Content for patients who stopped coming

Most practices have a larger list of lapsed patients than they have active ones. These are people who were once comfortable enough to sit in your chair and then stopped, usually without deciding to.

The standard response is a recall letter or a text. Those work on the patients who simply forgot. They do almost nothing for the much larger group whose reason for not coming is embarrassment.

The reason is usually shame, not price

Someone who has not been for four years is not weighing your fees. They are anticipating a lecture. They know they have not flossed, they suspect something is wrong, and every month that passes makes walking in harder.

A reminder that a check-up is due speaks to the wrong problem. It adds to the sense of being overdue, which is the exact feeling keeping them away.

Say the thing that lets them come back

The content that reactivates this group explicitly removes the judgement. It has to be said out loud, because the patient is assuming the opposite.

  • That you see long gaps constantly and it is ordinary.
  • That nobody comments on how long it has been.
  • What a first visit back involves, which is usually far less than they fear.
  • That treatment can be staged rather than done all at once.
  • That you will tell them the plan and the cost before doing anything.

Anxiety and gap length compound

The nervous patient and the lapsed patient are frequently the same person, and the two reinforce each other: anxiety causes the gap, the gap increases the anxiety about returning.

Content aimed at either reaches both, which makes it unusually efficient compared with most practice marketing.

The hygiene cycle gives you a rhythm

Dentistry has a natural six-month cadence that most industries would envy. It means a practice always has a defined group who are due, and a defined group who are overdue.

That maps cleanly onto a content calendar: prevention content for the due, reassurance content for the overdue, and something seasonal for everyone. It is one of the few practical reasons a practice can plan a year of posts in an afternoon.

Where this fits with paid reminders

Reminders are transactional and they belong in email and SMS. Social is where the emotional barrier gets addressed, and it reaches the lapsed patient's friends and family too, who are often the ones who eventually push them to book.

Running both matters more than choosing between them.

In short

Lapsed patients stay away out of embarrassment, so say plainly that long gaps are normal rather than reminding them they are overdue.

Noian writes, schedules and publishes this kind of content for dental practices, with every post held for your approval first.

See how it works for dentists

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