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FAQ: How Should I Track Where Patients are Coming From?

When I ask the question, “Tell me the top 5 ways you get a customer through your door? If just once, someone would be honest with me and say out loud, “I have no idea where my customers are coming from” I’d probably keel over on the spot.”  Invariably the answers I get range from, “Well I’m pretty sure they’re coming from…or “I’ll have to try to figure that out.”…or the always popular Well it varies.”

If you don’t know the answer to that question, you’re wasting your advertising and marketing dollars.  You need to understand not only what draws customers to your business but also what doesn’t.

Just Ask Them

Ask your customers questions.  I don’t mean strap them to a chair under a bright light and threaten bodily harm if they don’t come up with the right answer.  I mean be genuine. “Mr. Customer, we really value your business and we would love to have more customers just like you. Can you please tell me how you first heard about us?”

If they answer “online,” or any other non-specific response, it’s okay to dig a little deeper.  “Hmm, interesting, were you searching for us or did you just stumble on our website?”

You will never know for sure if the answer they give is really the “correct answer”.  But I guarantee what you will uncover is a potential market you didn’t know existed. Maybe a neighbor really is raving about you and sending links from your website to her friends.  Yes, they found you online, but it’s because Linda sent them a link.

Check All That Apply

Our suggestion is always, “Check all that apply.” If you ask customers on your intake form where they heard about you, allowing them to check all that apply can give you insight into all the ways customers are hearing about you, and you may be able to see patterns in your customers’ online behaviors.

Ask the right questions, track the responses and hopefully you’ll be spending your advertising dollars on financially rewarding opportunities you didn’t even know existed.