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Dental Offers & Marketing Strategies Proven to Bring in New Patients

No one wants to waste their time investing in marketing that just doesn’t work — especially when it comes to offers because you have something to lose. The wrong formula could cost you a pretty penny.

That’s why we have taken the guesswork out for you and gathered the best dental offers right here!

How do we know which offers work best?

Well, after studying more than a hundred dental successes, we found that 97% of the campaigns included at least one offer, and we’ve helped more than 5,400 dentists drive up their revenue with direct mail.

We also are the only marketing company that has an entire department with full-time staff dedicated to tracking client results to help other small businesses succeed — and every single offer you’ll see below has already been PROVEN to work for one of your colleagues.

With thousands of dental services direct mail campaigns under our belt and thousands more offers tested for effectiveness, we are excited to show you the top dental offers proven to increase new patients and revenue.

Here are some examples of dental offers that have been tested by our clients AND brought in amazing results!

Free Teeth Whitening

free teeth whitening dental postcard

Free teeth whitening is one of the most successful offers our results professionals have tracked over the years.

Everyone wants white teeth, and the cost of handing out teeth whitening trays to new patients is relatively low compared to the new business you can generate with this offer. In prospects’ minds, this offer has a high value and it feels like a premium benefit of selecting a new dentist office.

One of our clients, Dr. Amit Khanna, owns Patuxent Dental and has been mailing postcards with PostcardMania since 2010. He has had many successful direct mail campaigns using the offer of “Free Teeth Whiting” on the front of the card.

He has mailed out close to 1 million postcards since he started his direct mail campaign with us and has completely transformed his practice.

The first year he stared mailing postcards — 6,000 every month in 2010 — his revenue increased 24% after falling 6% the previous year.

In 2011, he increased his monthly mailings to 12,000 per month and things really took off from there.

A decade after he started mailing consistently, he reports that he receives at least 200 new patients every month and generates $4 million in revenue annually. Business became so good that he had to double his staff and open a second location (a modern office with all the fittings that he built from scratch) to accommodate new patient demand.

One thing that’s remained the same throughout — a free whitening offer.

You can read one of his case studies here.

Of course, you can always include more than one offer to cover your bases…

Free Consultation/Second Opinion

free consultation dental postcard

There are various reasons someone may be looking for a new dentist — maybe they experienced poor service from their present dentist, maybe they are new in town, or they simply want another opinion on an issue they are having.

A postcard with several offers casts a wide net, a great strategy given that everyone needs a dentist.

In this example, Platte Canyon Dental casts the widest net possible with a no-strings-attached free offer for a consultation. An offer like this automatically shows the prospect that you will take the time to meet them, examine their smile, and provide a professional opinion without charging. This is an excellent way to build trust.

After mailing out 48,000 of these postcards and pairing the mailers with follow-up digital ads using an Everywhere Small Business campaign, they generated 58 new patients.

Free or Discounted Exam and X-rays for New Patients

free exam xray dental postcard

Another proven way to drive up new patient numbers is to offer a free first visit that includes an exam and x-rays. Not only is it a huge cost savings for your patients, but it also builds trust with them. Put yourself in their shoes…they are walking into your dentist office blind, not knowing if the service will be good or not. Giving them a first visit free and then knocking their socks off with an incredible experience will cause them to return.

If you can’t afford to offer this first visit for free, you could discount it and offer it at a low rate. Common rates we see dentists using include: $99 new patient special, $69 exam with x-rays and cleaning, $89 adult exam with cleaning and x-rays, $50 exam and x-rays…basically anything below triple digits.

You’ll have to determine which price works for your office, but the first visit offer is a very effective one for bringing in more new patients.

This particular client, Orange City Modern Dentistry, received over 100 responses after mailing out 36,000 postcards, and 95% of them converted to new patients.

Discounts on Specific Procedures:

Dentures / Invisalign / Dental Implants / Root Canals / Crowns

discount on procedures dental postcard

These types of offers are perfect for bringing in patients that already have a specific need and are looking for a good deal on it. Dental work like crowns, implants, and dentures can be very costly, so offering a discount on them will definitely appeal to many people in need of care.

