Whenever I discuss the concept of price transparency with other healthcare providers, the first thing they say is, “I don’t want to compete on price!” I simply don’t understand why the premise of price transparency automatically leads to the assumption that you have to compete on price.

Healthcare doesn’t follow the rules of a free market system

The idea of price transparency in healthcare is quite foreign. Historically, the healthcare industry has never been fond of showing their costs.

It’s partly due to the unusual arrangement between health insurance payors, the consumers (payers) and providers. In the past, insurance companies paid the charges submitted by providers after seeing a patient. This ultimately led to two epiphanies by the insurance industry.

First, at some point, insurance companies felt doctors were charging too much. And two, insurance executives realized that with so many beneficiaries (consumers) under their umbrella, they had the leverage to negotiate better terms for themselves (and poorer terms for providers). Meanwhile, the consumer’s premiums kept rising! Think about that: insurance providers pay out less per service/treatment provided by the doctor but somehow the consumer’s cost continues to rise.

The subsequent negotiations led to various contracts with each provider or healthcare entity (hospital, multi-specialty clinic or health system). And as with many contracts dealing with compensation, they’re considered a secret. Moreover, insurance companies consider these secrets protected by the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

“…insurance providers pay out less per service/treatment provided by the doctor but somehow the consumer’s cost continues to rise.”

This is what the Trump Administration’s recent Executive Order and rules are trying to uncover – these negotiated rates. By pulling the curtain back and showing everyone what the rates are, consumers can make better financial decisions about their healthcare before, rather than after treatment.

Price transparency, not price wars

Since most providers (doctors, hospitals, multi-specialty clinics or health systems) don’t reveal their pricing, that means those of us who do can separate ourselves from the competition. Consumers want pricing information prior to purchasing any service. That’s how it is in every other sector of the economy. Buying a house or car? You want to know how much it costs ahead of time. That’s reasonable. That doesn’t make you a price shopper!

Just because you show your pricing doesn’t mean you have to compete on price. If others show their prices, could they be lower than yours? Certainly, that’s always a possibility. But that does not mean you are required to lower your price. There’s not an automatic “trigger” in place that requires you to begin a race to the bottom.

However, there’s a caveat to that resistance to lower your price: be prepared to substantiate your higher prices. If your prices are higher because of better customer service or more qualified professionals in your organization, great. That’s certainly worth the higher price if the consumer also places a premium on that experience.

Don’t compete on price, compete on quality

I recently served on a price transparency panel at this past Becker’s ASC meeting and one of my co-panelists, Andy Poole, CEO of Monticello Community Surgery Center, explicitly stated that you should commit to price transparency but compete on quality, not price. So he gets it!

In the end, offering price transparency online will allow you to stand out from your competition. It will give you a competitive edge. And it’s possible without lowering your prices.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Compete on price transparency, not price! [video] first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Dr. Kaplan, owner of Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery (aka Real Dr. Bae on Instagram) is also founder of BuildMyBod Health. A price transparency platform. Dr. Kaplan continues his US speaking tour in San Diego this weekend at the AAFPRS 2019 International Symposium of Facial Plastic Surgery. This meeting is put on by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – the AAFPRS. He’ll be giving two talks and serving on two panels.

Talks at the AAFPRS 2019

Dr. Kaplan will speak on improving the patient experience with price transparency. This is an oldie but a goodie! He’ll discuss how doctors fear the complexity of price transparency but don’t realize what a huge patient satisfier it is.

With price transparency prior to the consultation, the patient is prepared. And therefore less likely to experience sticker shock. That’s an improvement to the patient experience!

The power of email marketing

In his second talk, Dr. Kaplan will explain why building your email database for marketing is so critical. He’ll talk about how his Google traffic dropped 62% but his revenue actually increased. That was because he had a strong social media presence and also because he built an email database of over 9,600+ people. That way, whenever he was ready, he could market directly to his target demographic for way less than digital advertising.

