The use of automated conversation systems is on the rise, but are chatbots right for your dermatology practice? From enhancing the patient experience to increasing office efficiency and generating new leads, here’s what to consider.
Did you know that by the end of this year, approximately 85% of all customer interactions will be handled by chatbots instead of human agents? This technology has become increasingly popular throughout the healthcare industry with a growing number of medical providers, including dermatologists, having already implemented chatbots on their websites.
These bots can be a powerful tool that can serve as a resource for patients to access information, schedule an appointment, and receive around-the-clock assistance. They’re also praised for their ability to save a medical practice’s staff time and energy, in addition to reducing overall costs and increasing conversions and leads.
Understanding the wide range of capabilities of this technology, renowned facial plastic surgeon Dr. Philip J. Miller and AesthetiSuite by PlacerTech have developed Aestheti.Bot—the first-ever artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot programmed specifically for the aesthetics industry. Since launching in 2020, Aestheti.Bot has proven successful in generating significant revenue growth for practices that have adopted this technology onto their platform.
What is a Chatbot?
A chatbot is an AI-powered software that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to simulate conversation and formulate human-like responses. This technology can be applied to a number of different platforms including mobile apps and websites. The overall goal is to streamline the interaction between users and the company, not to replace human agents. Or in this case, healthcare providers.
In the medical industry, chatbots are most commonly used to not only connect patients with medical professionals but also to complete routine tasks such as answering general FAQs and scheduling new patient consultations and established patient follow-up appointments. However, the capabilities of chatbots can vary depending on how well they’re built and the number of solutions they’re able to offer.
Benefits of Adding a Chatbot to Your Website
- 24/7 Automated Assistance
Chatbot technology allows patients or prospects to get in touch with your dermatology practice at any given time, which proves especially useful after-hours. In many cases, the chatbot will be able to address most issues without having to defer to a human. Patients can also get their follow-up questions answered, which reduces the number of calls that a practice’s staff would need to take. According to Dr. Miller, he estimates that 90% of his office’s inquiries are FAQs. If handled by Aestheti.Bot, it would free up 15 hours a week of staff time.
- Enhanced Patient Experience
A well-designed chatbot can enhance the user experience, as well as help retain current patients. It should be used as a frontline tactic to capture information and deliver immediate guidance, which can put the patient at ease. A chatbot also presents more opportunities to reach clients and engage with them. These interactions are successful tools in building practice loyalty and improving the patient-provider relationship.
- Reduce Human Error
A benefit of adding a chatbot to your website is that it can significantly decrease human error. A chatbot can reduce response times by offering immediate assistance, while also increasing the accuracy of the responses given. In the event your staff is tied up, a chatbot can step in to automate tasks that would otherwise be done manually. This includes scheduling, billing, requests for prescription refills, and lots more.
- Personalization
In line with improving patient experience, it’s important to keep a practice’s tone and outward appearance consistent. The bot itself should be able to mimic and deliver a medical office’s messaging. Aestheti.Bot, for example, is able to be fully customized to a practice’s tone of voice, individual needs, and style. Additionally, it can respond like an experienced physician, indistinguishable from a human, and take contextual clues from prior conversations. Aestheti.Bot comes pre-programmed with tens of thousands of editable responses to commonly asked questions.
- Lead Generation
We already know that a chatbot can deliver on timeliness and consistency, two key attributes that can assist in lead generation. However, it also provides the opportunity to engage with a large volume of patients and prospects at the same time. The scale of this is greater than a typical practice would be able to handle. By being the first point of contact for a practice, and a database of user contact info, chatbots like Aestheti.Bot are simplifying lead generation for all practices
How Chatbots Can Boost Conversions and Leads
The following are real-life examples of how Aestheti.Bot has successfully benefitted medical practices across the country. For example, a plastic surgeon based in New York City currently captures about 30 leads per week, a 16.3% increase since they adopted Aestheti.Bot five months ago. They’ve also seen an $80,000 revenue increase.
Conversely, a celebrity plastic surgeon located on the West Coast that receives exceptionally high website traffic is able to capture roughly 150 leads per week. In Texas, Aestheti.Bot delivers a separate plastic surgery practice about 45 leads per week and approximately 12 engagements a day. On the other hand, a prominent medspa received 97 new leads in just two weeks. Since then, they’ve averaged about 40 leads per week.
These examples highlight how adding an AI assistant like Aestheti.Bot to your dermatology practice website can not only boost leads, but in some cases even increase revenue. It’s not about how many people visit your website, but how many call or submit inquiries to become patients of the practice. If you do not currently have a chatbot on your site, I strongly recommend adding a AI powered bot to increase conversions and front end user experience.