Patient Communication in Chiropractic Practice: Why Every Channel Matters

Digital Communication Is Now Fundamental to Patient Care

Besides expertise, one of the most important things you’ll find your chiropractic practice needs is up-to-date patient communication in today’s digital world.  

Modern communication channels are as vast and sophisticated as your practice’s treatment offerings, with more and more patient-provider discourses becoming digital. Reaching patients where they are is vital to communicating their care needs and placing your practice on the map.  

For a better understanding, here’s why multi-channel communication matters and how different types of patient communication can benefit your practice.

More Channels for Heightened Availability

As older generations continue to age and experience more aches and pains, it’s a good idea to remain available to them on the phone. But this channel isn’t always ideal for the now-dominant, younger millennials and Gen Z-ers.  

In fact, these generations are more likely to choose chiropractic care, with 53% of surveyed adults ages 18 to 32 responding positively to this treatment method. Plus, it’s worth noting that Gen Z-ers represent the future of holistic care, fully embracing lives centered around health and wellness.  

Given the considerable overlap these generations have with the care you offer, it can be harmful to your practice if it doesn’t adjust its communication channels to fit their needs. To better reach a younger clientele, you need to use the same digital resources they use, such as texts, social media, and emails.  

Texting: Better Connections for Better Care

In particular, two-way texting is one of the best ways to engage today’s patients. With a 99% open rate that 9 out of 10 patients prefer, it’s clear why more practices are using this tool to communicate.  

Plus, texting gives patients instant access to your practice, opening up a more direct line of communication for any questions they may have. This way, they can better understand how to manage their treatment, improving their overall quality of care.  

Regarding generational differences, Gen-Z’s wellness-positive attitude includes valuing personal connections. With the natural back-and-forth exchange of text messages, it’s easier for them to feel connected to your practice.  

How Your Clinic Can Use Texting

There are a few practical ways you can implement texting in your office. If you’re using multi-purpose practice management software, its HIPAA-compliant texting feature can connect you to patients and solve some of the issues your practice regularly faces:  

• Automatic appointment reminders can be sent to patients immediately, decreasing no-shows and staff burden.  
• Appointment confirmations allow patients to notify you of scheduling changes so you can adjust your calendar as needed.  

• Scheduling appointments through text messaging is a more convenient way for patients to reach out and begin treatment.  
• Collecting feedback and reviews is easier and less invasive.    

ChiroSpring’s Reminders allow you to communicate with patients in real time. Growth Hub offers access to threaded texts so you can reference previous messages and reduce errors. Together, these features can connect you to patients conveniently and more naturally.

Social Media: Engaging & Understanding Patients

As you consider expanding your practice’s communication channels, it wouldn’t make sense to overlook social media. Younger generations dominate these platforms, shifting how businesses communicate and market themselves.  

To the point, statistics outline exactly how younger generations interact with these platforms:  

• 61% of millennials use social media to connect with the world around them
• 78% of Gen Z-ers use social media to learn about new brands
• 56% of Gen X consumers also learn about new brands on social media, valuing the exciting and educational aspects of brand content

While Baby Boomers are less likely to engage with social media (40%), your practice still misses significant opportunities to engage and convert patients if it doesn’t use these platforms.

How Your Clinic Can Use Social Media

Regardless of age, it’s safe to assume that most of your prospects and patients have social media accounts. Besides showcasing your practice’s personality, these platforms have a lot to offer if you use them well, allowing you to:  

• Build brand recognition with exciting, interactive posts that connect with patients  
• Establish trust with humanized and responsive online conversations  
• Increase traffic to your website by including links and encouraging followers to visit the site  

• Become an authority by educating patients on all things chiropractic and wellness-related  

However, you can’t blindly fill your feed with content without knowing your audience. For example, Instagram Insights can show you detailed analytics about users’ demographics, allowing you to learn more about who’s engaging with your content. Then, you can tweak your posts to fit their needs.  

It’s also helpful to reference the data in your practice management software, which can tell you more about your clients. ChiroSpring’s Growth Hub offers insight into patient activity, such as popular reasons for their visits, which can inspire specific content that’s more clickable.

Emails: Keep Patients Interested & Coming Back

In 2023, emails aren’t dead yet. According to Hubspot, roughly 80% of marketers have noted an increase in email engagement, and 64% of small businesses reported their emails have been effective or very effective, with this channel yielding the highest return on investment.

Among the 4.1 billion global email users in today’s digital world, this channel offers a substantial opportunity to reach patients where they are—especially since most will conveniently receive them on their mobile devices—so it’s worth learning how to implement them.  

How Your Clinic Can Use Emails

A certain finesse goes into creating successful and engaging emails. For optimal conversions and recalls, emails need to look attractive and offer something exciting. With software that includes marketing capabilities, like ChiroSpring’s Growth Hub, your practice can effortlessly devise an email strategy that leads to growth:

• Customize emails to show off your brand and say just the right thing    
• Target your audience with personalized, segmented emails according to visit type, time in between visits, etc.

• Send birthday wishes automatically to make clients feel special
• Make important announcements with broadcast messaging  
• Recall past patients with targeted emails that incentivize another visit

Given the many benefits of emails, it remains a viable tool for patient engagement. And by keeping consistent contact with patients, your practice can strengthen relationships and improve retention.

Expand Your Communication Channels with the Right Software

Now that you have a better idea of why multi-channel communication is crucial to your chiropractic office’s well-being, it’s worth investing in software like ChiroSpring that offers these tools all in one place. Growth Hub can inform your social media strategy and allow you to tailor email campaigns for better patient engagement. Similarly, patients will feel more connected to your practice with the real-time, natural conversations in the software’s Reminders.

The instant contact, detailed customization, and audience insight you can gain from these features are imperative in today’s tech-forward environment—improving your relationship with patients and growing your practice.

References

Gen Z is the Future of Health. (2022). LINUS. https://www.thelinusgroup.com/gen-z-is-the-future-of-health-report

How Text Messaging Meets Expectations of Healthcare Consumers. (2022, April 11). Patient Engagement HIT. https://patientengagementhit.com/news/how-text-messaging-meets-expectations-of-healthcare-consumers

How to Run Instagram Follower Demographics Analysis. (2020, December 21). TrendHERO. https://trendhero.io/blog/instagram-follower-demographics-analysis/

HubSpot. (2022). 2022 Marketing Statistics, Trends & Data — The Ultimate List of Digital Marketing Stats. Www.hubspot.com. https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics?__hstc=16178537.b59606af125d3d34eb74d18acd1f2674.1671204048450.1671204048450.1671204048450.1&__hssc=16178537.1.1671204048450&__hsfp=1202131086

Pokornyik, R. (2017, January 18). 19 Reasons Why Your Email Templates Should Be Mobile-friendly. Chamaileon.io - Email Marketing Articles & Email Design Best Practices. https://chamaileon.io/resources/19-reasons-why-your-email-templates-should-be-mobile-friendly/

Prados, M. (2021, November 19). Text Your Way to Higher Success in the Healthcare Field. Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/science-technology/text-your-way-to-higher-success-in-the-healthcare-field/392421

Sprout Social. (2022). How Different Generations Use Social Media—and What this Means for Your Business. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/guides/social-media-use-by-generation/

Statista. (2022, October 11). Resident population in the United States in 2021, by generation. Statista; Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/797321/us-population-by-generation/

Survey Shows Young Adults More Willing to Choose Chiropractic Care. (2021, November 16). PR Newswire; Cision US Inc. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/survey-shows-young-adults-more-willing-to-choose-chiropractic-care-301425464.html