Do you know how much it costs you to attract one new patient?
If you don’t know, you might be overspending. But when you take control of your marketing and your patient acquisition cost, you’ll spend less to get new patients AND be less stressed about your practice’s finances.
The healthcare industry has created a financial firestorm that frankly, some private practices won’t survive. But the private practices that take control of their marketing budgets will prosper, even in this healthcare economy.
To find out your patient acquisition cost (PAC), divide the amount you spent on marketing last month by the number of new patients you got that month. What you spent on marketing could include…
- Marketing salaries
- Spend on Facebook or Google Ads
- Website maintenance fees
- Direct mail sent to patients
Add ALL of that up to get an accurate number!
EXAMPLE: You spend $3000 per month on marketing salaries + expenses and generate 40 new patients.
$3000/40 = $75 PAC
Your target PAC: $75-200 per patient.
Why this is the target: You only want to spend 20-25% of the lifetime value of the patient on your PAC. So if your average reimbursement for a patient’s plan of care is $960, don’t spend more than $240 in your patient acquisition cost! Aim for $200.
Why do I need to know my patient acquisition cost?
- Helps you focus on Marketing Return On Investment (ROI)
- Identify marketing efforts that aren’t working (market smarter, not harder).
- If you don’t know your patient acquisition cost, you might cut something that was working but you didn’t know it, which will hurt your patient volume and actually INCREASE financial stress.
Okay. How do I lower my patient acquisition cost?
- Market consistently to past and current patients. It is FAR less expensive to reactivate a past patient than to attract a new one.
- Figure out your patient acquisition cost by channel…and cut the channels that aren’t working! For example, if you’re spending $2000 on a radio ad each month, and are only seeing 1-2 patients from that…that’s a patient acquisition cost of $1000! YIKES! If you stop spending $2000 / month on a radio ad, your overall patient acquisition cost will go WAY down.
- Invest in SEO & your Google rank. Wouldn’t it be amazing if more new patients found you online for FREE? When you invest in building your website’s SEO, that’s possible. Having a lot of new patients from Google organic (free) searches is a GREAT way to reduce your PAC. Consider investing in outside help to boost your practice website’s SEO.
If you take control of your marketing, you’ll be less stressed about your practice’s finances.
At Practice Promotions, we’ve helped 1400+ clinic locations across North America take control of their marketing! Here’s how it works:
1) Talk to one of our marketing experts. They’ll show you how your new marketing team will help you control your marketing spend and avoid wasting money.
2) You understand your patient acquisition cost & know what marketing works.
3) You do what works every month.
4) Your patient volume will be consistent and your collections are predictable. You’re no longer stressed about money, and can focus on creating the best clinic for your patients and your team.
Imagine NOT having to stress about finances, and instead focusing on creating a positive company culture! That’s what happens take action to understand your patient acquisition cost and control your marketing budget.
So what are you waiting for? Visit PracticePromotions.Net and schedule a call with one of our marketing experts today!
