In our first ever annual market report for plastic surgeon advertising results, we will recap what we’ve seen throughout the year with regards to plastic surgeon advertising channels along with their successes. As a plastic surgeon marketing company, we’re privileged to have access to data points from several practices scattered throughout the entire country.
By working with over 30+ surgeons over the last 5+ years, we’ve gained valuable insight and are happy to release our first ever annual marketing report which showcases advertising results. We asked questions that we feel would be valuable to other plastic surgeons curious about the general state of advertising for plastic surgeons.
Keep in mind, that we are strictly referring to plastic surgeon practices who have come to us requesting help. So these responses are not indicative of our methodologies but from a wide sample of practices that have opted to handle marketing in-house as well as hire 3rd party companies who traditionally charge monthly retainers.
Table of Contents:
- Satisfaction of Overall Advertising Results
- Number of Advertising Channels
- Total New Website Visitors
- Average Cost Per Lead
- Average Cost Per Consultation
- Average Cost Per Booked Procedure
Plastic Surgeon Advertising Metric #1 – Satisfaction of Overall Advertising Results
Our team conducted a poll asking several plastic surgeons to advise us of their satisfaction with their current marketing results. Out of 24 surgeons that answered our question, on a scale 1 (low satisfaction) to 10 (completely satisfied), the average result was a 6. This shows that most surgeons are more satisfied than not. However, it leaves room for improvement. Only one surgeon responded with a 9.
On important factor that our team identified was that generally surgeons that were in less popular areas were generally more dissatisfied when compared to surgeons in top tier markets.
Important Note: that as a plastic surgeon marketing company, generally we are sought out when there is dissatisfaction. However, increasingly we are getting referrals from current clients who enjoy our new Pay Per Consultation model so in some instances, the surgeons are satisfied but just are interested in a company that offers a performance-based model.
Plastic Surgeon Advertising Metric #2 – Number of Advertising Channels
Out of the 24 surgeons that we polled requesting the number of advertising channels they are currently using, the median was 6. There was a heavy emphasis on digital advertising with a majority of the respondents. On average 4 out of the 6 advertising channels were all online. If you are curious on the vast amount of different channels, check out our epic blog post on 21 different plastic surgery marketing tips!
Plastic Surgeon Advertising Metric #3 – Total New Website Visitors / Month
The total new website visitors is a metric we felt was important because it was the culmination of all the plastic surgeon advertising. Results of advertising are typically measured by not only unique visitors but also engagement from the advertisement. This metric allowed us to get a grasp on what an “average” number of unique visitors are on a monthly basis in various markets, with different budgets, etc. The larger the data sample the more accurate and we hope to continue growing so we can continue to gather additional data.
Out of the 24 respondents, the total amount of new website visitors averaged around 900 visitors per month.
Important Note: 4 of the plastic surgeon practices in more rural areas brought down the average significantly.
Plastic Surgeon Advertising Metric #4 – Average Cost Per Lead
This metric was hard to include because several plastic surgeons that we spoke with were not accurately tracking their advertisements with great precision. In fact, out of the 24 plastic surgeons polled only 4 were tracking both offline advertising and online campaign performance. However, the number of surgeons properly tracking online advertising increased to 14. The average cost per lead across all surgeons who were tracking some (remember not all were tracking offline advertisements via a unique call tracking number) was $93.00 per lead. We’ve created a fantastic blog post on the different types of plastic surgeon leads here.
Important Note: We are defining a lead as a patient engaging with the plastic surgery practice and this does not mean it was an actual patient consultation.
Plastic Surgeon Advertising Metric #5 – Average Cost Per Consultation
The average cost per booked consultation is usually a multiple of the cost per lead. This boils down to how well the plastic surgeon practice is at following up with inbound inquiries. Keeping in mind the same tracking issues shared above, the average cost per consultation hovered at around $480.00. This figure does not take into account the cost of internal staff working leads and trying to get them in the door. When you factor in labor costs, this figure likely increases to well over $500.00. In short, it equates to practices being able to set up a new patient consultation for about every 1 in 5 leads. You can have our team handle all of your plastic surgery digital advertising services and pay under $500.00 per patient consultation.
Important Note: Because of the poor tracking it is very possible that the results are slightly greater than reported. For instance, if 10 leads were missed in the tracking process, that equates to 2 appointments and for practices with high closing rations, that is a booked procedure.
Plastic Surgeon Advertising Metric #6 – Average Cost Per Booked Procedure
With an estimated patient consultation of $500 dollars the cost per booked procedure, our poll showed that the average closing ratio was around 35% (roughly 1 out of 3). This equates to an average cost per booked procedure being slightly more than roughly $1,575.00.
Important Note: Many external factors do come into play (practice, staff friendliness, websites, reviews, etc). We’ve seen a direct correlation with the amount of positive 5-star reviews yield higher closing ratios. This is likely the patient doing research pre-consultation and almost “already making up their mind” prior to the initial consultation. As you can see, getting this number closer to 50% significantly improves margins.
