Dr. Paterna’s Practice gets 500+ Google Reviews, Attracts 15 New Patients Per Week

About Shoreline Family Chiropractic:

• Practice Offerings: Chiropractic
• Location: West Haven, Connecticut
• Size: 2 Associates, 3 Chiropractic Assistants. 500+ patients per week
• Competition: Within a 10 mile radius of the practice, there are around 100 chiropractic offices

Using text reminders to reduce no-shows and fill the calendar.

Prior to using Zingit, Shoreline did not have a text communications platform. The staff spent time calling new patients to remind them of their appointments, and for regular patients they just set appointments and counted on patients to remember. Zingit’s appointment reminder system revolutionized the communication. “Using just the reminder, we improved our show rate by nearly 10%,” says Dr. Paterna.

Easy text communication to reschedule.

“People are going to miss their appointments,” says Dr. Paterna. “We reschedule about 99 percent of them because of the Zingit system. It is a lot easier. We don’t have to make phone calls and can just send out texts to recover the appointment. Pretty cool.”

Shoreline sends a text to patients who are running late or have missed appointments. The friendly message says, “Hey, we missed you this morning. We’re in the office from 2-6 this afternoon.” “More than half the time we will end up recovering that visit,” says Dr. Paterna. “Patients love it because they can text back and reschedule in a matter of seconds.”

Reviews attract new patients from miles away.

Shoreline recognizes the importance of reviews to attract new patients, especially considering their populated area. “As a consumer, I turn to Google when I need to work with a business,” said Dr. Paterna. “The first thing I do is Google ‘dentist,’ ‘plumber,’ and whoever has the most reviews is the first I’m going to call. Recognizing that, 10 years ago I made it a mission of mine to make sure I had the most reviews in the area.”

When Shoreline started with Zingit, they had worked to attract reviews by asking patients, but didn’t often see success. This method garnered them 135 reviews over 7 years of time. Since starting with Zingit, they have averaged that same number of reviews each year, growing by 424 reviews over three years. “Before Zingit, we would ask patients, and one out of five times they might think to leave a review. If they don’t do it on the spot you lose it,” says Dr. Paterna. “That’s why I love this system—it just automatically sends it after the first visit and each time they have a progress exam. That’s what we find to be the most effective—when they are most excited.”

“Doctors have to prioritize having the most Google reviews in their area. There is nothing more important for building a practice than building those reviews.”

The volume of reviews has helped Shoreline attract patients from a distance. “The closest competition may have 10 reviews. Where it helps most is, with all the towns so close and heavily populated, I can pull patients from 20-30 miles away because we show up,” says Dr. Paterna. “500 reviews stands out when everyone else has 20, 50, or even 100.”

Attract and convert new patients.

All of these reviews lead to a huge increase of new patient appointments. “We average 15 new patients a week just from reviews. 15! That’s 60 a month,” says Dr. Paterna. “That alone makes Zingit worthwhile. We don’t do any marketing anymore. That is our number one source—that is our marketing.”

They then use Zingit’s text communication to ease the patients into the practice. “We send out a text that gives them access to our website, and send them the paperwork they need so they are set up for the appointment,” says Dr. Paterna.

Save hours and reduce staff time.

The text communication has saved the practice so much time that (in combination with a reduction of accepted insurances), Shoreline was able to use Zingit’s automated communications to reduce staff by one person.
“Our phones don’t ring,” says Dr. Paterna. “We are able to reallocate a lot of work to other things that are more important. The more you can automate the better. Delegate, automate, or eliminate. Don’t do it yourself. Do as little as possible as a Chiropractic so you can focus on treating patients and on getting more patients.”

Dr. Paterna’s Takeaway on Zingit’s Patient Engagement Software

“Any practice not using text communication and building reviews right now is out of their mind. It’s one of those things where, if you aren’t doing it, you are losing patients. You are losing appointments. You’d be crazy not to try Zingit. In today’s digital world, that communication is so important.”

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