Solid or Soft?

A marketing study from Cobalt group found that 55% of leads generated from the Internet resulted in a sale. Now for the bad news; only 10% of the 55% went to the “intended” seller.

These results were for car dealers however there are some lessons to be learned for dentists as well. The survey identified different types of Internet prospects, soft and solid.

Soft leads are potential new patients who are surfing randomly and may come across your name in a keyword search or Google map. They have no reason to choose you and may simply click to your web page or Google landing page. To convert them to a solid lead you need to have a compelling “sticky” web page that gets them to call or e-mail for an appointment. If you can’t or don’t do this there are plenty of other dentists online and the potential new patient will simply click away. In fact Google will give a nice listing of “similar” offices right on your Google landing page. When this happens those people become part of the 90% that got away.

A solid lead is a person who has landed specifically on your page and takes the steps necessary to fill out forms and make an appointment request. They are often people with a personal referral from a friend or co-worker who have looked you up by name not a random surfer who just typed in the word dentist. Most dentists find that solid leads generated directly from their website are more qualified and have a considerably higher rate of following through and accepting treatment.

by Dr. Larry Emmott