This dentist, North Broad Family Dental, offered multiple discounts on their postcard in addition to a $100 gift card for any service more than $200. The postcard also stated that the prospect could not use multiple offers at the same time; they had to pick just one. The strategy here is giving your audience more options to choose from while limiting the amount of free or discounted services to stay in line with your marketing budget.

They mailed out 6,000 of these postcards every two weeks on a consistent basis, and they generated about $37,000 a month in gross revenue as a result.

Free Electric Toothbrush

free electric toothbrush dental postcard

Many dentists recommend using an electric toothbrush to help clean the teeth in those hard-to-reach areas, so giving one out for free may appeal to a number of prospects who are looking to really invest in a good health care regimen (not to mention they can be pricey, and the offer of giving out anything for free is normally very tempting already.)

This dentist, EZ Dental, mailed 18,000 postcards with the “Free Sonicare Electric Toothbrush” offer on it and made over $15,000.

Free / Discounted Teeth Cleaning

discount on teeth cleaning dental postcard

Having clean and healthy teeth is the main goal of going to the dentist, so offering a free or discounted cleaning will grab the attention of many prospects — especially if they don’t have dental insurance.

North Port Smiles decided to go with this offer paired with “30% OFF Same-day
Treatment” and generated 10 new patients as a result “with more pouring in” they said.

Special Discount

special discount dental postcard

If you are aware of special groups of people in your community, such as veterans, school teachers, or first responders, consider offering them a special discount. This particular one for veterans would work perfectly in a military town or area where a lot of veterans reside.

Providence Dental paired this offer with $59 first visit and $799 discounted crowns to generate an 836% return on their investment, earning $44,768.

Buy One, Get One Free (aka BOGO)

buy one get one free dental postcard

Who doesn’t love a BOGO deal? An offer of a buy one denture and get one free would bring in those older patients who need routine denture care.

Our client, North Frisco Dental & Orthodontics, placed this offer on their card and made $16,000 after sending out 6,000 postcards.

0% Financing

0% financing dental postcard

Dental services can get pretty costly, and oftentimes patients need financing because they can’t give the dentist all the money upfront. Offering 0% financing (no interest) is another proven offer that lets patients know they can make payments on services if they don’t have all the cash initially. It reassures those prospects worried that dental services might be too expensive for them.

The postcard above combines a 0% financing offer with a $59 new patient special communicates that they have affordable prices and multiple options for payment plans.

This dentist, Mathew Berg, received 125 phone calls after mailing this postcard out to residents in his local area. If even a fraction of those became new patients, he’d be well in the green on this campaign.

Gas Card ($25) for New Patients

gas card offer dental postcard

Your offer doesn’t have to be related to dental care. In this case, the dentist offered a $25 gas card (which we could all use!), and listed 2 other proven offers with it. We’ve also had clients place other types of gift cards (like Starbucks) on their cards that any person could use.

We recommend placing an expiration date on this offer too to help bring in new patients quickly and reduce the amount of redemptions. (In fact, we recommend all offers include an expiration date regardless of whether or not you plan to honor it — this way, it helps create a sense of urgency.)

Transitions Dental’s new patient numbers increased after sending out this postcard to prospects. They went from bringing in an average of 35 new patients a month to 50-100 new patients a month.

The 4 Reasons These Offers are Effective

Here’s the million-dollar-question: how exactly can you formulate an offer that will get someone to pick YOU?

There are 4 key “ingredients” so to speak.

1. High-Perceived Value

Every day we make judgement calls on what we perceive as valuable. For example, you may notice your friend wearing a Rolex watch and assume he has money; or you go to the department store looking for a new coffee maker and determine one particular brand holds a higher value than another.

The tricky thing about this question of value is that there are certainly many items in this world that have inherent value — like diamonds for example. But there are other things that are relative to the individual’s personal tastes.

