3 Steps to Calculating ROI for Healthcare Internet Marketing
Calculating ROI for internet marketing may seem impossible, but it doesn’t have to be.
By having clear processes and implementing the right tools, it is possible to know whether your marketing dollars are paying off. Once you know how your online marketing strategy is impacting your bottom line you can make informed decisions about allocating your budget.
1. Track form submissions.
Contact forms are a great way to engage further with patients who may not be ready to pick up the phone or visit your office. Patients can use online forms to set up appointments or find out more information about your practice. If you have a contact form on your website, you can use Google Analytics (a free service) to track how many forms are submitted. Google Analytics not only records form submissions from your website, it will allow you to view which traffic sources (search engines, ads, social media) led to the submission.
Recording website form submissions will allow you to track how many people are getting in touch with you due to your online marketing efforts. To make this information even more powerful, you can implement a process to match leads with patient appointments to see which submissions resulted in an office visit. This will allow you to better attribute patient growth to your online marketing tactics.
2. Use a call tracking number.
Another way that potential patients can reach out to you is by picking up the phone. A call tracking number is a unique number that reroutes to your practice’s phone number. By using a call tracking number in an online ad or on your website, you can know exactly where calls are coming from and which interactions are resulting in booked appointments.
All calls aren’t equal
Not all calls represent a new patient lead. Sometimes people abandon the call before speaking to someone or they’re a returning patient. A call tracking software will allow you to track these leads and set parameters like, calls that lasted over 2 minutes (long enough to gather information or make an appointment) or first-time callers (a new lead).
3. Estimate how many of these leads turn into patients.
This last step is the most challenging but is the most important in determining the return on your investment. First, work with your team to determine the average lifetime value of a new patient. This will vary depending on the type of services your practice provides. Primary Care physician’s groups maintain patients that will return multiple times for routine and preventative care and treatment. Whereas Bariatric Weight Loss is a more unfrequented and expensive service line. These patient profiles vary greatly as does their lifetime value, making it important to analyze individual service lines.
Next, you’ll estimate the percentage of phone calls and forms that result in patients stepping through your door. It may take several months to establish a system that provides an accurate view of that percentage. If you’ve employed the tactics for tracking leads outlined in numbers 1 and 2, you can calculate a number that represents your estimated ROI using the formula below.
Number of Leads X Percentage of Leads that Result in Office Visit X Lifetime Value of a Patient = Estimated Revenue
The benefits of internet marketing
It is a common misconception that online marketing efforts cannot be measured and tracked. Online marketing gives you more data than any other marketing channel allowing you to successfully set and evaluate strategies while making informed decisions surrounding your budget.
Need help? Full Media works with a variety of clients but have found that we excel when working with healthcare clients. We pride ourselves on providing quality digital marketing services to help healthcare clients succeed.
