If you’re trying to come up with some past patient marketing ideas for your chiropractic clinic, then you’ll want to keep the following numbers in mind as you develop your marketing strategies: 67% and 70%.
- The 67% represents how much more your past clients will spend with you than new clients will.
- The 70% represents the likelihood that a past customer will buy from you again.
And here’s another number you’ll want to pay attention to: 5X. That number represents what it will cost you to acquire a new customer compared to what it will cost you to keep an old one (and market to an old customer). In other words, if your chiropractic marketing plans don’t include a major push to reconnect with past clients, you’re making your marketing efforts more difficult than they need to be.
The fact is, past patient marketing for chiropractors is 1) easy, 2) cost effective, and 3) will increase your clinic’s revenue. Best of all, you’ll be spending less money on your marketing campaigns and you’ll have an easier time attracting your ideal patient.
And you know these clients are ideal because they’ve already demonstrated that they’re willing to buy your services. What’s more, your past clients could be the best source for future NEW patients because they will be referral patients. That is, the best referral comes from a satisfied customer. More than 80% of people say that they’d take the recommendation of a friend when it comes to buying goods and services. Those are pretty good odds.
The good news is, you can get started with your chiropractic marketing ideas this week. Here are three simple tips to get you started.
Past Patient Marketing for Chiropractors Tip No. 1: Send Out Patient Reactivation Emails
If you’ve been in business for a while, you should (ideally) have an email list of past and current clients. If you have the option of segmenting your email list, then all the better. You can specifically target past clients and send them a reactivation email campaign. The goal: get your past patients BACK in the clinic for the treatment they need.
An informative email newsletter is a low-key way to start a patient reactivation campaign.
Start your chiropractor marketing campaign with a strong subject line. Make it personal, meaning rather than just letting your email program populate the email as “Dear Patient,” it should be addressed to a specific person. Let’s say her name is Hannah. Here’s a list of some headlines you can use to get Hannah’s attention:
- Hannah, how is your back pain?
- Hannah, have you met your insurance deductible? If so, your next chiropractic appointment could be free…
- Hannah, are you doing okay?
- Hannah, did you know that chiropractors can also help with neck pain?
Then, go into any relevant content in the body of the email that you have, based on the headline you’ve chosen. For example, let’s say you’ve decided to send out an end-of-year email. If Hannah has met her deductible for the year, then she can come in for a holiday wellness treatment or check up. You can also offer some information about how insurance works, if you believe that many of your clients don’t understand that 1) you take insurance 2) if they’ve met their end of year deductible, getting chiropractic care may be free.
Past Patient Marketing for Chiropractors Tip No. 2: Get Active on Social Media
Many people believe that social media is the place to go when you want to drum up some new clients. In our experience, that doesn’t usually happen, or at least not right away. However, that isn’t to say that time on social isn’t valuable. It is but for a different reason.
You can use your social media accounts to connect with and help past and current clients in real time. You can answer questions, or do something like hold a regular Twitter chat on the same day each week. Give your clients a hashtag, like #chiroquestions, and invite them to come to Twitter each week to get answers to their most pressing questions. To follow along with the chat, they just need to use the hashtag and show up at the right time.
The most important thing is that the information on your social accounts is helpful. It also should address different aspects of natural health, preventing or dealing with pain, debunking myths about chiropractic, and more. Chatting on social media with your clients is one of the simplest, yet most effective chiropractic marketing ideas there is for connecting with current and past clients.
Past Patient Marketing for Chiropractors Tip No. 3: Consider a Postcard Campaign
By some accounts, the average person gets more than 120 emails a day and will send at least 40 emails a day. This leaves most people drained and inclined to ignore emails. Sending out beautifully designed postcards represents an effective way to cut through the digital clutter that most people experience during the course of their day.
There are many ways you can approach the messaging on these postcards, but among the most effective are:
- End-of-the-year deductible cards
- New Year, New You cards
- Get a free check-up card
- Holiday greetings cards (with any of the above messages in them)
And don’t forget that you want to include a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of the postcard to encourage them to call. Strong CTAs are specific, like these:
- Call Now
- Book Your Appointment
- Claim Your Free Chiropractic Evaluation
Weak CTAs are non-specific, like: Learn More, Get Started, View Now. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do for each of those CTAs. Are you?
A powerful CTA is what gets your patients actually come back in for care!
Chiropractor Marketing: What To Do After Your Past Patients Are Reactivated
Once you’ve done these steps and you start seeing your old clients again, it’s important to keep the momentum going. It’s easier to keep momentum going once you’ve restarted it than to have to restart it AGAIN once it stops.
Additionally, you’re not without options when it comes to keeping your clients enthusiastic about your services. You can add some specialty services to your chiropractic care that support chiropractic work but which can be done even if the patient no longer needs your services.
These “boutique” services can include:
- Fitness club memberships (if you have a relationship with a local gym)
- Concierge services
- Massage therapy
- Online store: Sell supplements, kinesio tape, and more
In the last case, keep in mind that someone will sell these items to people in need. It may as well be you. Moreover, your clients are more likely to feel good about purchasing these items from you because they trust you. It’s an excellent way to promote holistic wellness programs in your clinic.
Final Thoughts on Past Patient Marketing Ideas for Chiropractors
By now, you should understand how simple and effective it is to market to your past chiropractic clients. Such practices are an easy way to develop a steady stream of customers and more importantly, to address the health of your clients on a holistic level.
If you’d like to get more past patient marketing ideas for chiropractors, reach out to us!
At Practice Promotions, we provide Practice Websites, Advanced SEO Services, Chiro-Specific Google Ads, and Past Patient Direct Mail for chiropractors — so that you can get more new patients and build your brand.