Advantages of Call Analytics for Dentists and Their Staff

Before we get into what call analytics is and what it can do for your dental practice, there are a few things you should know.

The first is call tracking. Call tracking is a way to monitor your ad campaigns by undertaking where your calls are coming from. You assign a unique phone number to each channel of marketing. And that is how you know which channels bring in customers.

Then comes call metrics, wherein it indicates the performance of your advertisements. It can include the number of inbound calls and the duration of calls.

And then comes call analytics. Call analytics include call tracking data such as location, search request they used, and length of calls, among a few. And that is why calling analytics in your dental practice is crucial for its success.

How does call tracking work for call analytics?

You assign a unique phone number to a marketing channel in call tracking. So, when someone calls you, the call gets forwarded to your number through a software system. This software records the unique number (which channel we assigned the number to), and caller information, and it records the call. T

here are several companies and software that help you in call tracking and call analysis.

What are the benefits of call analytics?

Call tracking generates the data that call analytics use. Because without data, there is nothing you can analyze. Therefore, the first step in the process is to gather data: call tracking.

The second step is to separate the data and filter what metrics are important: call metrics. Finally, you analyze and identify trends and patterns.

There are several benefits of using call analytics in your dental practice. Here are a few:

1. Indicative of marketing efforts

Call analytics is perfect if you have several marketing channels. Call tracking allows unique numbers to different marketing channels.

There are two things that this does for your business. One, you know which marketing channels are converting customers. Two, you know how many customers are converting. It means that you know the “what is converting your customers?” and the “how many are converting?”

With this information, you can identify which marketing channels bring in customers. It also tells you which channels could perform better. Moreover, the inverse or decrease in calls will tell you how new campaigns perform. A dip in calls means you need to reevaluate your campaign or shift your focus to something else. An increase in calls means that the campaign is performing well, and you can use a similar strategy or content again.  

Additionally, over time, you can see the overall performance of your campaign. It also lets you identify periods that your marketing strategy performed well, or which channels bought in the most customers. Moreover, you can simultaneously monitor several marketing channels, such as TV, website, social media, etc.

2. Data for marketing optimization

What happens after you record data and segregate it? Once you have data that indicates how your making strategy is performing.

The next step is to figure out why it is performing the way that it is. If your social media channel performed better than last month. Why did it perform better? Was there a change in strategy, content, or visuals? Assuming that your billboards did not perform well. Why was that? Did you change the location of the billboard ad or did you change the content on it?

Marketing data will give you insight into such questions. If the overall decrease after a new campaign, then you need to reevaluate your marketing strategy and fix things. If your making straight is performing better than the last, you can use a similar strategy.

Additionally, this data collected over a long period will tell you which channels are performing the best and which ones are not cost-effective. With this knowledge, there are two things that you can do. One, you identify why the channels are not performing well and optimize your marketing strategies for it. Two, you reallocate resources and drop the channels that are not performing well.

3. Re-strategize allocation of resources

In the previous point, there were two solutions to badly performing marketing channels.

In case one, you identify which channels are not performing well and why. Later, you optimize your marketing strategies for the channels that are not performing well.

This means that you reevaluate your marketing objective for that channel. Redirecting the budget and resources will help you optimize for that channel.

In case two, you drop the channel that is not performing well and redirect its resources and budget to other channels or for business expansions.

Either way, you are reallocating your resources to better suit your business needs.

4. Understand call experiences by call recording

You can use call recording for several purposes. In quality checks, you can identify employee performance as well as what the customer wants.

Call tracking does not include the purpose of the call. Plus, by listening in to calls, you can see what treatment the customer asked for. This provides you with insight into the dental trends of your customers and what they need.

You can also have your calls transcribed so that you can visually see the conversation. Additionally, transcription makes it easier to highlight areas ‌you want to come back to at a later date.

You can use this information to better your customer satisfaction and make future calls a better experience.

Another purpose that calls rerecording can serve is lead scoring. Sometimes customers who call have no intention of getting treatment from you.

Call recording allows you to classify calls that have the potential to become leads. Moreover, it lets you use the data for training‌ your employees.

With call recording or transcription, you can show how calls should be handled and the work around certain situations. It can give your front desk staff material to work with.

5. Improve customer experience and satisfaction

Data is key when it comes to understanding and improving customer experience and satisfaction. Moreover, it always helps to understand how you can harness new technologies to improve your services and products.

Creating a customer-centric business makes it easier to reach and connect with customers. However, you still need certain tracking in place to bring in customers and convert them to patients.

Customer-generated data helps you increase customer lifetime value by increasing customer satisfaction and improving customer experience.

Call analytics gives you the data you need to understand customer call experience. Additionally, it becomes easier to identify areas of improvement with this data.

Understanding metrics in call analytics in your dental practice

It is important to track metrics along with calls. However, there will be some metrics that will be more important than others. Using call analytics in your dental practice is crucial for your business. Therefore, you should record relevant metrics.

What metrics you decide to monitor will depend on your objective and marketing strategy.

• Call source: which channels contribute the most to revenue generation and brand awareness.
• Calls missed or blocked: how many calls are you missing due to there not being enough front desk staff? How many calls were prank calls?
• Average call volume for a channel: how many calls is a marketing channel generating? And how many were viable leads?
• Channel-specific lead conversion rate: how many leads convert to patients for a specific channel?
• Overall conversion rate: how many conversions are you getting? Record how many are coming in from which channel to figure out how many customers are referrals.
• Average call duration: your calls should be in the sweet spot of long enough to satisfy the customer and short enough to not annoy them.
• Revenue generated per converted call: while you might get many calls from specific marketing channels, not all calls need to lead. You need to know how many calls are viable leads you can convert.
• Cost per call/customer acquisition cost: this metric is crucial for every business, irrespective of the industry. If your CAC is too high, you need to optimize your marketing budget to lower it.