Test
Often, practices focus so much on providing valuable content and services that they overlook the importance of asking for a small favour: contact information.
What valuable chunk of content can we offer in exchange for their contact information and permission to follow up? Offering a lead magnet like a free guide or self-test is an intelligent approach to exchange value for contact details. Here are some examples:
- Laser eye surgery’s suitability self-test CTA by VSON Laser Eye Specialist
- Discover the number one mistake patients make when choosing cataract surgery guide by Lucia Pelosini
By creating an irresistible free guide and implementing a self-test, you can automate expanding your contact list. This crucial step in the patient acquisition process ensures that practices maintain ongoing communication, provide relevant updates, and convert engaged prospects into new clients.
Our Practice Marketing Assessment data shows that only 1 out of 10 respondents offer a lead magnet on their website. Don’t fall into the same trap—simply ask!
4. Convert: Offering an Entry Point Offer
Many practices face the challenge of converting leads into committed patients. High drop-off rates often stem from hesitations about committing to a service without prior experience.
What you have to do here is to make an entry-point offer, a valuable yet low-risk offer that lets them experience your service without commitment.
If you have yet to integrate an online booking calendar on your website, you’re missing out. An entry-point offer, such as a free initial appointment, is a powerful tool for reducing barriers. Additionally, offering a video appointment as an alternative to face-to-face appointments caters to leads who may prefer not to travel, especially if they live farther from your practice, making it even more convenient for them to take the first step.
An entry-point offer isn’t meant to generate immediate profit (or even revenue). Its sole purpose is to convert subscribers into paying customers. Profit focus comes later in the journey.
5. Excite: The Ah-Ha Moment
Nowadays, exceptional service is rare, so making a lasting impression can be difficult. Many practices struggle with the challenge of exciting their patients. The key is to find and deliver that “Ah-Ha” moment—the experience that wows and sticks with them. This becomes a powerful competitive tool that sets you apart.
Think about things you can do to make the patients feel they have made the right choice. Here are some ideas;
- Telephone interactions: When a potential patient calls, make the conversation personal and engaging. Ask about their concerns and lives instead of just giving basic info they can find online. For example, instead of just giving a price, talk about how the procedure can help them, share success stories, and show you care about their well-being. This makes a big difference compared to the cold responses they might get elsewhere.
- At consultations: When patients arrive, make them feel special. Offer a welcome gift. Spend 5-10 minutes solely asking them questions about their fears, frustrations, wants and aspirations. Engineer specific questions or demonstrations that turn your product from a nice-to-have into a must-have.
Focusing on these areas creates memorable “Ah-Ha” moments that help monetise consultations. Exceptional customer service also stimulates recommendations and referrals, building a strong, positive reputation for your practice.
NOTE: The best way to answer that nagging question about practice growth or marketing or patient volume in the back of your mind is to book a free 15-minute compatibility call. Get some options and go away with a clear idea of what’s possible.
6. Ascend
At this stage, your relationship with your patient has progressed smoothly, and now it’s time to solidify it. It’s more than just a transaction; it’s about establishing trust and long-term care.
Once the patient has signed all necessary paperwork and is undergoing eye surgery, it’s crucial to continue enhancing their experience:
- Continued personalized care: Provide a high standard of personalized care throughout the patient’s surgical journey. Keep them informed, reassured, and supported before and on the surgery day.
- Enhanced services and upgrades: Offer additional services or upgrades that complement their surgical procedure. This could include advanced post-operative care or personalised recovery plans.
- Patient education: Provide ongoing education about the surgery, recovery process, and any necessary post-operative care. For instance, provide a checklist of do’s and don’ts and an emergency contact number to ensure they understand and feel confident about their surgery. The surgeon’s mobile number is a plus.
7. Advocate: Asking for review
Happy patients naturally share their positive experiences. Encourage them to leave reviews or share their stories online using tools like QR codes, Google reviews, or testimonial videos. These endorsements serve as powerful testimonials for your practice.
- Make leaving a review effortless for patients: Provide a QR code card that directs them straight to your Google review page, bypassing the need to search for your practice and navigate through Google Maps. For example, this is the Memorial Eye Institute’s review card:
- Timely request: Ask for reviews when patients are likely to feel most positive about their experience, such as immediately after a successful procedure or during a follow-up appointment.
- Response to their review: Respond promptly to received reviews, thanking patients publicly for their feedback to show responsiveness and care.
Implementing these strategies can make the review process smoother and more rewarding for patients, encouraging them to share their positive experiences and contribute to your clinic’s reputation.
8. Promote: Building brand promoters
A common issue for eye surgery practices at this stage is turning happy patients into active promoters. Although patients are pleased with their outcomes, they might only naturally recommend the practice to others or leave reviews with encouragement. This can make attracting new patients through word-of-mouth or online reviews challenging. Practices often need to use referral programs or make it easier for patients to leave reviews to encourage these actions effectively.
Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to quickly build your brand online and raise awareness among your target audience. Influencers have strong relationships, trust, and credibility with their followers. Their endorsements carry weight, making it a highly efficient and cost-effective advertising method.
Wrap-Up
Implementing the 8 strategies outlined in this post will systematically guide patients through the Customer Value Journey, enhancing satisfaction and expanding your patient base.
If you need help determining which stage of the Customer Value Journey your practice is at risk, take our Practice Marketing Assessment quiz. With this tool, we can clearly explain which stage your practice needs to improve first, so you can focus on the most critical areas to enhance your patient experience. Or, if you want to have a quick chat, book a free 15-minute compatibility call with Laura today!
NOTE: The best way to answer that nagging question about practice growth or marketing or patient volume in the back of your mind is to book a free 15-minute compatibility call. Get some options and go away with a clear idea of what’s possible.
About the author
Ladfah Suwichacherdchu
Marketing and Multimedia Consultant
Hi, I’m Ladfah. I’m the marketing and multimedia consultant at LiveseySolar. My role involves managing projects, creating compelling multimedia content, and coordinating marketing initiatives.
With a 5-year background in video editing, I take charge of projects from concept to completion, ensuring that every clip, edit, and transition serves the story we aim to tell. I oversee video editing, review and edit footage to make our clients look and sound great, and work with our graphics team to support the marketing of our client’s videos.
Meet our Co-Founders
Rod Solar
Founder & Scalable Business Advisor
For over 20 years, I’ve helped ophthalmology entrepreneurs scale their private practices. I specialise in doubling revenue within three years by offering a proven framework, hands-on experience, and a team of experts who implement what works. We take the guesswork out of growth and scale, so you can focus on delivering exceptional patient care while maximising the value of your business.
LiveseySolar completely transformed the way we were approaching this… We’ve gone from having just the dream of having a practice to having a practice up and running with people making inquiries and booking for procedures… It’s extremely pleasing. We feel lucky we connected with LiveseySolar.
— Dr Matthew Russell, MBChB, FRANZCO, specialist ophthalmic surgeon and founder of VSON and OKKO
Laura Livesey
Founder & CEO
I’m the co-founder & CEO of LiveseySolar. I’ve developed powerful eye surgery marketing systems that increase patient volumes and profits for doctors, clinics, and hospitals, since 1997.
Rod and Laura know as much about marketing surgery to patients as I know about performing it. They are an expert in the field of laser eye surgery marketing. They know this industry inside out. I believe that they could help many companies in a variety of areas including marketing materials, sales training and marketing support for doctors.
— Prof. Dan Reinstein, MD MA FRSC DABO, founder of the London Vision Clinic, UK
