Let’s go in the patient’s shoes… do they go wide or narrow?
Each company is committed to managing its work by focusing on the needs of its customers, in the same way the dentist must have at heart the expectations and needs of its patients.
We want to find answers to these seemingly trivial questions:
What do patients expect? Why should a patient choose a professional over another? What are the variables that determine preference?
We asked a sample of people with different ages, interests, needs, habits, jobs and lives directly to answer these simple questions regarding the choice of the dental office. The choices come from well-defined parameters. It will be interesting to compare the patient’s expectations with those of the Doctor by comparing them with the results of the survey. Specifically, the survey was conducted on a sample of 150 individuals (Italy, September 2018, sample varied in terms of age, average user from the economic point of view) involving all age groups: children under 12, children under 20, people under 45, over 45 and middle-aged over 65. The questions, being open-ended, required interpretation in order to manage the final data in calculable percentages.
In general, this type of trend and preference emerged:
Care for the environment and hospitality
With a percentage of 90%, respondents expressed this basic need. The children have underlined the need to enter dental surgeries as little as possible aseptic, with dedicated areas and smiling staff. In order to avoid the white hospital gown, colours would be fundamental in order to brighten up the context, making it “less medical and more playful”. On the other hand, the rest of the interviewees, also raising the age range, show the same need that is to be welcomed in an environment that is able to infuse as much as possible serenity, familiarity and positivity through colours, furnishings, cleanliness and corners recreation / recreation.
360° information
With a percentage of 85%, the request for information is overwhelming. The remaining percentage includes almost exclusively the “under 12” bracket, which is directed by close relatives for the choice of the attending physician and which trusts the information in the possession of their relatives. From the adolescent age group, gradually growing with the age of the interviewed, the desire is to have useful information about the study, treatment, types of interventions; first of all, patients admit to check the presence in the waiting room of the information material (transfer of valuable content) and then ask the team itself the ability to communicate and give explanations and comprehensive guidance. Information on site and online through an updated and functional website where you can find most of the information. The demand for modernity and avant-garde involves all age groups.
Clarity on estimates and costs
Most of the respondents (65%) are convinced that the cost is a relative problem for the pockets, also considers fundamental the explanation of the various items that make up the estimate explained from the point of view of the treatment even before the price. The widespread need is to find the right professionals who know how to recommend the best intervention, in the time and number of essential sessions (widespread fear is that of optional treatments that only inflate the fee). Patients also need to be able to defer payment, so as to embrace full treatments divided into several steps with payment in instalments.
Comfort
Excluding the children who have strictly highlighted the playful part of the pre-visit, the rest of the respondents (70%) said that the choice of dentist also depends and above all on this type of factor that embraces both the willingness to fix the visits, check-ups, interventions in days near the call or in accordance with the needs of the patient and the convenience of the location of the office; the proximity to free parking, to service centres, to quiet areas that are easy to reach and leave without further costs in economic terms and in terms of time in the event of reaching areas with limited or congested traffic.
What others think
Almost all the interviewees showed that the choice of the dentist is determined by the word-of-mouth factor (90%), coming from the opinions of friends and acquaintances (judgement taken into consideration) as well as from the web in which they pull up the reviews left by patients (monitoring especially by young people under 45). It would be appropriate for the dentist to have a clear idea about the widespread idea of his practice, especially the online reputation that spreads in a viral way. Thanks to the virtual presence (social, website, familiarity with various platforms) the doctor will be able to monitor and act on his image to improve and propagate it (by advertising). And this is how the patient himself requires the presence of the dentist on the web to be able to quickly compare his profile with that of other colleagues and draw his own (partial) conclusions.
The statistics have shown that those interested want to be informed and comfortable.