Whether the offer you place on your card has a high value or not is not as important as its perceived value. You need to ensure the offer you choose will be seen as valuable by your prospects.

Why is that so important?

Well let’s say you decide to offer a free electric toothbrush to individuals who respond to your postcard. Electric toothbrushes can range in cost between $20 and $200 depending on the quality. To ensure your offer is perceived as valuable, offer a toothbrush that’s a known brand like Oral-B or Sonicare, or simply include its retail price in the offer with wording like “retail price $129” or “a value of $129.”

Another good example of a high-perceived value offer is a free second opinion. Dental visits can be very expensive, so a free dental visit will be viewed as very valuable to the person who needs it, but all it costs you is a little time.

Take some time to sit down and really contemplate what your prospects will view as valuable — not necessarily what YOU view as valuable — because at the end of the day, it’s these potential patients that matter the most.

2. Low Cost

When I say “low cost,” I mean this offer should have a low cost for not only you as a small business owner, but also for the prospect. You need to make this offer completely free or very low cost. But it also can’t empty your pockets since you’ll be sending out hundreds or thousands of postcards, and if too many people redeem it, it could set you back.

To continue with the example in point number one, an offer like “Free Second Opinion” doesn’t cost you anything but time, so you aren’t losing cash, but it has the potential to bring in a lot of business.

Consider this scenario…

You get a postcard from a local plumber advertising his services. Everyone has plumbing and could need a plumber, right?

Would you keep that postcard and set it aside so you could call that plumber if you’re in a jam? Or would you say, “I could just use Google to find a plumber quickly” and throw that postcard away? Unless you need a plumber right then, that postcard isn’t serving you.

Now imagine you received a postcard from a local plumber offering 25% off any emergency call-out? Well, that might warrant keeping that postcard around.

If you’re the plumber, which scenario would you want? I’m choosing the latter all day long.

The key is finding a difference-making offer that makes a prospect spend that extra second looking at your postcard and considering setting it aside.

What would you be willing to pay to make that happen?

Identifying that sweet spot between value and cost can take time and testing. Make sure you’re tracking your results to measure which offers may be more effective than others.

Sometimes it may seem that the offer isn’t worth the additional cost, but the earnings you’ll receive in the end will be well worth it.

3. Relevance

The offer you choose doesn’t necessarily have to be dental related. As you saw above, one of our clients offered new patients gas cards on their postcard, but you definitely don’t want it to go too far outside the realm of relevance.

For example, it would seem out of place if you offered a free box of candy to your prospects since they want healthy teeth — a goal that’s contrary to eating a box of candy. The offer needs to stay in line with your values and the needs and desires of your audience.

4. Believability

Have you ever raised your eyebrow while looking at a deal that is just too good to be true? There are certainly scammers in our world who try to cheat people out of their money or information using the lure of an amazing offer. We’ve all seen those advertisements like, “Free Car!” or “Free Groceries for Life!” If the claim sounds too far outside of what is reasonable, then your prospects will doubt and ignore it.

These are some guidelines to follow:

  • Don’t write the offer in a way that will make it sound fake.
  • Try to avoid using symbols like an asterisk, which immediately lets people know that your offer has certain strings attached.
  • State the offer clearly and accurately to make it sound as authentic as possible. For example, “FREE* 2022 Impala!” isn’t fooling anyone.

Whether you choose PostcardMania to design your postcard for you or not, we hope you use this advice for your business.

But I also want you to know that we have many effective marketing solutions that take away the headache and time-consuming process of managing a campaign.

For example, our Everywhere Dental package includes postcards, digital ads, and call tracking. You can even add QR codes to your postcards for free with this option, which directs more recipients to visit your website.

At the end of the day, we just want you to succeed, and we work hard to provide the best marketing solutions for our dental clients across the United States.

Which dental offers would you like to place on your next postcard?

Call us at 1-800-628-1804 and a marketing consultant will get you started on a dental direct mail campaign.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Marketing Phone Call Follow Up: 5 Steps to Closing the Deal

 

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