The Importance of Meeting Evolving Patient Demands and Expectations in the Dental Industry

The medical, clinical and healthcare services industry has always been a fast-moving one, continually invigorated by the advancement of new techniques, tools and technologies. It’s also a market in which patient demands and expectations are constantly evolving. This is arguably more true in the field of dentistry than any other.

Today, many dental patients – both current and prospective – will go to great lengths to seek out practices that can provide a broader, more bespoke range of packages and services, tailored precisely to fit their individual needs. These ever-shifting expectations, and your clinic’s ability to meet them, are now absolutely key drivers in terms of both patient numbers and retention rates within a crowded, increasingly competitive marketplace.

Financial flexibility for patients and practices

In short, any dental practice that’s able to demonstrate a more flexible, adaptable, personal and reciprocal approach will stand out as an attractive option for a far greater number of clients. Payment is often the one area in which flexibility is most highly valued, meaning that a clinic’s ability to offer various models of finance for dental work – including dental loans – can make all the difference.

As in any other sphere of medical or clinical practice, the benefits of offering dental finance can broadly be broken down into two key categories: benefits for the clinic, and benefits for the patient.

For the practice

Benefits to dental clinics of being able to offer financing options include:

Growth in patient numbers

– More people are likely to make use of your services when they’re not put off by large up-front costs
– Increased flexibility and adaptability around payment leads directly to a happier client base, giving you a far better chance at retaining existing patients while attracting new ones to your practice

Expansion of available services and treatments

– Certain sorts of treatment come with significantly higher buy-in costs than others, and a majority of patients will often tend opt for cheaper packages
– Lack of uptake for less widely used services might make them impractical or inefficient for some clinics to offer
– Dental finance plans open these premium options up to a greater number of users, giving even small practices the opportunity to provide a broader range of treatments

Better point-of-sale conversion rates

– Smoothing out the transition for customers considering a service and actually making use of it eases friction and reduces delays
– Shortening the decision-making time between a service becoming available and patients opting to take it up is among the most effective ways to increase overall practice turnover

For the patients

Benefits to your patients of offering various finance packages – including both 0% interest dental loans and interest-bearing models – include:

Less worry about the affordability of treatments

– When payment models are made more flexible, your clients will be more likely to consider a broader range of services as genuinely viable options
– They’re also far less constrained by issues around precise financial timing of ordering treatments, particularly for one-off services that have traditionally involved a large up-front cost

Removal of barriers

– Finance packages such as 0% dental loans and no deposit payment plans free up people to book the services they want, when they want them
– This saves prospective patients a great deal of stress and indecision over deciding which treatments they can afford and how the costs will be managed

Greater sense of empowerment and control

– The above factors combine to give patients increased confidence around ordering and paying for the types of treatments they need or want
– Models such as 0% finance make it easy for clients to see exactly how their individual payment plans will be set up, how they’ll be managed over a specific time period, and to budget accordingly with an enhanced feeling of control and stability

With Duologi, dental finance services are easy to set up, and can be offered to your clients both in person and online, using a range of simple apps and plugins. Your cash flow and admin processes are unaffected, as we take care of all necessary credit check processes for you, while you’re still paid up front and in full for any treatment you provide. We then manage the customer’s affordable monthly payment plan on your behalf, meaning there’s no disruption for your day-to-day practice whatsoever.