Facebook ads not bringing in dental patients? Check 4 things

In short

If your Facebook ads aren't bringing in dental patients, check four places between the ad and the call from your front desk before you turn the campaign off. The first is where the ad sends people. The second is what the ad promises. The third is what happens after the form, and the fourth is the number you judge the campaign by. Weak leads can start in any of these places, and Facebook itself is just one of them. Start with three numbers from last month.

Who this is for

This is for you if your practice advertises a service on Facebook and Instagram. An agency may run the campaign, or someone on your team does. Leads come in, but few of them turn into a visit. You're wondering whether to turn the campaign off.

We don't assume your agency or your front desk is doing a bad job. We don't know that. We give you questions you can ask them and yourself.

If your schedule is full for months, skip this one. A patient from an ad couldn't get an appointment with you anyway.

We wrote this at Helpify. Helpify brings patients to dental practices and follows up so they make it to the chair. You can read who we are on the About Helpify page.

First, three numbers from last month

Before you judge the campaign, write down three numbers from last month. The first is the number of leads. The second is the number of booked appointments. The third is the number of patients who showed up. Without them, "weak leads" is a feeling. With them, you can see the step where you lose the most people.

You'll find leads in the campaign report or in your lead sheet. Count booked appointments and patients who showed up from your practice's schedule. We explain how to collect these numbers in how to get more dental patients when your ads already work.

Then go through the four places in the table. At each one, write down what you saw.

Check 1: where the ad sends people

An ad on Facebook or Instagram can send a patient to one of four places: a Messenger chat, a Call button, an Instant Form, or a service page. They differ in how much the patient knows about the service at the moment they leave a number.

Find your practice in the Meta Ad Library. Tap each active ad on your phone and follow the patient's path to the end.

Messenger chat. The patient writes to the practice straight from the ad. They know what the ad said and what the practice writes back. Check who answers these messages in the evening and on weekends.

Call button. The patient calls the practice right after tapping. They know what was in the ad, and they'll hear the rest from your front desk. Check whether someone picks up during the hours the ad runs.

Instant Form. The patient leaves a number without leaving Facebook. They know what they read in the ad and on the form. Check whether the form says which service the lead is about and who will get in touch.

Service page. The patient goes to a page on your site about one service and fills out the form there. Before leaving a number, they can read about the service, about the practice, and about what happens next. Check that the page works well on a phone.

None of these paths is worse by default, and we don't have a measurement that settles it. The difference shows up on the call. Calling someone who read about the service is a different call than calling someone who saw one ad.

Ask the person who runs the campaign why they chose this path. Also ask what they think the patient knows about the service before leaving a number.

Check 2: what the ad promises

Your front desk may tell you that patients from ads care about price and nothing else, can't decide, or aren't interested in treatment. Before you conclude that this is what Facebook patients are like, read your ads the way a patient would.

An ad with a price or a discount and little else tells the patient one thing: it's cheaper here. If the patient then opens the call with price, they're doing what the ad invited them to do.

An ad that describes the service says more. The patient learns what the service involves, who does it, and what the first visit looks like. Your front desk then has something to talk about besides price.

Read every active ad for your practice in the Meta Ad Library. For each one, answer these questions:

1. Does the ad make clear what the service is and who it's for?
2. Does price or a discount take up more room than the description of the service?
3. Does the patient know what happens after they leave a number?

If the ad talks mostly about price, the price questions may be coming from the ad. In that case, change the ad before you decide that Facebook doesn't bring patients.

Rules for advertising dental services depend on your state. Go over a new ad with your attorney before it runs.

Check 3: what happens after the form

Send the form from the ad on your own phone, the way a patient would. Then write down what happens and answer these questions:

1. Did a confirmation arrive saying the form went through and the practice will call?
2. Who at the practice got the lead, and how did they find out about it?
3. Who called back, and from what number?
4. How many times does your front desk call when the patient doesn't pick up, and after which attempt do they stop?
5. Where do they write down each attempt, so a second person knows what's been done?

A patient who got no confirmation may not remember leaving a number. They may not pick up a call from a number they don't know.

Decide the number of attempts ahead of time and write it down in one place. In the Helpify service, we plan for three contact attempts in total, and your front desk makes the calls. Pick your own number, because we don't know of a study that settles how many attempts are enough. If a patient asks you to stop calling, note it next to their number.

We describe the whole path from the lead to the visit in implant leads not showing up.

Check 4: what you judge the ad by

The campaign report shows how much you spent on ads and how many leads came in. Those two numbers give you cost per lead. It's the first number you see, but your practice doesn't make money on a lead.

Your practice makes money when the patient comes in. So count the cost of a patient who showed up, too. Divide the month's ad spend by the number of patients from the campaign who showed up that month.

The two numbers can point to different conclusions. Cheap leads that rarely show up can cost your practice more than pricier leads that show up more often.

Ask the person who runs the campaign which number they judge it by. You know from your schedule how many patients showed up, so pass that number along once a month.

We show how to calculate the cost of a kept consultation, with implants as the example, in how to calculate dental patient acquisition cost.

When to actually turn the campaign off

Once you find the place where you lose the most people, change one thing. It can be the page the ad leads to, the wording of the ad, or the contact after the form. If you change everything at once, you won't know what helped.

After a month, compare the same three numbers as before the change. Leads, booked appointments, and patients who showed up will tell you whether the change did anything.

Turn the campaign off when, after several changes, the cost of a patient who showed up is still more than your practice can pay. You set that limit yourself, from the price of the service and your costs. Also turn it off when the schedule fills up and a new patient can't get an appointment.

Turning it off without checking the four places won't tell you what wasn't working. The next campaign may run into the same problem.

How we do it

Helpify brings patients to dental practices and follows up so they make it to the chair. We run Facebook and Instagram ads with videos filmed at the practice, and we build a service page with a form. After every lead, the patient gets a confirmation and the front desk gets reminders to call and book. We remind patients about appointments, and after a no-show we help the front desk reschedule. The dashboard shows leads, booked appointments, patients who showed up, and ad spend.

A lead you paid for isn't a patient yet.

You pay once for the campaign build: the service page, the ad videos, and front desk training. After that, you pay a flat monthly fee for campaign management, and it doesn't start until the day your ads go live. You pay your ad budget separately, straight to Meta. I'll show you the numbers along with a plan for your practice.

Helpify's fee doesn't depend on the size of the practice's ad budget. You don't have to drop your current agency.

Helpify is based in Poland. We work remotely and take on dental practices in Poland and the United States.

Read more on the Helpify System page.

To talk, book a free 30-minute call. It's online, with Maciej Odrobina, the founder of Helpify. Book a call.

Questions and answers

Is an Instant Form worse than a service page?

We don't have a measurement that settles it, and we don't know of a solid study on the question. The two paths differ in how much the patient knows about the service before leaving a number. Check in your own practice which path turns more leads into visits.

Why don't patients from ads pick up the phone?

We don't know of a study that lists the reasons, so check them in your own practice. See whether the patient got a confirmation after the form and knows the practice will call. Also check what hours your front desk calls and how many times they try.

Should I turn the ad off when the leads are weak?

First write down last month's leads, booked appointments, and patients who showed up. Then change one of the four things in this article and compare the same numbers a month later. Turn the campaign off when the cost of a patient who showed up is still more than your practice can pay.