Why do my LASIK ads get leads that never book a consultation?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
LASIK ad leads fail to book for two reasons: the practice reaches them too late, or the ad made it too easy to enquire without meaning it. A form filled in at night and called back two days later is a cold lead. Check the speed of your first contact before blaming the leads.
Is it the leads or the follow-up?
It is the follow-up more often than owners expect, and you can check. Pull last month's ad leads and write down, for each one, how long it took before someone from your practice called or texted. Then mark which ones booked. If the fast ones booked and the slow ones did not, the leads were fine.
If even the leads reached within minutes went nowhere, look at the ad. A form that fills itself in with one tap collects people who were curious for a second. A page that asks them to pick a time collects fewer people, and they mean it.
What makes a LASIK lead go cold?
Time and silence make it go cold. Someone weighing up LASIK tends to enquire with more than one practice in the same sitting. The one that answers while the question is still on their mind gets the conversation.
- The form arrives after closing and is read the next afternoon.
- One call is made, it reaches the patient's voicemail, and nobody tries again.
- The patient asked a question in the form and gets a generic reply.
- The lead is passed to a front desk that is busy with patients in the room.
What should you change in the ads themselves?
Send people to a page where they book a consultation time, instead of a form that only collects a phone number. Judge each ad by what a booked consultation cost, not by what a lead cost. An ad with expensive leads that book can beat one with plentiful leads that never answer.
How does Margin handle LASIK ad leads?
Margin builds and runs the ads on Facebook and Instagram, in an ad account your practice owns, with a booking page for each campaign. The ad budget is your money, paid to the platform.
Every lead is called or texted within a minute, and Mia, our AI receptionist, keeps following up by text until the patient books or says no. Texting starts once carriers approve your practice's number, which takes days to a couple of weeks. You can read every conversation in your portal, and bookings land on the portal calendar.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Ads on Facebook and Instagram, in an account you own
- Follow-up until they book or say no
- Missed calls texted back within a minute
- Booking onto your calendar
- Your portal: every call, text and booking
What a business needs is decided on its audit. It is a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee, with exact numbers on the audit.
How Margin works for cosmetic and elective medical practicesSee the portal with a sample businessThe Surgery Accelerator, for plastic surgeons
Related questions
Are Facebook leads worse than Google leads for a LASIK practice?
They are different. Someone searching Google for LASIK is already looking, while someone who taps a Facebook ad was interrupted. A LASIK practice can book both, but the Facebook lead needs a faster first contact and more follow-up before a consultation.
How many times should a LASIK practice follow up with an ad lead?
Until the patient books or says no. A LASIK practice that stops after one unanswered call is giving up on people who were at work, driving or asleep. Space the contacts out, use text as well as calls, and stop the moment someone asks.
Should a LASIK practice use pay-per-lead sites instead of its own ads?
Pay-per-lead sites can fill a gap, but the same lead may be sold to other practices and you own nothing when you stop paying. A LASIK practice running its own ads in its own account keeps the account, the history and the leads.