A booking flow that turned visitors into new patients

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Where it started

Brightwell had steady traffic and a booking form nobody finished. A rebuilt site, a three-step booking flow and paid social aimed at families within eight miles lifted bookings from 38 to 101 a month.

The practice had a five-year-old website with fourteen form fields, including insurance member ID, on the first screen of the booking page. Session recordings showed most people leaving at the insurance question.

Paid social was boosting posts to a 25-mile radius, well past the distance anyone drives for a cleaning. The front desk could not tell which new patients came from marketing at all.

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What we changed

1. Research before redesign

   Heatmaps, 60 session recordings and a ten-question survey of recent new patients. The top three reasons for choosing a dentist were insurance accepted, appointment availability and reviews, in that order.

2. A three-step booking flow

   Reason for visit, preferred time, contact details. Insurance moved to a confirmation text. Fourteen fields became five, and the flow works one-handed on a phone.

3. Paid social for an eight-mile radius

   Short videos of the actual team, a new-patient offer and lead forms synced to the practice software. Audiences limited to households within eight miles of the office.

4. Six tests in six months

   Insurance logos near the button, same-week availability in the hero, and a sticky call bar each won. Two tests lost and one was flat, and we kept the notes on all six.

Timeline

1. Month 1

   Research sprint: recordings, heatmaps, patient survey and a tracking plan that ties bookings to source.

2. Months 2 to 3

   New site and booking flow designed, built and launched. Paid social restructured around an eight-mile radius.

3. Months 4 to 6

   Testing program: one test live at all times, results reviewed every two weeks with the office manager.

4. Months 7 to 8

   Recall emails and text reminders added for patients overdue for a cleaning. Second location planning started.

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What it led to

Brightwell Family Dental went from 38 to 101 on new-patient bookings per month in 8 months. The numbers on this page are sample data, laid out the way a real report would be.