How more patients use your online appointment system

Doctors who are unsure about online appointments and want to test them first often only make a few appointment slots available online (e.g. only on Mondays at 12:30 and 13:00). However, it is then no surprise that only a few appointments are booked online and patients prefer to use the telephone.

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Patients want a flexible choice of appointments. Therefore, offer as many appointments as possible online and also vary the days of the week and times.

Of course, the better the practice software harmonises with the online appointment booking tool (if two different systems are used in parallel), the easier this is to achieve. Ideally, the system compares in real time which appointment slots are still free and which have already been allocated (whether by telephone, online booking or directly on site at the practice).

If the selection of available appointment slots is too small ...
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If patients have to spend a long time searching for the appointment booking tool on the practice website, it is unlikely that they will use it. It is also important to bear in mind that the majority of visits are now made via mobile devices and practice websites are displayed in a visually compressed form. Every additional click required here is particularly disadvantageous and increases the risk of the visitor leaving.

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The option to book an appointment should always be available on every page of your practice website and, above all, always be immediately visible - e.g. by means of a "Book an appointment now" button in the header of the website.

How to correctly position the online appointment booking button on the mobile practice website. 

Long-standing regular patients, who may even have saved your practice telephone number in their mobile phone, will only rarely visit your practice website. In this respect, the likelihood of these patients becoming aware of the possibility of booking an appointment online is low if this is only pointed out on the practice website.

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Also draw attention to the possibility of booking appointments online as part of traditional marketing campaigns (e.g. adverts) or in printed materials (such as appointment slips, letterheads, business cards). For example, using a QR code that leads directly to a page where appointments can be booked. Your reception staff can also actively draw patients' attention to the fact that the next appointment can be conveniently booked online.

On business cards and the like: QR codes that link directly to online appointment bookings make handling easier

Patients who call the practice outside of office hours usually only receive information on the answering machine that the practice is closed and what the office hours are. The opportunity to gain a new patient is often wasted in this context.

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When leaving a message on the answering machine, refer directly to the online appointment booking option on your practice website. The same naturally applies to enquiries that arrive by email. Here, too, you can draw attention to the possibility of online appointment booking, for example via an automatic standard reply.

No patient likes being put on hold ...
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When patients search for you on Google, depending on the search term, your Google MyBusiness entry (Google Maps entry). Telephone appointment requests often start here, as patients directly click on or call the telephone number displayed here.

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Google MyBusiness provides a separate field for online appointments in which you can enter the direct link to your appointment booking. This service is completely free of charge from Google and should definitely be used.

Take advantage of the free opportunity to store the link to the online appointment booking directly on Google MyBusiness.