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Engaging, Informing and Retaining Generation Z Patients Scott Zimmerman


Engaging, Informing and Retaining Generation Z Patients

Use e-mail, text messaging and voicemail notifications to increase customer loyalty, reduce the number of missed appointments and overcome scheduling challenges
by Scott Zimmerman

The Generation Z (GenZ) population is growing up. In fact, the oldest members of GenZ are now becoming teenagers and that means they are getting braces and wearing retainers to perfect their smiles.

Young and busy, GenZ patients have a hard time remembering appointments, they often go dumpster diving for retainers they’ve accidentally discarded with their lunch and they worry about whether or not they can continue playing sports or musical instruments now that they are outfitted with orthodontics.

When the bulk of your customers are GenZ, you’ve got to leverage technology to interact with them and their parents – it’s simply a requirement. These young patients are highly connected. They’ve grown up with the Internet, instant messaging, text messaging and mobile phones. In fact, most GenZ patients have their own mobile phones and they spend their free time texting and communicating online. As a result, they expect family, friends and even their orthodontists to communicate with them electronically.

By taking what we know – GenZ patients communicate via their mobile phones – and addressing the individual needs of these young customers, orthodontists can retain customers, create loyal patients who refer friends and family and improve operational efficiencies.

Here are five ways you can leverage e-mail, text messaging and voicemail notifications to engage, inform and communicate with your GenZ patients and their parents:

1) Automate appointment reminders: It’s not surprising to hear that thousands of orthodontist appointments are wasted every year by patients who simply don’t show up for scheduled visits. These missed appointments cost the practice money and result in longer wait times for patients to reschedule their appointments. Serving 70-80 clients every day, Avon Orthodontics in Avon, Indiana, uses an automated messaging system to remind patients of upcoming appointments. Avon’s clients receive an automated reminder the day before their appointments, a strategy that has dramatically reduced the number of patient no-shows. Automated appointment reminders can be sent to patients via e-mail, voicemail or text message – whichever form of communication the patient prefers.

2) Broadcast new policies, emergency office closings, or other important messages to clients: When an orthodontic practice needs to communicate a single message to its entire customer base, a broadcast e-mail, text or voice message is the best way to get the word out. For example, John Lazzara, DDS, MS, runs a successful Jacksonville, Florida-based orthodontic office with dozens of GenZ patients who often request after-school appointments. This patient requirement leads to scheduling problems and profitability challenges. Instead of turning clients away, Lazzara sent a broadcast message to 550 clients. The message thanked clients for their business, explained the challenges the office was facing and suggested that patient appointments be rotated so that every other appointment be scheduled for an earlier time of day. Patients were receptive and the practice was quickly able to implement a new policy of schedule rotation.

3) Extend patient care beyond the office: Orthodontics is a long-term collaboration between the orthodontist, the patient and the family. With this in mind, many orthodontists are employing the use of notifications technology such as e-mail, text messaging and automated voice messaging, to provide care between visits when the patient is responsible for managing his treatment at home. For example, if part of a patient’s treatment is to wear headgear at night, the orthodontist can schedule a series of text messages to be delivered a few nights a week reminding him to wear his headgear:
  • Monday’s message: dnt 4gt 2 wear yr headgear (Translation: Don’t forget to wear your headgear)
  • Thursday’s message: brush yr ivories n zzz wel (Translation: Brush your teeth and sleep well)
  • Saturday’s message: 1ly 99 nyts lft 2 wear headgear (Translation: Only 99 nights left to wear headgear)
  • Monday’s message: headgear = gr8 ivories n lots of d8s (Translation: Headgear equals great teeth and lots of dates)
    (Don’t know the texting lingo? Here’s a translator: http://www.lingo2word.com/translate.php.)
Texting patients with reminders is just one way to encourage GenZ patients to maintain treatment between visits. Another way to extend orthodontic care beyond the office is to share fun and informative videos with GenZ patients between visits. For example, you might consider e-mailing them YouTube videos with tips from their peers.

Remember, ongoing patient engagement means providing personalized interactions throughout the continuum of care, beginning before patients arrive at your offices and continuing after they’ve left. So experiment, have fun and, most importantly, engage your GenZ patients with ongoing communications.

4) Prompt customers with personal messages: Patients want to know you are looking after them and personalized communications between visits will go a long way towards proving you care. Sending treatment reminders and informative tips is a step in the right direction. However, orthodontists who really understand and embrace patient care will go the extra mile and prompt their patients with personal messages to show they care. For example, a GenZ patient might be on the high school football team. With a new set of braces, he might be nervous about taking a hit. An orthodontist who is in tune with his patient is aware of this concern and might show he cares by texting his patient – remMbR 2 wear yr mouf gard durin d gme 2nite brng hom a win – on the day of the big game. (Translation: Remember to wear your mouth guard during the game tonight. Bring home a win.) Sending personalized messages and communications is easy when orthodontists leverage notifications technologies to create personalized messages that can be scheduled in advance and sent automatically when the time is right.

5) Engage and educate patients with ongoing communications: Patients have questions about everything from mouth pain, to broken brackets and loose wires, to whether or not they can still chew gum. With this in mind, many orthodontists are creating ongoing, regular e-mail communications that provide patients with information about how to manage life with braces. Not only do these informative messages help orthodontic practices retain customers, but they help create loyal patients who refer friends and family members.

Whether an orthodontic practice sees 25 or 2,500 patients per day, there is simply not enough time in the day to effectively communicate with all of the patients using traditional methods. However, when the proper mix of technology and human touch are used, the game changes. With a focus on proactive patient care, these progressive orthodontic practices are using personalized phone, text and e-mail messaging to communicate with patients effectively and efficiently, while driving increased operational efficiencies.

As you begin exploring ways to engage GenZ patients, remember to Mbrace teknoloG 2 comnC8. (Translation: Embrace technology to communicate.)
Author's Bio
Appointed as TeleVox’s Business Leader in November 2008, Scott Zimmerman leads all aspects of TeleVox operations to include client operations, sales, information services, product development and marketing. From January 2006 through joining West Corporation, Zimmerman was general manager of a division of GE Healthcare’s Clinical Systems business. In total, Zimmerman spent more than nine years at GE Healthcare in a variety of cross-functional and global leadership roles as well as 17 years in the health-care space. For more information, please visit www.televox.com.
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