Do you ever wonder what the average volume of inbound leads competitor dentists are receiving? AdLuge is a tool used by dental practices and many others to help measure the source of their incoming leads. AdLuge makes it easy to understand the effectiveness of how marketing dollars are being spent.
We reviewed data from close to 30 Dental practices across Canada and the United States. Here are the average volume of leads received by online sources in July 2013.
Organic/Search Engine Optimization: 20 leads per month
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is generally regarded as the most cost-effective method for generating leads for Dentists. Considering that the average SEO monthly management fees can range anywhere between $500 to $2000 a month, this would place the average cost per lead from an organic source at anywhere between $25 to $100 per lead. Your cost-per-lead will depend largely on your SEO performance, and SEO budget.
The average Dentist can expect to convert approximately 36% of their organic leads into clients.
Out of our own research, there are very few other mediums that offer such cost-effective results. Paid Search placements is often the exception.
Paid Search-Google Ads: 11 leads per month
Google Ads is without a doubt the most widely used and accepted paid search platform available. Other paid search platforms like Bing Ads may be able to gather lower cost per lead metrics, however the opportunity is not even comparable. With Google holding more than a 90% market share in the search engine industry, the exposure it provides is second to none.
Using our own research data, we found that the average Google Ads budget was $678 in July for Dental practices. This budget provided an average of 11 leads at an average cost per lead (CPL) of just $61.63.
The average lawyer converted a little under 29% of their leads into clients from this source.
Campaign performance can depend tremendously on targeting strategy.
Referral Sites: 6 leads per month
Referral sites can range from review sites, directories, social media sites like Facebook or Twitter, or affiliate/organization sites which have posted a link to your website. On average, 6 leads per month came from these types of sites in July for Dentists.
What’s important to consider is that a strong SEO strategy can contribute to an increase in referral leads significantly. Referral sites are often an extremely cost-effective method for gathering leads, however it’s important to ensure these referrals come from quality domains. Having many low quality referrals associated with your site can negatively impact your SEO performance. Having a professional manage these efforts for you can keep your links high quality and drive relevant traffic.
Direct: 10 leads per month
Many things can affect the volume of leads a Dentist receives for any given month. Much of this can relate to traditional forms of advertising like print ads, radio, billboards, or magazines if any of those efforts are being done. A common practice is to setup tracked phone numbers that direct to your main phone number for the purposes of measuring the effectiveness of traditional media campaigns. We tend to attribute leads received from the ‘Direct’ source to public relations, offline campaigns, and brand and word of mouth success.
For July, Dentists received an average of 10 direct leads as calculated in AdLuge.
Total Dental Leads: 47 leads per month
AdLuge has shown us that based on close to 30 Dental practices, the volume of leads received by email and phone was 47 for July. In our experience, once a Dentist employs search engine marketing as part of the marketing mix the biggest improvement area is often employing proper follow up procedures. Following up with a lead in a timely manner can often make the difference between a new sale and a missed opportunity.
The AdLuge Marketing Intelligence tool is a complete lead management and source measurement system. Whether you choose to use a tool like AdLuge for your search engine marketing, we recommend employing something that helps you keep track of your patient inquiries through an automated lead management system.
How Do I Generate More Client Inquiries?
Stay tuned to some of my upcoming newsletters as I focus on the following areas:
Paid Search Metrics for Dentists
- Tips and Tricks to Improve Paid Search Campaigns for Dentists
- Search Engine Optimization and your Dental Practice
- Things Every Dentist can do to improve their SEO
