We’ve all been there: the patient at checkout who can’t make up their mind about when to schedule their next appointment. They’re digging in their bag for their work calendar, texting their partner, checking their kid’s calendar. And in the meantime, the line behind them — and everyone’s frustration — grows.

Scheduling an appointment over the phone adds to the time wasted. The average scheduling phone call takes 8.1 minutes,¹ and this time spent negatively impacts your practice’s production. Additionally, since the typical dental office is only open 32 hours a week, it can be difficult for your patients to schedule an appointment by phone during office hours.

Online booking helps you make your practice more efficient while increasing patient satisfaction; in fact, 94 percent of patients are so interested in this solution that they would be more likely to choose a new service provider that offered online booking options.² Here are six reasons why your practice can’t afford to not use online booking:

1- You and Your Patients Save Time

When patients book online, whether they are new to your practice or scheduling re-care appointments, your front office staff saves hours that would normally be spent on the phone. They can reallocate this time to other revenue-generating tasks and offer better patient care for those in-office.

2- A More Efficient Checkout Process

Online booking creates a more efficient checkout by streamlining re-care appointment scheduling. Instead of waiting on patients at checkout to coordinate their schedule with yours, they can schedule on their own time.

3- Reduce Cancellations and No-Shows

Patients are more committed to keeping appointments when they are involved in the process of creating an appointment. When they have time to check their personal calendars before creating an appointment, they are also much less likely to cancel or no-show.

4- Have Complete Control of Your Schedule

Patients want to book themselves, not fill in a form to be contacted later. Online booking lets you choose which appointment lengths, open times, operatories you want to display, so you can take into account your staffing needs.

5- Fill Open Time Slots 

Online booking can expand your practice’s scheduling opportunities by providing a complete, real-time schedule of all your available time slots. You choose which slots to open, and patients fill them.

6- Retain Patients

You can show your patients you value their time by offering online booking, so they can book appointments at any time, from anywhere.

Not all online booking solutions are equal. Dentrix Online Booking is a real-time, self-scheduling solution that allows new and existing patients to conveniently schedule appointments online. This solution is fully integrated into the Dentrix Appointment Book to help you reap the benefits of increased business by having holes filled in your appointment schedule. To learn more about Online Booking, a feature of Dentrix Patient Engage, click here, or to speak with a patient communications specialist call 888.334.7949

¹https://www.accenture.com/us-en/~/media/Accenture/Conversion-Assets/DotCom/Documents/Global/PDF/Industries_11/Accenture-Why-First-Impressions-Matter-Healthcare-Providers-Scheduling.pdf

²https://www.getapp.com/resources/research-online-booking-importance-of-appointment-scheduling/