If you’re a doctors and want to learn more about BuildMyBod Health, click here. If you’re a patient that wants pricing information from a doctor near you, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post BuildMyBod Founder Speaking at AAFPRS 2019 first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

The effect of a price transparency executive order

Despite President Obama’s efforts with the “Unaffordable Care Act,” this Executive Order will actually have an effect on the cost of care. Obama simply extended Medicaid to more consumers, feeding the healthcare machine, but not altering the cost curve in the process.

By requiring healthcare providers to disclose their negotiated rates, consumers will be able to shop for quality, lower cost care. And by exposing healthcare to typical market forces, providers will have to compete on customer service and quality. But that’s not how rates are currently set because providers and insurers set their rates in secret.

This will directly affect providers of medically necessary services typically covered by insurance. But the Executive Order will also indirectly affect providers that may be outside of the purview of the new law. Why?

Even if the law only refers to the interactions of insurance companies, doctors, hospitals and their negotiated rates, this will change the mindset of the consumer. The consumer will now expect price transparency from all providers. They won’t make the distinction between medically necessary services  or cosmetic services. They won’t care if the doctor is out of network and has no negotiated rate with the insurance company. And they won’t care if the service was performed at an outpatient facility and not a hospital that may be affected by the Executive Order.

No, the consumer won’t consider any of that. They’ll simply assume all doctors, by law, should disclose their prices. So to appear credible in the eyes of the consumer, all doctors will need to be price transparent. Just like a doctor appears more credible if they have a Facebook or Yelp account, price transparency will convey legitimacy as well.

What should a provider do?

So, for providers that want to comply with this Executive Order and generate leads in the process, you can sign up for the BuildMyBod Health platform here. And for consumers interested in finding pricing from Dr. Kaplan, click here!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post President Trump officially signs price transparency executive order first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

BuildMyBod Health founder, Dr. Jonathan Kaplan will speak at Becker’s 17th annual spine conference in Chicago. As one of the largest industry meetings that help hospitals and ambulatory surgery center’s (ASC’s) achieve first-in-class best practices, this is recognition of the new-found importance of price transparency in healthcare.

Becker’s Conference Agenda

BuildMyBod Health founder and plastic surgeon, Dr. Jonathan Kaplan will be discussing how price transparency can lead to better patient engagement.

With more consumers paying out of pocket for medically necessary services before meeting their deductible, these patients are increasingly behaving like cosmetic patients. Price sensitive. Choosing a doctor regardless of network. And to be competitive, physicians and physician practices need to capture these patients. This is the reality that cosmetic plastic surgeons have experienced for decades now. And so it’s not surprising that a plastic surgeon holds the key to engaging patients who are paying out of pocket for medically necessary services. Using pricing information as the “carrot” to engage the patient is a huge customer service opportunity!

The BuildMyBod Health platform allows consumers to check pricing on out-of-pocket services using a Price Estimator on the doctor’s website, but only after providing their contact info. This generates a lead for the doctor’s practice who can then navigate the consumer through the healthcare process.

Everyone wins!

BuildMyBod allows consumers to visit a doctor or facility’s website to view their various services. They can then add procedures-of-interest to their “wishlist” and after submitting their wishlist along with their contact info, pricing info is automatically and instantly downloaded and emailed to the consumer. The patient gets instant gratification in the form of out-of-pocket pricing information. The healthcare provider receives the consumer’s contact info – a lead. Everyone wins!

The need to know out-of-pocket healthcare costs is of rising importance because more consumers have high-deductible health plans. When you have to spend $5000 to $6000 out of pocket before your insurance kicks in, you want and need to know what various outpatient services like lab tests, colonoscopies and X-rays will cost because consumers will be shouldering more of those costs.

While BuildMyBod Health started with out-of-pocket pricing information for cosmetic services, they have expanded to medically necessary services. When paying thousands of dollars out of pocket, there’s no difference between a boob job and a full body MRI!

To check pricing on healthcare services from a doctor near you, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Dr. Kaplan speaking at Becker’s 17th Annual Spine Conference first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Makin’ it rain!

