How to Increase Patient Referrals to PT

Your past patients are one of the best marketing resources available. They have already experienced your practice’s expert care and seen great results—making them a real life testimonial for physical therapy. But how can you purposefully increase patient referrals to PT once the patient is discharged from the clinic? Let’s look at some easy ways to build patient referral opportunities into your marketing plan.

5 ways to increase patient referrals

Use a patient referral system. These systems allow past patients to easily refer their friends and family to your practice. Start by mailing a referral promotion in your practice’s newsletter or postcard. Next, distribute referral cards to all patients as they are being discharged from the practice. And, follow up with a thank you card to any patient that refers someone else to you.

Offer a referral incentive. People are more likely to complete an action, such as telling a friend to see you for PT, if there is some benefit for them. This incentive should be something they can readily use like a gift card or promotional item. It needs to have some real value so that the patient feels motivated to refer others.

Talk about it on social media. Almost every practice has a testimonial where one patient saw great results. Then, the patient referred a friend to PT, and that friend saw great results too. Turn that story into a social media post (with all the proper permissions) and share it out to your followers. People love “feel good” stories of friends helping friends and can relate to the desire to help others feel better and have less pain. Be sure to include a good call to action, such as “Who do you know that needs our help? Send them to PT today!” to increase responses.

Download our free guide for tips on marketing your PT practice and getting more new patients

Send a patient referral email. If you already do email marketing for your practice, this should be an easy option. Send an email that describes the benefits of PT and includes a patient testimonial. Next, ask patients to forward the email to someone they know who is in pain or could benefit from PT. Tell patients that you will not be collected their friends’ email addresses. You want them to know that, by forwarding the email, they will be helping someone else to feel better.

Market patient referrals in your newsletter. Every month you have the opportunity to actively increase patient referrals when you mail your practice’s newsletter. Past patients are reading the newsletter and being reminded of the benefits of physical therapy. So it is the perfect time to encourage them to refer someone who needs PT to your practice. Include this referral marketing at the bottom of the exercises or articles so that they can directly tie your practice’s care and expertise to the opportunity to refer someone they know.

For more information on physical therapy marketing and how to increase patient referrals, check out our products and blogs. Contact the team at Practice Promotions today to start growing your practice.

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