Want to know whether your practice is attracting enough new patients? Look beyond website visitors and phone calls. Count how many new enquiries you receive, how many you can help and how many people then arrange a first appointment. That shows where attention is needed.
You do not need a complicated report. Start with one month and five simple questions. Agree with reception where to record the answers, preferably where enquiries are already handled.
1. How many new enquiries came in?
Count people asking for the first time whether they can join the practice. Someone who calls and later also submits a form counts once. An existing patient rescheduling a check-up does not belong in this total.
Take care with families: one phone number may belong to several people. Count each person’s enquiry, rather than counting phone numbers alone. Keep missed calls separate until you know why the person called. An unknown number may also be a supplier.
This first number tells you how much new demand you have actually received. It prevents separate contact events from adding up to an overly positive picture.
2. How many of those people could you help?
Not every enquiry fits what the practice can currently offer. Someone may need care you do not provide, select the wrong location or find that there is no capacity for now. Record how many enquiries are suitable, how many are not and which still need assessment.
If many enquiries are unsuitable, greater visibility is not automatically the answer. First check whether your website clearly explains which care is available and at which location. Someone awaiting assessment has not automatically been turned down.
3. How quickly did someone receive a proper reply?
An automated acknowledgement is useful, but it does not answer the question. Choose a deadline your team can meet, for example within one working day. Also agree on how to handle enquiries received on a day when the practice is closed.
Then count how many people received a meaningful reply within that period. A clear rejection or referral can count too. The aim is for people to know where they stand.
Are enquiries being left unanswered? First check who reads the forms and who returns missed calls. More possible causes are covered in new patient enquiries between Google and reception.
4. How many people arranged a first appointment?
Look at enquiries received in the same month. Give each enquiry the same amount of time to become an appointment, for example two weeks from first contact. Count when the appointment is booked; the appointment itself may take place later.
An enquiry received at the end of October has not yet had two weeks on 1 November. Wait before drawing your final conclusion. If the appointment is booked in November, it still belongs with the October enquiry.
Also distinguish booked appointments from attended appointments. Someone not turning up is a different problem from an enquiry that was never followed up.
5. Are the records complete enough to tell you anything?
You do not need to record everything. Start with the date, chosen location, how the person contacted you, whether you can help, when you replied and whether an appointment was booked. “Still open” is a useful answer; a blank field leaves you guessing.
Do many enquiries have no record of what happened next? First improve the records. Otherwise, it is hard to judge whether the problem lies with marketing, availability or follow-up. Keep names and clinical information out of a separate marketing overview.
An example of a typical practice month
Suppose 40 new enquiries arrive in October. The team assesses them all and allows each person two weeks to book a first appointment. By 15 November, even the latest enquiries have had two weeks:
- 30 people can be helped by the practice.
- 36 people received a meaningful reply within one working day.
- Of the 30 people you could help, 21 booked an appointment within two weeks.
- All agreed details were recorded for 34 enquiries.
The practice has not gained “40 new patients”. It received 40 enquiries and booked 21 first appointments. Of the people it could help, 70% booked an appointment. That percentage is a calculation from this example, not a target your practice must meet.
The useful discussion starts next. Why did the other nine not book an appointment? Were four replies late? And what happened to the six enquiries with missing details? Address one question rather than immediately adding more marketing.
Why you should not add your Google figures to this total
Google counts different things. Search Console shows, among other things, how often your website appears in search results and is clicked. The call button on your Google profile measures clicks, not answered conversations.
Use those figures to investigate changes. Do not simply divide appointment numbers by Google clicks: without a link between the records, you do not know whether they concern the same people.
If you have several locations, look at the differences between locations. To understand what persuades people to choose you, ask the two questions about discovery and deciding factors.
Frequently asked questions about measuring new enquiries
Do I need special software for this?
Start with what the practice already uses. More important than a new dashboard is that reception follows consistent rules and can find out what happened to an enquiry.
What should I record if there were no enquiries?
Simply record zero enquiries. A percentage cannot be calculated because there is nothing to compare.
