The Distance Rule
As a rule, the greater the travel distance between a patient and your practice, the lower your patient acquisition rate will be. So, the greater the distance for a consumer to get to your practice, the lower the conversion rate. This means conversion rates are lower for scheduling and attendance, which eventually has an influence on your patient acquisition rate.
Analysis And Contributing Factors
Regardless of your practice and its capabilities, the amount of competition, alternative solutions and travel time are all contributing factors to a lower lead conversion rate. This is collectively called the analysis. Let’s consider each of the things between travel distances:
- Competition—The consumer will be exposed to your competitors in the distance it takes to travel to your practice.
- Alternative Solutions—Lasers and cosmeceuticals are just a couple of options for an elective healthcare consumer to consider before they travel to your office.
- Travel Time—This happens whether you’re in a rural or metropolitan area. It could also include time spent in traffic.
- Sociology—We live in an era of instant gratification. Consumers want to be serviced quickly, efficiently and seamlessly. If they have to travel a longer distance, it can negatively impact the desire for those instant results.
Conclusion
Understand the travel distance at the point of scheduling a patient, as well as in media buying. By understanding travel distance at the point of scheduling, you can control it to lead to higher attendance rates and higher patient acquisition rates.
It’s also important to understand travel distance with your media buying. Based on where you are and the media buying you’re doing, the farther the distance the consumer has to travel, the lower your conversion rates will be, which will also lower your return on investment (ROI).
