Grow with Better Dental Referral Strategies

Dental referrals play an important role in your practice’s growth and sustainability. Whether you are gaining referrals from patients, other providers, or both, these recommendations actively bring new patients to your practice. Referrals also instill trust in prospective patients by providing evidence that your practice can meet their needs.

If you’re struggling to gain referrals, a few key strategies can streamline and enhance this process. Learn how to make referrals easy for patients and providers, then discover how tools like Weave can simplify the referral process.

Two key types of dental referrals

Dental practices benefit from two key types of referrals: clinical and patient referrals. Both contribute directly to your practice’s success and revenue, but they require different strategies to obtain.

Clinical referrals

Clinical referrals occur when medical professionals direct a patient to your practice. This often happens when one provider does not offer the services the patient needs. They can then refer them to someone with more expertise in their health condition.

Dental offices may receive referrals for specialized treatments that not every clinic performs, such as:

• Oral surgery
• Gum grafting
• Dental implants
• Complex bridges and crowns

In some cases, another practitioner in dentistry could refer a patient to you if you are located in a geographical area that is more convenient for the patient, you accept their dental insurance, or you offer pricing that is in their preferred range. Forming relationships with other dentists and physicians in your area is an important step in gaining referrals when you better suit a patient’s dental needs.

Patient referrals

Patient referrals happen when current patients refer you to their family members or friends. This typically happens when a patient is highly satisfied with your dental services and feels confident that their loved ones will have a positive experience with your practice as well.

Satisfied patients can bring in new ones, which is one of the many reasons why prioritizing patient satisfaction is key to your practice’s success. Providing exceptional dental care is a good starting point for encouraging patients to refer you to their loved ones.

You can also consider implementing a referral program that provides rewards or other tangible benefits for patients who refer you to family and friends. For example, you might offer a $50 gift card to any patient who successfully refers someone to your practice. 

Make referrals easy for everyone

Dental referrals play a valuable role in bringing new patients to your practice, and doing everything you can to make this strategy easy for patients and providers can help you generate significantly more referrals. You can utilize these tools to streamline your referral process:

• Use text and email messaging to share referral details with your patient base instantly. For example, when you roll out a new referral program, you can quickly inform your patient base and start generating referrals as quickly as possible.
• Automate your appointment reminders so that no one falls through the cracks, helping you promote a higher-quality patient experience to encourage patients to refer their friends. Appointment reminders can be personalized to specific patient information, such as name, appointment time, service type, and more.
• Track referral activity and other analytics digitally for better visibility. This will ensure that you stay proactive about adjusting your referral strategy so that it effectively generates new patients without costing your practice too much money.
• Offer an incentive for referrals, such as a discount or a free cleaning. This makes it easier for patients to decide to refer their friends.

How Weave can simplify your dental referral process

Weave’s patient engagement platform makes it easy to engage with new dental referrals from the get-go and retain them long-term.

• Weave’s digital forms make referrals fast and paperless, enabling new patients to fill out their intake forms in advance of their initial appointments and spend less time in the waiting room.
• Weave’s two-way texting keeps everyone informed, giving new patients an easy way to ask questions and enabling your staff to answer them quickly. You can even use customizable messaging to promote your referral program.

Request a demo today

Intentional dental referral strategies can improve care and boost the flow of new patients through your practice. Weave can help you simplify your referral processes; request a demo today to see how.

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