What is 1-800-Dentist?
If you were around in the 1990s, you likely remember commercials advertising a dentist finding service called 1-800-Dentist. Their commercials, such as the one below, were all over TV and radio:
Prospective patients would call the number and they would reach a call center, where the staff would help the prospective patient find a suitable dentist near them that could tend to their needs.
When did 1-800-Dentist start?
1-800-Dentist was founded in 1986. Similar to other services, like 1-800-Flowers, the service came about during a time where advertisers were experimenting with aggregating local advertising at a national level, looking to provide an alternative to the traditional Yellow Pages directory method of finding a local business.
Does 1-800-Dentist still exist?
Yes, 1-800-Dentist still exists and has never stopped operating since its inception.
How has 1-800-Dentist changed over the years?
The core program offered by the company is still very much the same, which is pay for performance dental marketing. The main difference is that for many years the company had a model where they had a call center, the call center would qualify the leads and then route leads to a partner practice depending on the buyer criteria. Nowadays, they have a straight pay per call model, whereas buyers stipulate their area and hours that they are open, and calls are routed to them, with calls over a certain length of time being billed.
How does 1-800-Dentist work?
1-800-DENTIST uses a bidding system where different practices compete against each other in a local area for inbound patient calls. Callers of 1-800-DENTIST are usually patients in need of dental emergency services and looking for a dentist right away. Practices compete in terms of how much they are willing to pay for the calls, but also in terms of their conversion rates. At the end of the day, Futuredontics is looking to maximize revenue per inbound call, which means they may elect to send a call to practice with a lower bid, but higher conversion rate as this will be a better option for maximizing revenue.
Is 1-800-Dentist an effective dental marketing tool?
The pay per call program offered by 1-800-DENTIST can be a very effective way to acquire new patients, but it is only appropriate for sophisticated practices that have a good handle on their numbers and solid operations and processes for handling incoming calls. With a pay per call program, buyers generally pay for any calls over a certain length of time, so it becomes important that buyers can disqualify unqualified leads as quickly as possible to avoid paying too much for unqualified leads. That being said, buyers also need to be accommodating and try to convert as many as the leads as possible as otherwise the call seller will stop sending volume if they notice that they are sending a buyer many calls but they are not converting as well as other offices in the area.
Who owns 1-800-Dentist now?
1-800-Dentist is now called Futuredontics, Inc. and is currently owned by the Private Equity group CriticalPoint Capital. Over the years, several interests have held minority stakes in the business and it has changed hands a few times. At one point, even Dentsply Sirona held an interest in the business.