Who Says Internet Ads Don't Work?
If you've marketed LASIK on the Web without success, consider this advice.
BY TARIQ QAMAR, M.D.

In the early days of the Internet, many LASIK practices invested thousands of dollars in Web sites, with the overly optimistic hope that the mere existence of a site would somehow bring in patients. When few came in, the initial enthusiasm waned, and gradually refractive surgeons came to view Internet advertising as largely ineffective.

If this scenario sounds all-too-familiar to you, read on. In this article, I'll provide solid suggestions that can help you rejuvenate your Internet advertising efforts.

First of all, let's consider the stakes. Almost everyone who undergoes a laser vision correction procedure researches it on the Internet first. If you have any doubts as to the validity of this statement, just ask your patients. Moreover, Internet user demographics are a near-perfect match with those of LASIK patients, as both groups are largely composed of young, educated technophiles with discretionary income. If you don't have a serious Internet marketing strategy, then you're overlooking a large base of potential patients.

Improve the Response Rate

In theory, the process of finding new patients is simple. First, you need a Web presence that brings in new leads. Then, you and your staff need to convert the leads into actual refractive surgery patients. In reality, you'll have to overcome a number of potential pitfalls. Let's take a look at how you can improve your odds of success.

In terms of finding new leads, you have two main choices. Either you attract them with your own Web site, or you advertise on third-party LASIK sites.

If your site isn't producing many leads, the first step toward resolving the problem is to learn how many visitors your site has each month. This data is usually available from your Web-hosting company, free of charge. A starting point rule of thumb is to aim for one visitor per month for every thousand individuals in your drawing area.

If your Web site is attracting enough visitors, but not bringing in new leads, then you need to change your site. After all, you wouldn't keep running the same newspaper ad if no one ever responded, so why stay with an ineffective Web site? Unfortunately, this is a reality that not many practices understand: Building your site is not the end point. You must continuously improve it, so that it converts an ever-higher percentage of visitors into leads.

As for conversion, the most difficult task of all is turning an Internet lead into an actual patient. Here, most of the onus falls on the refractive surgery coordinator. A good starting point is to sit down with your coordinator to learn how he or she currently approaches Internet leads. The answer may surprise you -- if you receive an answer at all. A colleague in the LASIK advertising industry recently posed as a patient and made Internet inquiries to a number of practices nationwide. More than 70% of the time, he never received any response whatsoever. And, many of the responses he did receive contained so many spelling and grammatical mistakes that they were very likely to do more harm than good in attracting potential patients. If you're really curious as to how your own refractive coordinator is performing, you should send him or her a "test inquiry" once a month.

Assuming that your refractive coordinator is one of the 30% who actually responds to incoming leads, the next step is to refine the timing and quality of the response.

Have a Follow-Up System

The most successful practices respond very quickly to incoming leads. The best do so within minutes of the inquiry. Some even have a staff member or doctor with an "always-on" Internet connection who responds after hours and on weekends. In the most innovative practices, the surgeon gives a personal response as the initial reply to all inquiries, as patients find this impressive. At the very minimum, someone in your practice should respond to all inquiries within 24 hours, or as soon as possible on Monday morning when the inquiry occurs over a weekend.

While some patients prefer to communicate through e-mail, when a potential patient provides you with his or her phone number, it's essential to keep calling until someone actually talks to that individual. Simply leaving an answering machine message is usually ineffective. If the individual can't be reached during the daytime, you may want to have someone call during the early evening or on Saturday morning. As with all incoming leads, a computerized lead-tracking system, such as ACT! can be invaluable, as far too often, leads are abandoned before they're maximally pursued.

As you respond to Internet leads, it's important to remember that most people who eventually have refractive surgery think about it for quite some time before deciding to do it. Therefore, some of the Internet users who contact you will be early in the decision-making process and not quite ready for surgery. This is in contrast to incoming phone leads. Most of the time, when the phone rings, the person at the other end has already overcome any fears and is ready to take action. The failure to recognize the unique nature of Internet leads is probably one reason why some coordinators give up on them altogether. However, if your practice can maintain the discipline necessary to keep in touch through e-mail, targeted direct mail or follow-up phone calls, over time, a significant number of these leads will become patients, once they overcome their fears.

Using Third-Party Sites

After you implement your upgraded response system, you're ready to harness the full power of the Internet by scaling up your presence. This can be accomplished through advertisements on third-party LASIK Web sites, such as Eyevolume Inc.'s Lasik.MD and LaserEyeSurgery.MD (www.eyevolume.com), Einstein Medical's LasikDocShop (www.lasikdocshop.com), Mojo Interactive's Locateadoc (www.locateadoc.com), or LaserSurgeryForEyes (www.lasersurgeryforeyes.com). (See "Web Sites Specializing in Obtaining LASIK Leads" for further details on these leading third-party referral sites.

The advantages of advertising on third-party sites are numerous. First, it's unrealistic to expect that every prospective LASIK patient in your area will find your own practice's Web site. Essentially, Internet advertising becomes somewhat of a numbers game. The more sites you advertise on, the greater the likelihood that a patient from your area will find out about your practice.

Second, the companies that build these sites often have the resources and the level of sophistication necessary to attract large numbers of potential patients to their sites.

And most importantly, if your lead-response system is effective, then the relatively low price of these advertisements is likely to make them your most cost-effective means of finding new patients.

Get the Basics Right

However you choose to improve your Internet marketing techniques, it's important to remember that success is based on three primary factors: having an Internet presence that excels in capturing leads, reaching a large number of potential patients, and developing your follow-up skills so that you maximize the number of inquiries that result in actual procedures. If you get these three basics right, you should be able to count on your Internet marketing program as a steady and dependable source of leads and patients.

Tariq Qamar, M.D., is president and CEO of Eyevolume Inc. He can be reached by phone at (480) 664-7250, via e-mail at contact@eyevolume.com, or through his Web site, www.eyevolume.com.