As you’ll see in the video below, Dr. Miami relies heavily on social media to generate a buzz and interest in his practice. As he explains, social media “makes it rain” with interested consumers and potential patients. The buzz results in patients inquiring about his services.

He has hundreds and thousands of inquiries every day. What do they all want to know? How much is this gonna cost me?! With so many leads, their call center would be overwhelmed if answering questions about cost was done manually. That’s why they direct them to their BuildMyBod profile page here.

This way, consumers can check pricing automatically. But to check price, they first have to provide their contact information. So Dr. Miami is essentially combining price transparency with lead generation! Something we call #PriceTransCAREncy! While social media may make it rain, BuildMyBod health is the bucket to capture that rain (leads)!

Video testimonial with Dr. Miami

Are you a provider and want a BuildMyBod account for yourself? Sign up here!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Makin’ it rain with Dr. Miami! [video] first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Dr. Sheila Nazarian of the Nazarian Institute and Nazarian Plastic Surgery recently sat down with us to explain why she focuses on building a large email database even though she has a huge Instagram following (@drsheilanazarian).

The world according to Dr. Sheila Nazarian!

While many doctors engage with their followers through social media, that engagement is very tenuous. Not because followers will stop following “their” doctor in mass. But as Dr. Nazarian explains in the video below, social media platforms like Instagram or Snapchat may change their algorithms. And when that happens, the doctor that the consumer is following may not appear as readily in the consumer’s feed. Sure they love their doctor, but “out of sight, out of mind” rings true in this situation.

A change in algorithm can turn a doctor’s successful social media experience into a nightmare overnight. The same can occur with an algorithm change within Google. One day the consumer can find a particular doctor with a Google search, the next day, they’re not listed on page 1. And even if it’s not a drastic change, any algorithmic change can adversely effect a doctor’s social media or web traffic.

Dr. Nazarian also points out another risk in relying too heavily on social media. What if it becomes a “pay to play” scenario. Currently anyone can be successful and grow their business on Instagram without paying to promote, or “boost” their posts. Compare that to Facebook Business pages. If a business posts something on Facebook and does not boost it, only 6% of their followers will see that post. And if the business has over 500,000 followers, only 2% of their followers will see an organic, non-paid post.

Facebook is already clearly pay to play for businesses. If Instagram does that, businesses will either have to pay dearly to continue connecting with their followers or choose another option.

Building your email marketing database

As Dr. Nazarian explains, using the BuildMyBod Health platform on her website has protected her, or at the very least, mitigated the damage that could be done by changes in algorithms or revenue streams in the future. By generating almost 2,000 unique leads in less than 2 years through the BuildMyBod Price Estimator alone, she can continue engaging with consumers even if there was a dreaded update.

The Price Estimator on her site allows the consumer to check pricing on her services after entering their contact info. They get instant gratification in the form of an email with a breakdown of costs, and she gets a lead. Those are leads from her target audience. An audience that includes tech savvy consumers interested in cosmetic services, who now have a realistic understanding of the financial costs of such cosmetic services.

Video of Dr. Nazarian, keeping it real

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Dr. Sheila Nazarian: you need your own email database! [video] first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

You probably didn’t know price transparency was being utilized for any healthcare services, much less cosmetic services! But it’s true. Consumers are demanding price transparency, ie knowing how much services are going to cost before they get said service. It seems like a novel idea but we know the cost of a service ahead of time in every other industry. Somehow, medicine was the exception, until now.

Initial objections to price transparency in the cosmetic space

When we started our journey along the path of price transparency, we started within the realm of cosmetic services. Cosmetics is easier in the sense that patients pay the cost out of pocket. There is no insurance middleman. Still, doctors said giving the consumer pricing info ahead of time was too difficult. What if the patient isn’t a candidate for that procedure? What if they need more than one syringe of filler. While these are examples of potential obstacles in rolling out price transparency initiatives, they’re about the lamest excuses ever.

Without knowing anything about cosmetic services, anyone with half a brain would understand how to overcome these objections. What if the patient isn’t a candidate for the procedure they checking pricing for?! Then you’ll educate the patient regarding the correct procedure, just as you would with any patient with unrealistic expectations, regardless of whether they knew cost ahead of time.

