How do I measure booked first visits from marketing?

Agree what counts: a new patient with a first appointment booked, or attended. Pick one and stick with it. Track both if you can, because the difference between booked and attended is your no-show rate for new patients.

Use a simple table with the month, source and number of first visits. Everything below feeds into it.

The simplest method is a question at booking or at the first visit: “How did you hear about us?” with a short list of choices such as Google search, Google Maps, a friend or family member, your website, social media, a doctor’s referral and other. Add it to the booking or intake form, or have the front desk ask and record it.

It isn’t perfect, because people forget and often say “Google” for everything. It is cheap, works for phone and walk-in patients and shows patterns over time.

If your booking software supports it, use a different link for each place: one for your website, one for your Google profile, one for email and one for social. That tells you which button produced a booking. Check what your Jane or Cliniko plan supports. Some tools show a source for online bookings, others need extra tracking on the website.

A tagged link in your Google profile and a separate one on your site is a practical start. See the profile booking button.

Many first visits start with a call. A tracking number on your website, or on your ads, lets you see how many calls each source produced. See call tracking basics. Then ask the front desk to note which calls became bookings.

Don’t rely on Google profile call counts. Google removed call history from Business Profiles in July 2024. The profile still counts taps on the Call button, but that misses calls dialled by hand and can’t tell you who called or whether they booked. Use your own numbers.

Once a month, combine them:

1. Total new first visits from your booking software.
2. Split by the source patients gave or the link they used.
3. Add the phone-originated ones from your call log and desk notes.
4. Note the unknowns. Don’t hide them.

Over a few months you’ll see which sources are steady. Compare against spend: cost divided by booked first visits gives cost per first visit.

Track counts and sources, not identifiable health details. Don’t pass patient information to analytics or ad platforms. Rules differ by province and state, and this is not legal advice. We don’t handle patient records.

• Don’t judge from clicks or likes alone.
• Don’t compare months without allowing for seasonality and holidays.
• Don’t change your tracking set-up mid-month and expect clean numbers.
• Don’t expect a perfect answer. A sensible estimate beats guessing.

See what a monthly report should show.