A new patient says they found you through Google. That is useful to know, but it does not tell you why they then got in touch.
Perhaps the location made the difference. Or a recommendation, the reviews, a particular treatment, clear information on the website or a pleasant phone conversation.
Many practices only ask how someone found them. That reveals the route to the practice, but not what gave them enough confidence to take the next step. One additional question makes that difference visible.
Short answer
Ask every new patient two separate questions:
- How did you find us?
- What made you decide to get in touch?
The first question is about the route. The second is about the reason for taking action. If you only ask the second question at registration or the first appointment, use: Why did you ultimately choose our practice?
Use a short list of answer categories with room for a brief explanation. Each month, review the results alongside suitable enquiries and scheduled first appointments. This will not provide perfect proof of cause and effect, but it will reveal recurring patterns in real decisions.
Being found is not the same as being chosen
Someone may find you on Google Maps yet choose you because of a neighbour’s recommendation. A patient may hear your practice name from family and then read reviews before calling. A visitor may arrive through a treatment page but only get in touch once the location and access are clear.
That is why the two questions reveal different things.
| question | What it tells you | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| How did you find us? | How someone first reached the practice | Google, Google Maps, referrer, family, social media |
| What made the difference? | What gave someone enough confidence to take the next step | location, reviews, treatment, recommendation, accessibility |
If you combine both questions, the answers become difficult to use. ‘Through Google’ still does not explain what then persuaded someone to get in touch.
Keep the answer ‘through Google’ separate from the source measured by your website. They do not always tell the same story.
Ask the questions in plain language
The wording does not need to be complicated. Use language the patient understands immediately.
How did you find our practice?
What made you decide to get in touch with us?
‘Why did you choose us?’ is clear too. ‘What made the difference?’ sometimes produces a more specific answer because it encourages someone to name one decisive factor.
Do not ask: ‘Did our positive reviews help?’ That already steers the answer towards reviews. An open, neutral question leaves more room for reasons you may not have considered.
Use fixed answer categories and a brief explanation
Free text alone takes time and is difficult to compare. Fixed categories alone can miss nuance. A combination works best: select one or at most two categories and only add a brief explanation when it contributes something new.
A practical list for how someone found you is:
- Google Search
- Google Maps
- family, friend or acquaintance
- referrer or another healthcare provider
- ZorgkaartNederland or another healthcare platform
- social media
- already familiar with the practice
- different
For the deciding factor, consider:
- location or accessibility
- treatment or expertise
- reviews or online experiences
- a recommendation from someone who knows the practice
- clear information on the website
- confidence in the team or the practice’s appearance
- speed or appointment availability
- a pleasant first contact
- previous experience with the practice
- different
Adapt the list to the practice. A dental group, for example, can also record the selected location. Do not start with twenty categories. If ‘other’ frequently contains the same answer, that is a good reason to add one category later.
Choose one consistent moment
Choose the moment when the question feels natural and creates little extra work.
In the online enquiry form
This works well when many new patients get in touch online. Keep the questions short. The answers can then be stored with the enquiry and selected location, without someone having to search through separate forms and inboxes later.
During the first phone conversation
When a new patient calls, the receptionist asks the same two questions and records the answers in a consistent place. Keep them with the other intake details so they do not disappear into separate notes.
At registration or the first appointment
This is a useful addition if someone did not give a clear answer during the first contact. Ask why they ultimately chose the practice. Do not wait for several appointments: memories change and the results become less comparable.
Preferably choose one standard moment for each contact route. Do not ask for medical details for this purpose.
Keep the recording process small enough to maintain
You do not need an extensive dashboard. In the system where the practice already handles new contacts, record only what you will actually use:
- date of first contact;
- when the questions were asked: first contact or registration;
- location, if there are several practices;
- general enquiry category;
- how the patient found the practice;
- what the patient says made the difference;
- whether a first appointment was scheduled.
Use tick-box fields. Only use a short notes field for wording that adds something genuinely new. Avoid names and medical information in a separate marketing overview.
Agree on what an empty field means. Was the question not asked, did the patient not know or did they prefer not to answer? Otherwise, a missing entry can easily look like ‘no reason’.
For practices with several locations, it is important to record the location from the first contact. Otherwise, you cannot reliably assess later why people choose each location. The measurement process is explained in more detail in measuring patient growth across multiple locations.
What the answers do and do not tell you
A patient will usually mention the reason that feels clearest at that moment. It may not be the only influence. Someone may answer ‘nearby’, while reviews first gave them enough confidence to consider the practice at all.
Keep three limitations in mind:
- People do not always mention every influence. A decision is often shaped by several signals.
- How you ask affects the answer. A leading question produces leading data.
- A small number of answers may be coincidental. Look for patterns across several months and compare them with enquiries and scheduled first appointments.
Use the answers as a guide, not as hard proof. To assess specifically whether review growth is associated with new enquiries, use the separate measurement approach for Google reviews and new patients.
Review the same questions every month
Schedule a brief review each month. For the same period, check:
- the proportion for which both questions were completed;
- the sources mentioned most often;
- the reasons that most often made the difference;
- how many contacts matched the location and care offered;
- how many first appointments are scheduled;
- which new phrases appeared under ‘other’.
Where necessary, break down the results by location or general enquiry category. Do not simply combine everything. A reason that matters for orthodontics may mean something different from a reason for general dental care.
Are few first appointments being scheduled? Before investing in additional visibility, check which enquiries were suitable and where the follow-up stalled. This article explains where new patient enquiries can stall between Google and reception.
Turn patterns into one concrete improvement
Recurring answers show which information people need in order to choose. Put that information where it belongs during their search.
Location or accessibility: make the address, parking, public transport, opening hours and correct location easy to find. Check that the Google profile and website provide the same information.
Treatment or expertise: explain clearly which care is available, at which location and what the first step is. Only use claims the practice can substantiate.
Reviews: look beyond the star rating. Examine which experiences recur and which of them reflect what genuinely matters to the practice.
A pleasant first contact: protect that quality. Make sure the online promise matches what reception can deliver.
If the answers remain vague, first check the wording of the question and when it is asked. Do not immediately create a new marketing page based on unclear answers.
Then make one improvement at a time. At the next monthly review, it will be easier to see whether the language, route or recording process has become clearer.
From separate answers to a growth system
The answers become even more useful when you connect them to how patients find the practice, get in touch and make an appointment.
That is the idea behind the Patient Growth System: viewing visibility, reviews, the enquiry route and follow-up as one connected journey. Online data can be recorded with the enquiry. Phone contacts and the eventual appointment still require feedback from the practice.
Start small. Add the two questions, agree on fixed categories and discuss one recurring pattern each month. That is more useful than guessing afterwards why the number of enquiries changed.
Frequently asked questions about how new patients choose
Is it not enough to ask how someone found us?
No. That question mainly reveals the first route in. A second question about what made the difference shows which argument or signal created enough confidence to get in touch.
Should patients choose only one reason?
Preferably ask for the main reason and, if useful, allow one additional category or brief explanation. This keeps the answers comparable without pretending that a decision always has only one cause.
Where should reception record this?
In the same system used to handle the first contact and appointment. Use fixed fields for how someone found you and what made the difference, so the information does not disappear into free-text notes.
How often should we review the answers?
Monthly is a practical rhythm. Use the same period and definitions each time, and review the answers alongside suitable enquiries and scheduled first appointments.