What if they need two syringes of filler?! Then list the price for one syringe of filler and, wait for it….list the price for TWO syringes of filler! As long as you’re providing accurate estimates, it’s worthwhile actionable information for the patient. They will understand if the estimated price they saw ahead of time doesn’t match the price given after the consultation – as long as the price difference is due to the doctor recommending a more appropriate procedure that is significantly different than the patient’s preconceived expectation. Conversely, if the pre-consultation procedure is the same as what the doctor recommends and the price is different, then that’s probably an example of a bait and switch. That’s not a problem with price transparency. That’s a problem with how your parents raised you!

Examples of how price transparency works across all healthcare sectors

If there were ever any doubts that you couldn’t provide useful pricing information for medically necessary outpatient services typically paid out of pocket because the consumer hadn’t met their deductible, then doubt no more! Enter, the Ohio Surgery Center and Georgia SurgiCare. Both providers/facilities provide pricing information in the form of a Price Estimator on their website.

The unique aspect of how they showcase their pricing is that the consumer gets instant, automated pricing information but only after the consumer provides their contact info. So the prospective patient gets what they want immediately, satisfying that need for instant gratification. And the provider gets the consumer’s contact info, a lead for follow up. Everyone wins.

These two facilities provide their pricing in two different ways. And that’s the point. Everyone can embrace price transparency in their own way and generate a lead in the process. That’s price transCAREncy! In the case of Ohio Surgery Center, the consumer can choose their insurance plan and then the procedure of interest. After the prospective patient enters their contact info, they receive an email with the allowables that the Ohio Surgery Center can charge for the doctor’s fee, the anesthesiologist’s fee and the OR fee based on that procedure and insurance plan. Pretty slick!

And in the case of Georgia SurgiCare, their website allows the consumer to check pricing on procedures from their multi-specialty clinic. They include procedures such as bariatric or general surgery services, as well as gynecological services. While the more medically necessary services are presented as bundled rates that include the MD, OR and anesthesia fees, their cosmetic services are shown as “simple” out of pocket fees.

No more excuses!

Price transparency, as demonstrated above, can be showcased in multiple ways. From insurance allowables specific to the consumer’s insurance plan to bundled or fee-for-service prices. It’s not a matter of “will it happen?” It’s happening! See how you can join the #PriceTransCAREncy revolution here!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Price transparency isn’t just for cosmetic services anymore! first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

While plastic surgeons may have made price transparency sexy, non-cosmetic doctors that have insurance-based practices can also utilize this concept. Price transparency can engage the consumer, generate leads and reduce sticker shock. In the process, price transparency can help separate a practice from the competition as Dr. Ibikunle describes in the video below.

But before you watch the video, check out how he uses a Price Estimator for his multi-specialty clinic in Georgia. The consumer can check pricing on bariatric services, cosmetic services and gynecological services.

Video testimonial from Georgia SurgiCare Dr. Ibikunle

To learn more about using a Price Estimator to generate leads and engage consumers, you can read more here.

And if you’re a doctor who wants to be on the leading edge of customer service and practice management, click here to find out how.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Using price transparency in bariatric surgery – Dr. Christopher Ibikunle [video] first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

The healthcare industry typically views price transparency with disdain and suspicion. But price transparency can be sexy! Price transparency is a bold, seminal way to approach customer service and lead generation.

Why fear price transparency?

Healthcare providers worry about the advent of price transparency for many reasons. It could be the concern that patients will focus on cost rather than the doctor patient relationship. Or worry their competitors will check their pricing and try and undercut them. With various insurance plans and deductibles, it’s considered too difficult to offer actionable pricing insights to the consumer.

All of these concerns are understandable. But they’re also surmountable, as detailed below.

Price transparency is the greatest lead generator

If patients want to price shop, they’ll price shop. We can’t stop that. But by offering price transparency in combination with lead generation, like here, providers can capture the consumer’s contact info in the process of providing automated pricing info. With their contact information, the doctor’s office can follow up with the patient and explain why their practice is a perfect fit for that patient.

