VoIP: The Future of Practice Communication

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11th August 2022

VoIP: The future of Practice Communication

The number of hold times for calls to dental practices, GP surgeries, and opticians has been steadily increasing. A 2020 study even concluded that callers spend 20% of call time on hold.

So how can you utilise your customer’s hold-time time as an opportunity?

The answer is simple: engage with patients and inform them about your Practice while waiting. This blog will unpack how you could utilise your VoIP phone system as a tool to improve the patient experience.

Reducing patient frustration

One way to make the most out of your phone system is to set up IVR recordings. These recordings create engaging menus that ensure patients reach the right team member quickly and they can have their queries resolved. What’s more, informative and sincerely empathetic in-queue messages help direct patients to other communication channels that may be better suited to their reason for calling. By redirecting calls, you can help your receptionists and practice managers reduce patient frustration and take the pressure off when receiving more calls than usual.

Your Practice can also use prompts to inform patients of known service disruptions. For example, if you close your Practice due to flooding, patients might call to determine whether you have cancelled their appointments and when they can rearrange. As a result, your Practice will receive an influx of calls. This backlog creates a long wait time for people calling for more info on their cancelled flights and places callers wanting to make unrelated enquiries in the same queue.

VoIP enables you to write and set live a text-to-speech message that lets the affected customers know you are aware of the cancellations and that they will be contacted by a team member shortly, quickly, and efficiently. These callers can then end their calls, satisfied that their enquiry is in hand, instead of growing more frustrated as wait times grow. Plus, the queue length becomes drastically reduced for all other callers. These tools can lead to increased CSAT/NPS scores when utilised correctly.

Relevant, up-to-date marketing

Once a caller is waiting in the queue, they are a captive audience for promotions and marketing messages. Playing short marketing messages to waiting patients keeps them updated with all your promotions and helps them engage with your offer of products and services. Harnessing this opportunity to engage and delight patients have led some practices to increase sales, with “93% of patients saying they would be likely to make an additional purchase or book with practices that offer excellent experiences”, according to HubSpot.

Showcasing your brand through VoIP

Researchers estimated that consistent brand presentation increases revenue by an average of 23%, and these solutions make it easy to extend your brand across your phone system using bespoke recordings. Moreover, our bank of 300+ professional voice artists makes it easy to sound local, wherever you operate, for a small monthly cost included in your bill.

Why not talk to us about how VoIP can help you meet your patient experience objectives?

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