Chiropractor Adds 186 New Patients To His Practice In 6 Months

Client Profile: 18-year-old Chiropractic Practice looking for a more effective solution to acquire new patients.

Opportunity: The doctor had been using an annual direct mail campaign where he did a one-time mailing of 4,000 full color brochures to residents within a 10-mile radius of his office. He typically acquired 12 new patients using this method at a cost of $9,600. A new patient was worth approximately $1,800 to the doctor, so the annual campaign was profitable.

Target: Although the doctor was targeting potential patients within a reasonable driving distance of his office, our research uncovered that only 20% of the population believes in chiropractic care. This meant that 80% of his mailing was wasted on people who would not choose to go to a chiropractor.

Strategy: We compiled a list of residents in a 10-mile radius who subscribed to different health-related magazines and/or purchased nutritional supplements through the mail. We felt that these people would be more inclined to respond to an offer on the benefits of chiropractic care and alternative medicine.
We then created a series of 6 postcards that were mailed out on the 10th of every month. The postcards provided information on how chiropractic care has successfully treated conditions such as arthritis and migraine headaches, and also showed what causes people to experience back strains, muscle pulls, neck pain, carpal tunnel, and how chiropractic care would relieve pain and prevent these conditions from reoccurring.

The postcards did three things:

The sales copy, along with the illustrations, educated the prospects on how chiropractic care could cure conditions where traditional therapies failed.

Mailing them every month exactly on the 10th did two things:

• The postcards reached the prospects when they had a need for a chiropractor.
• We demonstrated consistency. Psychologically, consistency builds trust.
  The inexpensive postcard replaced the expensive brochure, which lowered patient acquisition costs.

Result: The mailing went out to 1,000 residents in a 15-mile radius. Over the 6-month mailing period the doctor acquired 186 new patients. Additionally, 17 new patients responded over a 5-month period after all the postcards were mailed.

A total of 203 new patients were acquired at a total cost of $7,865 (which included a one time cost for graphic design and copywriting). The doctor increased the number of new patients obtained through direct mail by 1,691% at an overall cost reduction of 18%. He now has a proven direct mail strategy that he can use every year.