Dental News - Research sheds light on use of digital marketing, patient engagement systems

Dental Tribune USA

Wed. 18 June 2014

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SEATTLE, Wash, USA: Sesame Communications, a provider of cloud-based solutions to help dentists and orthodontists accelerate new patient acquisition and build patient loyalty, recently announced the release of a national study that sheds new light on the key drivers of adoption and use of digital marketing and patient engagement technology and services by dental practices.

This was a blinded study commissioned by Sesame and administered by Dental Products Report in April 2014.

This study surveyed 586 dental professionals across the nation — 82 percent of whom were dentists. Ninety-two percent of the population surveyed had primary or shared decision-making responsibility for digital marketing technology adoption. The study addressed all core areas of digital marketing and patient engagement, including websites, SEO, social media, patient online review syndication and patient engagement platforms (sometime referred to as “patient login” systems).

While core technologies, such as automated appointment confirmation (one component of a complete patient engagement management platform) ranked highly (76.34 percent) as drivers of practice production, newer innovations such as patient accessibility to their records 24-7 from any mobile device (71.39 percent) and the importance of these systems to new patient acquisition (70.4 percent of respondents) also scored high marks from dental professionals. This same study also found that while the majority of practitioners had a practice website presence (78 percent), only 53 percent use SEO services, a key strategy to ensure their website is seen by prospective patients.

“As the vast majority of patients now rely on the Internet to choose and communicate with providers, the dental industry is responding and looking for the right digital marketing and communications technologies to increase efficiency and production,” said Diana P. Friedman, president and CEO of Sesame Communications. “This research confirms that the majority of practices see digital marketing and patient engagement platforms as a strategic component in their growth strategy. Those practices that have yet to embrace the Internet or have given it only cursory attention with antiquated technologies are at a distinct disadvantage compared to their competition.”

The complete results from this study are in the Sesame Communications Whitepaper The Digital Dental Practice, which will be available at www.sesamecommunications.com/research/the-digital-dental-practice-2014/.

About Sesame Communications

Sesame Communications helps dental and orthodontic practices harness the power of the Internet to accelerate new patient acquisition and transform the patient experience. The company supports thousands of practices in their efforts to grow and increase profitability in the digital age. The Sesame 24-7 platform provides an end-to-end, HIPAA-compliant system tailored to the unique and specific needs of dentistry.

(Source: Sesame Communications)

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