Based on this peer-reviewed study, when followed over a year, 17.8% of leads generated through this method (price transparency combined with lead generation) eventually come in for a consultation. And when price-aware consumers come in for consultations, they’re 41% more likely to book a procedure than non price-aware patients. Ostensibly due to the avoidance of sticker shock.

Detractors may say this only works for cosmetic or cash-based procedures. But as the Ohio Surgery Center demonstrates, the consumer can choose their insurance plan, choose their procedure of interest, and then receive a breakdown of the insurance allowable for surgeon, anesthesia and facility fee specific to that procedure and insurance plan.

Price transparency is a customer service opportunity

Consumers have no baseline comparison of the costs of healthcare. They don’t know if an MRI will be $500 or $5000 out of pocket depending on the facility they go to. Not having any baseline for comparison is very crippling for a consumer. It becomes impossible to make a rational financial decision.

Which is why the consumer would be all the more delighted and appreciative to find a doctor that could shed light on the financial options. If a healthcare provider was willing to offer that information in an actionable format, that would be a huge customer satisfier. Which in turn would set the facility apart from the competition.

When you consider that 82% of all calls to a doctor’s office are related to cost of care, it’s clear this is a huge customer service opportunity. It’s an opportunity for the practice to offer the consumer online, easy-to-determine, actionable information on their out of pocket costs. But it’s also an opportunity to help the front desk staff reduce frustration when they’re manually responding and answering calls and inquiries related to cost. Consider the improved efficiencies if the consumer could check pricing online through the practice website, freeing up the office staff for other more pressing tasks.

Price transparency attracts millennials

Figuring out how to attract millennials is the subject of every marketing companies’ email newsletter. The first step to attracting millennials is making useful information available online. As shown in the image below, this particular millennial reached out via Instagram Direct Message to ask about the cost of a procedure.

In the past, doctors would answer this in one of two ways, both incorrect. They’d either say, “you have to come in and be seen before we can provide a cost estimate.” And the other is to give the inquirer a cost estimate without ever determining who they are. But as seen in the example above, this medical practice gave the prospective patient a link to go back to their website to check pricing automatically. This offered the consumer instant gratification and, in turn, a lead for the practice to follow up with.

And remember, one benefit of providing pricing info ahead of time is to reduce sticker shock and increase the conversion rate. Once the millennial (or any potential patient), learns the costs through a doctor’s website, they’re motivated to take the next step: booking an appointment.

The ability to book online is a huge “millennial satisfier.” This example epitomizes the secret to engaging and booking millennial patients: creating an experience that allows them to perform all tasks online until the point they can no longer perform a task online, ie undergoing a procedure, that by its very nature, requires an in-person experience!

In the case above, this patient

• received automated online pricing information,
• booked a consult via online booking,
• had their consultation via FaceTime
• and booked/paid on the spot.

Be on the right side of history

As physicians, we’re bound to provide the patient with all relevant information so that they can make an informed decision about their healthcare. Cost is relevant. How can we uphold our oath if we knowingly withhold information that could enable our patients to make better financial healthcare decisions?

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Price transparency can be sexy! first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

Why do we advertise with Facebook and Google AdWords? Because we want to be exposed to a large, but specific, demographic that has interest in the services we provide. The only problem is that using these services isn’t free and it certainly isn’t cheap. Wouldn’t it be nice to continue to promote our services to the correct demographic, but not break the bank? The solution? Email marketing to your growing email marketing database. With a large email marketing database, you can own your brand and market to your audience whenever you want…without having to pay “the man.”

Using your website and social media traffic to grow your email marketing database

To market to your email database at your whim, without paying large sums of money for digital advertising, requires growing a substantial email marketing database. But how do you get a large database? First, you can load your existing customers or patients to your email database. But then you must, on a daily basis, continue to passively grow that database.

