Did you know the profit margin in the Chiropractic and Osteopathic industries has decreased by 18.7%? According to AHPRA data, the Chiro industry is getting more competitive, so while the pie gets bigger, the slice gets smaller. 

Don’t be stilted by growing pains, here are 5 Common Mistakes Made by Chiropractors.  

1. Forgetting to Think like the Patient. 

A patient’s first query might be about price but that’s not all that matters. 

Did you know you could actually drive growth by increasing your fees? Bite into your share of the $90.5M pie (aka revenue growth forecast for the Australian Chiropractic Industry until 2025). 

In fact, IBIS industry found that chiropractors and osteopaths can drive sales by increasing consult fees. 

They are searching for value and they are trying to work out how costly it might be to trust you. A cost that isn’t necessarily about money. In this case study, Our Chiro uses his website to demonstrate the value and experience of his team, not just price for a visit.

Dr Nash digitised the entire patient experience from search to schedule. Now his online booking system schedules in new patients while he sleeps. 

2. Your Position is About More than Geography…  Think Beyond Location

If you don’t want to worry about the competition, don’t forget about your market position…

Reputation is the backbone of Chiropractor’s business (…pun, intended!).

Positioning is about your practice’s and your consults’ value, time, reputation and how to communicate it.

Patients probably won’t ask you about service reputation. Not directly. That is a question for Google or someone in their network (- physical or digital) whose opinion they trust. According to Sensis, around 68% of Australians read reviews before deciding where to consume a new good or service. 

Word of Mouth is important, so think carefully about reviews, comments and other digital footprints of unhappy patients. And remember these AHPRA guidelines regarding patient testimonials. A great reputation is invaluable.

Why is this important?

It means a higher consult fee might be more worthwhile than a patient’s time lost and money. For patients, it enhances their most highly valued commodity: time. Finding a Chiro who is great, is a much better option than wasting time going to someone who isn’t. 

Here are some positioning strategies we’ve offered to previous clients and what we did for Dr Nash at Our Chiro

3. Profiling Matters – When, How and Why Do Patients Choose You and How Can They Find You? 

This is user profiling and it saves you money. Why does this matter? It guides communication and informs your offer strategy. 

With a specialised, growth-focussed team, Your Easy Web Solutions deliver easy solutions to target the right target market at the right time. That means ensuring that we use profiling to be at the forefront when patients are searching, not wasting expenditure when their screens are off. 

Check out Your Easy Web Solutions, managing director, Alexei Kouleshov explaining the 80/20 rule here.  

4. Not Tracking your Traffic… Digital Impressions Count (Literally!)

Our experience shows that most medical practitioners are experts in the consulting room but lack confidence in knowing what the marketing numbers mean. 

If lead generation, conversion, and impressions sound like another language, you’re not alone.

If you don’t know what is bringing your clients to your website (or what is turning them away), how can you fix it? We not only fix the problems that our clients might be facing in lead generation but also educate about the industry and digital benchmarks. 

Get to know what’s working. We create landing pages so that our clients can isolate the numbers and know what’s working.

Don’t spend money on things that don’t convert. 

We can show you how to measure success and cap the budget so that spend = Return On Investment. 

5. Process Backs Up Great Service  – Service is About More Than the Consulting Room

Remember, patients notice more than you think!

Online scheduling tools, feedback loops, modern payment processing are critically important to the modern consumer.

Use your digital voice to let your patients know about:

  • Up-to-date information regarding wait-times
  • Payment methods,
  • New-patient and payment processes. 

At YEWS, we care about the process because your customer cares about the process. And our conversion results show it.

We define marketing with the ACUA principle to define the whole process for the consumer from search to purchase. There may be new players, and there will always be other Chiros, but did you know digital marketing can assist the long term: achieve growth, better service, better longevity and therefore, better patient care. It begs the question: is your standout service really standing out? Or are you missing opportunities by making these same mistakes?