Dental Service Organization (DSO) Trends in 2023
The dental sector remained one of the healthcare industry’s fastest-growing segments in 2022 and the American Dental Association predicts that trend will continue this year. While dental practice ownership has declined from nearly 85% in 2005 to 73% in 2021, groups and dental support organizations are growing.
The dental workforce demographics are changing, too. Older dentists are retiring — an exodus that will continue as the baby boomer dentist population continues to leave the field. According to data from the ADA Health Policy Institute, not only are employees in the dental field younger, they’re more likely to be minorities and women. Other contributing factors to the decline in solo practice ownership include the lingering effects of the pandemic and practice management fatigue.
What is growing? DSOs. With private equity funding remaining strong in the dental industry, it remains attractive for investors in 2023. To thrive and scale this year and beyond, DSOs, multi-location dental groups, and affiliated practices must up their games. Here’s how.
Maximizing Your Website
Older, static, non-scalable websites, siloed MarTech stacks, and outdated marketing strategies must go. If you haven’t updated your website in a while — or you’re expanding your practices this year — opt for a centralized website connecting all your brands under one umbrella. Keep it easier to manage by:
- Using a modular WordPress framework with customizable branded website templates for consistency and easy use.
- Implementing a consistent information hierarchy across all brands and channels.
- Leveraging integrated marketing analytics connecting brands and marketing strategies and campaigns.
Content Remains King
Google has released its latest “Helpful Content” update, and if you ignore the ‘worst practices’ list when creating content, your website will rank lower in search engine results pages (SERPs). Since the first place most healthcare consumers go for information is to Google or another search engine, it’s important not to make any of these missteps:
- AMP content mismatch
- Clocked images, links, or redirects
- Duplicated content
- Keyword stuffing
- Limited or thin content
The goal of this update is to improve website content authenticity and quality — in other words, ensure searchers find it helpful. As you’re developing your content strategy, follow these best practices:
- Determine the core questions patients ask, and create content to answer those questions directly.
- Develop extensive, thorough content answering as many relevant (and related) questions in one blog or on one website page as possible.
- Don’t neglect the user experience (UX) regardless of how your current and potential patients access content. Make content easily scannable across computers and mobile devices so readers can find what they need quickly.
- Incorporate evergreen content using the fundamentals of search engine optimization (SEO). Algorithms usually like this approach, and it also provides the best UX.
Speaking of UX…
When someone lands on your website, the last thing you want is for them to bounce away quickly because your website is hard to navigate, has broken links, doesn’t answer the most common questions, or lacks the typical information most people seek. Start by creating an easily navigable site architecture so website visitors have no trouble finding out about:
- Appointment availability
- Accepted insurance plans
- Your practice’s reputation
To enhance your website’s UX, opt for a clean structure, template and menus. Keep key, relevant content discoverable and easy to search. Identify what elevates you from your competition and highlight those features on your website, weaving it into content, tone, and voice. Leverage link-building campaigns, which also helps your website rank higher on SERPs.
The Gold Standard? Personalization
Personalization — so important in 2022 — remains a priority for 2023. Technology innovations have made it easier than ever to offer personalized experiences, like using geo-targeting to personalize landing pages. Even better, HIPAA doesn’t consider geo-personalization a violation of patient privacy. When prospective patients are looking for a new dentist, the biggest motivator is convenience. By offering pages personalized to a potential patient’s location, they gain access to:
- All nearby providers
- All providers accepting new patients
- Services provided at each location
- Insurance specifics
And because geo-personalization gives website visitors much of the information they need up front, it reduces the number of steps to conversion. Other ways to optimize personalization this year include creating and launching (or refining) patient portals and/or your mobile apps. Patient portals have become an increasingly popular strategy for patients to manage their healthcare records, access medical information, gain access to treatment- or condition-specific content, request services, or make appointments.
Embrace Digital Transformation
A recent survey found that 47% of healthcare organizations don’t use a customer relationship management (CRM) solution. Granted, it’s a complex challenge to integrate CRMs with EHRs across multiple locations. But the dental industry is taking advantage of newer technologies that make it easier to automate, reduce redundancy, and improve efficiency for both marketing and the patient experience.
2023 will see more adoption of call tracking, centralized call centers, chatbots, online booking options, and review generation technology. And that’s not a bad thing! Booking appointments via a website will streamline operations, freeing administrative staff to focus on more complex, critical tasks and goals. If you have multiple locations, centralized call centers make it easier to address common patient questions.
DSOs and single dental practices have a wealth of digital tools at their disposal to improve patient care quality, streamline business operations, and scale in 2023 and beyond. Learn more about how MDent Consulting can help you.