When getting started, yes, you could grow that database with digital or other types of advertising. But from the start, your goal should be on reducing your dependence on digital advertising by capturing as many consumers as possible through 1) optimization of your website and through 2) organic (non paid) activity on social media.

Optimizing your website “simply” means adding fresh content to your site on a weekly basis. This can be done with blogging. Blog about treatments you perform or interesting questions patients have asked you. Blog about the state of healthcare in this country. The point is, by blogging, something that costs nothing, you can increase visitors to your site. Once they arrive on your site, you need to capture their contact info to passively grow your email database. But more on how to do that in a moment.

When it comes to social media, we are constantly feeding the social media beast with more and more content. What do we have to show for it? How often do you actually find out the contact info behind the social media handle? Do you know who @gayleprettylips is? Do you know who @sexycajundiva is? Probably not. So just as you want to capture the contact info of the consumers on your site reading your blog, you want to capture the contact info of your anonymous social media followers. There’s one great way to accomplish this.

How to passively build your email marketing database

Whether it’s readers of your blog or social media followers engaged with your content, when it comes to cosmetic or medically necessary services, there’s one common question everyone ultimately has…how much does it cost?

Certainly when this question is asked, you could just respond with a dollar figure or a range. But once you “give the milk away for free,” you’ve given up a great opportunity to capture the consumer’s contact info. If you direct the consumer to a Price Estimator on your site that allows them to check pricing automatically, but only after providing their contact info, you’ll start passively growing your email marketing database. And growing it fast! Dr. Jason Hall, a plastic surgeon in Knoxville, Tennessee has used his Price Estimator to capture almost 3,000 leads (2,964 as of this writing) through this one lead source.

Certainly there are other “calls to action” that will capture consumer contact info, as discussed in this Modern Aesthetics article, but none are as tantalizing as the offer to provide pricing information. For example, compare “Download our eBook” or “Sign up for our e-newsletter” to “Get A Quote Now.” The latter is much more useful to the consumer than the former.

As you can see in the video below, Dr. Rich Castellano uses Facebook Live for filler demonstrations. In the video, he’s asked how much the treatment costs three separate times. Instead of just offering a number, he directs the consumer to the Price Estimator on his website so he has a better chance of capturing their contact info, and building his database in the process.

My practice receives questions daily through Instagram Direct Messages regarding price. Similar to Dr. Castellano, we direct the consumer to our Price Estimator. But we do one better. As you see in the image below, we provide the consumer with a clickable direct link in our response. So when they click that link, they’re taken directly to the specific procedure in question, rather than just sending them to our pricing page and requiring them to find the procedure they’re looking for. By placing them one step closer to their answer, it’s placing us one step closer to capturing their contact info when they submit their “wishlist” to check pricing.

Aside from cost, why Facebook advertising just isn’t good enough

When advertising on Facebook, you don’t advertise to all 2 billion users. You select the geographic area you want to advertise to. You select the age range and other demographics. But what’s fascinating is that even with Facebook’s huge trove of consumer data, you can’t actually select for the demographic that’s interested in cosmetic or other specific healthcare services. As shown in the ad builder screenshot below, you can only approximately identify your target demographic’s interest.

For example, if trying to advertise to someone interested in something as broad as cosmetic surgery or as specific as a facelift, you can’t do either. The best you can do is advertise to someone interested in health and wellness or fashion and beauty. Sure, there may be some crossover but this clearly demonstrates why your own growing email marketing database is better than what Facebook has to offer.

The estimated reach of the potential ad above is 3,600 to 9,600 people that may or may not be your target. If you have an email marketing database of over 9,100 people (as I do) that are clearly interested in my services (because they submitted pricing inquires for services I offer), then my database is more useful that what I could target through Facebook.

