Call center adoption leads to huge mom increase in books

62%

Spent 20% less money but got 62% more conversions

81%

Increased conversion rate by 81%

51%

Decreased cost per conversion by 51%

BACKGROUND

Skin and Cancer Associates and the Center for Cosmetic Enhancement® is one of the premier dermatology groups in the U.S. with over 30 locations in Florida, offering medical, surgical and cosmetic dermatologic care for all ages and skin types.

SERVICES & PLATFORMS

GOAL

SCA came to us with the ask of growing their General Dermatology business. They wanted to increase the number of patients who were booking appointments online and via phone call.

They wanted increased visibility, highly targeted ads, and to be cost-effective. We said, “Fair enough!”

Strategy

The approach was to drive leads to the offices for booking, but the client had a limited budget. Our team made the suggestion that they implement a call center approach and drive those leads to a dedicated call center to handle bookings instead of letting the office staff handle them. A call center has consistent hours and can answer ever single incoming call.

We recommended Google Search (SEM) as the primary platform for this acquisition approach. SEM advertising helped to increase the visibility of SCA’s clinics and services, making it easier for potential clients to find them. By targeting specific keywords related to dermatology, DML was able to reach individuals actively searching for dermatology services.

Additionally, SEM allows for specific targeting of demographics, geographic locations, languages and interests, ensuring that the right audience is reached. This helps to reduce wastage and increase the chances of converting leads into customers. SEM can be a cost-effective method for reaching potential customers. Unlike traditional forms of advertising, where businesses pay upfront costs, SEM is based on a pay-per-click model, meaning that businesses only pay when someone clicks on their ad.

SCA needed a competitive advantage. In today’s digital age, most dermatology clinics have an online presence. SEM advertising helps businesses to stay ahead of their competition by appearing at the top of search engine results.

We often think of the people in the clinics today—or on the existing patient rolls—as our clients. We’re comfortable because we can see them, but this leads to some mistaken assumptions.

First, a provider might think: we treated that person last month, so they will always come back to us. The fact is: we need to fight every day to retain our existing patients. This means being present every time they search for a dermatologist.

Second, providers might not give full consideration to how people found us. Personal referrals are not scalable and brand recognition is not a growth path for specialized services.

Moreover, South Florida has one of the highest densities of dermatology providers in the nation. Competition is very robust and either we are always investing in a pipeline flow of new patients from a growing market, or we are relying on existing clients—expecting they will both live forever and never leave us. That’s a short-sighted fallacy.

We’ve invested in advertising and it’s paying dividends in terms of thousands of calls handled and appointments booked. I can’t see a rationale for going back to the way we did things in the past. That’s not a recipe for growth—it’s not even a recipe for staying static.

People have digital expectations today: this includes online local searches for health providers (be that dermatology, dental, vision, etc.) Without a presence where people are searching and without continued investment in new patient flow, I can’t see how a growing organization can be competitive in any contemporary service environment.