Targeted marketing – when does it just become off-putting?

The chase/don’t chase conundrum. When dental CRM goes too far.

I’m prompted to write this particular article after meeting up with personal friends for a social catch-up the other day. They know I run a dental marketing business and are always keen to tell me about their latest dental encounters.

So I sit and smile as they inundate me about their latest treatments plus the good (and bad) aspects of the service they’ve received from their local dentist.

It’s actually quite useful for me as it serves as a “grass roots” view of what the local dental community are doing as well as what I know from my day-to-day marketing work.

One particular topic that struck me was how one of my friends had been on the receiving end of a “targeted” marketing campaign after expressing an interest in a dental implant for her husband. She had received an implant e-newsletter which she’d taken interest in as it seemed to offer a fair price. However, a few days later she received another e-newsletter from her dentist, again about implants and all of the associated benefits. A week after that, another one came through together with a more traditional leaflet which was posted out to her. And then another….

Interestingly, the effect of this was not to encourage her to purchase but quite the opposite. She had found the constant chasing intrusive and irritating to the point where she actually unsubscribed from the e-news service and gave the practice manager “a piece of her mind” when she called in. Not ideal.

The conversation then extended to the general group discussion about how adverts seem to “follow them around” when they were browsing the Internet and how this was also felt to be quite intrusive and unwanted. Cue my explanation to the group about what was actually happening and how they were being subject to “remarketing” and “targeting” of various forms. They were actually quite shocked.

So what was actually going on here? How was the dentist targeting the patient and what went wrong?

The lady who had shown an interest in the dental implant for her husband, had been tagged as such on a CRM system such as Infusionsoft, Agile, Zoho or similar. CRM stands for “customer relationship management” albeit I have heard “retention” slipped in there too. In a nut-shell, these systems are designed to help collect, analyse and segment business leads and then provide targeted marketing accordingly. She was then subject to the email and letter campaign trying to get her to follow-up on her initial interest. However, in this circumstance it failed rather badly.

So is CRM bad?

No, on the contrary. CRM, when used correctly and at the right stage of a business’s growth, can be very effective. However, if you implement it at the wrong time or use it in an unsophisticated way you will be very disappointed. They are not cheap to operate, so as well as ending up with a Porsche on the drive which you can’t use, you can end up with disgruntled clients too.

So for sure it’s worth considering CRM and the benefits it can bring BUT be sure you have done your homework first. They are sophisticated tools, not cheap to operate and need experience to run properly. Also be sure that you are not just jumping on the latest band-wagon and doing it because your marketing guys said you need one!

How can I get moving on this in a more controlled way and with less exposure?

Depending on the size of the business we are working with, we always recommend a good quality e-news system – so small/medium size practices should be implementing MailChimp or similar whereas larger businesses with more support infrastructure and larger patient base, might consider a more sophisticated CRM implementation. It really is about what’s best for a particular business and where they are in their evolution.

Whilst a system such as MailChimp does not offer all of the sophisticated targeting tools of full CRM, it does allow you to stay in touch with your patients simply and professionally. If you need something more powerful *and* you can justify the cost of implementation and an experienced operator, then consider one of the many CRM systems which are available.

Summary

Marketing to your dental patients in a targeted way is usually the right thing to do. However, if you overdo it (and it’s easily done) then prepare for problems. Subtlety is key so don’t under-estimate how easy it is to invade someone’s privacy and force them to look elsewhere. How many times have you unsubscribed from emails which keep landing in your inbox after you purchased something or expressed an earlier interest simply because you were inundated?

CRM systems, when set up and operated correctly can be very effective, but like any new system you need to assess what value it will add and if your own business is ready to take it on board. If not, you will be disappointed and out-of-pocket.

If you would like more information about customer relationship management and the type of system which may be appropriate for your dental practice, please call the Dental Media team on 01332 672548.