Stop relying on platforms that only allow you to approximate your target audience. With an email marketing database filled with consumers inquiring about pricing on specific services you offer, you know you’re targeting the correct demographic. And not only is your targeting better than what Facebook has to offer, it’s substantially less expensive. So what are you waiting for? Start passively building that email marketing database!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Oh the places you will go with your own email marketing database! first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

For every healthcare provider out there, there’s 10,000 consumers perusing their website. They’re looking for something and hoping the doctor has the answer. At the same time, the doctor is hoping to capture that patient. To do so, they’ll put various ‘call to action’ buttons or links on their site. Schedule Online! Book Now! Big buttons, blinking buttons, buttons that cascade from the top to the bottom of the screen! ‘Chat with Someone’ they promise! But none of those call to action buttons are what the consumer is looking for. What are they looking for? Get a quote now!

Why John (or Jane) Q. Public wants a Get A Quote Now button

Every consumer, especially those paying out of pocket for a healthcare service because it’s cosmetic or because they haven’t met their deductible, wants to know how much it’s gonna cost them. That’s right, they want a “Get A Quote Now” button like the one above. It’s so simple and obvious but at the same time, healthcare providers the nation over are resisting.

Here are just 5 of the benefits of a Get A Quote Now call to action button:

1. Stands out
2. Easy to direct people to
3. People love clicking buttons!
4. The consumer knows exactly what they’re getting when they click on it
5. It’s easily recognizable and attention grabbing on social media

The current President’s Administration is now pushing for the publication of negotiated rates between hospitals and insurance companies. So price transparency is coming. Don’t put your head in the sand. Offer price transparency but get something in return!

That’s why the BuildMyBod Health Price Estimator is a win-win for everyone. The consumer gets actionable pricing information and the healthcare provider gets their contact info for follow up.

If you’re a patient and want to know pricing from Dr. Kaplan, click here. If you’re a healthcare provider looking to provide pricing on your site with the BuildMyBod Health Price Estimator and get patient leads in return for providing pricing info, click here.

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Five reasons why a Get A Quote Now button rocks! first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.

There are two sides to lead generation. The business has to provide something of value in exchange for a consumer’s contact info. And the consumer has to want something badly enough to motivate them to leave their contact info. When it comes to lead generation in healthcare, that “something” is cost.

The good news is that in such a price-opaque field like healthcare, the consumer will gladly hand over their contact info for a price estimate. Unfortunately the doctor or healthcare facility’s resistance and hesitancy to offer pricing info is still well-entrenched.

Pricing is the key to lead generation in healthcare

If you’re considering buying a new car or house, you wouldn’t go to the dealership or open house without an idea of the cost. No need to waste your time and end up experiencing sticker shock. Healthcare should be no different. But it is. There are varying reasons the healthcare establishment hides pricing from the public. Fear that competitors will undercut another doctor’s prices. Concern that with all of the associated costs, it will further confuse the patient in an already confusing time in their lives.

But pricing can also be a huge consumer satisfier, leading to great customer service. The consumer knows this. That’s why they’ve lowered their mental barrier or resistance to providing their contact info in return for pricing through the BuildMyBod Health Price Estimator found on a doctor or facility’s website. Because pricing is so tantalizing, more consumers are open to the idea of providing their contact info when they otherwise wouldn’t. Again, while they may not “turn over” their contact info to download your boring e-book or receive your email newsletter, they’ll do it to determine pricing prior to their consultation.

Why the healthcare provider should lower their mental barrier to price transparency

Keep in mind that because a Price Estimator lowers the mental barrier for the consumer to provide their contact info, you’ll generate a ton of leads…many from folks at the top of the funnel, ie just starting their research and not yet ready to come in for a consultation. But that’s ok because you’re capturing them early. Allowing you to establish a relationship early on and nurture that relationship through the sales funnel. And hopefully you’ll capture them in your funnel before your competition even knows they exist!

So don’t be angry if every lead doesn’t come in. This is a numbers game. When you generate more leads than ever before, from the exact audience you want to generate leads from, you’ll ultimately grow your practice with patients that are price aware and less likely to experience sticker shock. That means more will progress from the exam room to the operating room – to the tune of 41% more likely!

Click here for the original blog post written by Dr. Kaplan for BuildMyBod.

The post Lowering the mental barrier to lead generation in healthcare first appeared on Plastic Surgeon San Francisco | Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery.