What happens when a new dental patient gets voicemail?
By the Margin Media team · Updated
When a new dental patient gets voicemail, they tend to hang up and call the next practice in the search results. They have no tie to your office yet, so waiting for a callback makes little sense to them. Those who do leave a message may have booked elsewhere by the time someone returns the call.
Why don't new patients leave a message?
They don't leave one because nothing is making them. An existing patient knows your hygienist and will wait a day. A new one is holding a phone with several dentists on the screen, and yours just failed the first test. Leaving a message means waiting, explaining twice, and maybe missing the callback while at work.
What happens to the messages you do get?
They turn into phone tag. The desk listens at eight, calls back at ten between patients, and reaches the caller's voicemail. The caller rings back at lunch, when the desk is out. By the second day one side gives up. Nobody decided to lose that patient. The appointment just never got made.
What can replace voicemail?
Anything that responds while the person is still looking will do better than a tone. These are the realistic choices for a dental office, from the simplest up.
- A rule that every message is returned within the hour during the day.
- A greeting that offers a way to book without waiting for a callback.
- A text sent to the missed caller within a minute or two, offering to help.
- A live answer at lunch and after hours, from staff, an answering service or an AI receptionist.
How does Margin replace voicemail for dental offices?
Margin has Mia, an AI receptionist, answer instead of the tone, either every call or only the ones your front desk misses. She answers questions, takes messages and books the appointment while the caller is still on the line. If someone asks for a person, she tells your office and steps aside.
A caller who hangs up anyway gets a text from your office within a minute, and the conversation carries on by text. That part starts once phone carriers approve your texting number, usually a few days to a couple of weeks.
What Margin sets up for this.
- Mia, the AI receptionist, on every call
- Missed calls texted back within a minute
- Booking onto your calendar
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 dental officesSee the portal with a sample businessThe Implant Accelerator, for implant practices
Related questions
How quickly should a dental office return a missed call?
As fast as it can, and within minutes for a new patient. A person looking for a dental office keeps calling until someone answers. A callback the next morning may well reach someone who has already booked elsewhere.
Is a text back better than a voicemail callback for dental offices?
Often, yes. A text reaches the caller while they are still deciding and lets them reply when they can, with no phone tag. For a dental office it works best alongside a live answer, since some callers want to talk.
Should a dental office turn voicemail off?
Not unless something better answers in its place. Existing dental patients do use voicemail for simple messages. The aim is that a new patient reaches a live answer or gets a fast text, and voicemail becomes the last resort.