#140: The 3 Fastest Ways to Increase Patient Bookings Without Increasing Ad Spend

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Welcome back to the show. Let me ask you something—are you pouring thousands into ads but still not seeing enough patient bookings? Here’s a stat to consider: 30-40% of leads generated by clinics are never followed up with properly. That’s revenue literally left on the table.

Source: LeadSimple CRM Study on Small Business Follow-Up Behavior (2019)

In today’s economic climate—with ad costs rising 15–20% year-on-year, and governments tightening marketing regulations—it’s more important than ever to improve conversions, not just generate more leads.

Source: WordStream 2023 Google Ads Benchmark Report

Welcome to another episode of Online Marketing For Doctors TV & Podcast—your go-to resource for growing and scaling your practice. I’m Huyen Truong, a Strategic Marketing Consultant for medical clinics. Over the past decade, my team and I have helped clinics across Australia, the UK, the US, Singapore, India, Canada, New Zealand, and beyond to thrive using our proven patient generation system.

Today, we’re going to dive into an easy to implement episode  The 3 Fastest Ways to Increase Patient Bookings Without Increasing Ad Spend

1. Speed Up Your Response Time

✅ Why It Matters:

Research from Harvard Business Review shows that companies that respond to leads within 5 minutes are 100x more likely to make contact and 21x more likely to qualify the lead and convert them compared to those that wait 30 minutes or more.

Source: Harvard Business Review – The Short Life of Online Sales Leads

And a bonus Insight: “78% of customers buy from the company that responds to them first.”
Source: InsideSales.com Lead Response Research

In the medical industry, trust and speed often go hand in hand—especially for elective procedures where patients are shopping around.

💡 Real-World Example:

• One cosmetic surgery clinic in Sydney we worked with had a 28% jump in bookings within one month simply by setting up:
  • An automated chatbot to answer FAQs instantly
  • SMS alerts for their patient coordinator to follow up within 3–5 minutes
  • A shared CRM board that flagged new leads in real-time

🛠️ Tactics:

• Consider using CRM tools like GoHighLevel for instant lead routing
• Train your front desk on scripts to qualify leads quickly and book consults on the spot
• Set up an email auto-responder that reassures leads with timelines: “Thanks for reaching out, we’ll be in touch within 15 minutes.”

2. Improve Your Booking Funnel UX

❌ Common Mistake:

According to Google Health Trends report, over 60% of healthcare searches happen on mobile. Long, clunky booking forms are conversion killers. According to Zocdoc, 70% of patients abandon an online form if it takes more than 1 minute to complete.
 Source: Zocdoc Internal UX Data (via Statista UX Survey Reference 2022)

💡 Real-World Example:

• A US-based hair transplant clinic qualified prospects by asking strategic questions via web form and reduced the no show rates by 46%.
• After a mobile-first redesign, one client clinic saw enquiries double—with no additional spend on ads.

🛠️ Tactics:

Consider including a short welcome video from the doctor—adds trust and improves engagement right after prospects submit their enquiries and encourages them to follow you on social media. By then you can have remarketing ads set up on social media platforms to continuously engage and educate prospects about the procedure so they can be more committed and ready for the consultation and procedure with you.

Because according to retargeting Insight: Website visitors who are retargeted are 70% more likely to convert.

Source: Criteo Retargeting Research Report 2022

3. Nurture Your Leads Properly

💬 Why It’s Crucial:

80% of conversions happen after 5 or more follow-ups, but 44% of businesses give up after one, most clinics stop after 1–2.

Source: National Sales Executive Association (NSEA) & HubSpot Sales Statistics (2023)

Because patients are often doing research for weeks, not hours. You need to stay top-of-mind.

💡 Real-World Example:

A cosmetic surgery clinic in London implemented a 5-part email sequence post-lead capture:

• Email 1: Surgeon intro video
• Email 2: FAQ about the procedure
• Email 3: Before-and-after gallery
• Email 4: Patient testimonial
• Email 5: Consult reminder

Result? A 40% increase in booked consults within 6 weeks—without increasing ad spend.

🛠️ Tactics:

• Use CRM like Go High Level or any email marketing softwares Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign to set up automation
• Segment leads by treatment type and follow up with personalised content
  Use Facebook Pixel or YouTube Retargeting to show testimonial videos to past visitors.

Wrap-Up

Now, just some takeaway points from today’s episode that you can apply immediately to improve your new patient conversion rate;

📌 Recap:

1. Respond within 5 minutes—speed = higher booking conversion
2. Simplify the booking experience—ditch long forms and go mobile-first.
3. Follow up more than twice—build a relationship, not just a transaction.

🎯 Take Action:

Audit your lead process this week. How fast is your response time? Where are people dropping off? Are you nurturing leads who didn’t convert right away?

Want help building your marketing systems and improve the conversion rate of your sales process? Let’s chat. Head to www.onlinemarketingfordoctors.com to book a free strategy call with our team.

Until next time — build smart, scale fast.