Still not sold on the idea of an in-office membership plan? Here’s why big brands in other industries rely on membership marketing, and how their rationale, implementation and results apply to dentistry.

By Sarah Alexander

WHAT CAN BE SAID about in-office membership plans that you haven’t already heard? A lot, actually—especially if you view them as only an insurance substitute for patients who might not otherwise visit a dentist. It’s true that plan members visit the dentist twice as often as the uninsured. As a former office manager, I can attest they’re also twice as likely to accept treatment. Yet not all such plans are equal: Those that take cues from companies like Amazon and Planet Fitness deliver better results and revenue growth.

A good dental plan will increase patient loyalty, drive member engagement and eliminate one fundamental, unavoidable pitfall of dealing with insurance: portability. Insurance patients can take their insurance to another office anytime; in-office members can’t. Locking in patients with a membership plan grants you a full year at a time to leverage this additional engagement by a) providing exceptional patient experiences and b) targeting loyalty marketing and communications specifically to plan members.

A good in-office membership plan is not cancelable or refundable except under limited circumstances, just like Amazon Prime. Even someone who gets disgruntled and wants to cancel Prime will likely stick around for the remaining time and use some of the benefits, during which Amazon can win them back. Likewise, once patients pay for memberships, they’ll want to get their money’s worth. If they get dissatisfied for any reason, their benefits provide an incentive to stay rather than simply going to another office. That buys you extra time to resolve any problems.

Finally, a good membership plan should be easy to use, especially at signup. Too many require patients to call or visit the office to join. That’s where a good plan administration partner comes in. The plans I help create for my clients include an embeddable sign­up form that is easily added to the practice’s website. All payment transactions are handled by us. That’s just one example of things most offices can’t—or don’t want to—handle for themselves, along with legal compliance, membership terms and stipulations. Few offices can create membership plans on their own that are as easy to use and feature-packed as the ones I customize for clients.

A good dental plan will increase patient loyalty, drive member engagement and eliminate one fundamental, unavoidable pitfall of dealing with insurance: portability.

So what do offices get in return when they hire a third party to implement a membership plan? Guaranteed revenue, for starters. One of my clients generates $14,000 each month in plan-related revenue. And unlike insurance patients, plan members contribute to your revenue even if they don’t actively use their memberships. Don’t expect a huge number of members to pay for their plans without using their included hygiene visits, but some will. This is one of the secrets to the success of chains like Planet Fitness.

If increasing revenue, loyalty and retention aren’t enough reason to consider a membership plan, I’ll leave you with this: One of the best things about dental membership plans is that practices can track exactly how much revenue they generate. If you look at them as an adjunct to traditional marketing, rather than an insurance alternative, it might be your most trackable strategy, enabling you to evaluate ways to improve your signups, renewals and case acceptance rates. With the right partner to administer your plan and do the hard work, all you have to do is reap the rewards.

SARAH ALEXANDER has more than 15 years of experience as a dental practice manager. A graduate of Old Dominion University’s Dental Assisting Program, she is the In-Office Membership Plan Lead for PPO Profits, one of the market’s leading providers of dental fee negotiations. PPO Profits is part of Benco Dental, the publisher of this magazine. Contact her at saraha@ppoprofits.com.