There are far more choices of tools and software than we can probably ever keep count of. It can be remarkably confusing for practices and practitioners to have chosen the right tools in their kit (no pun intended).
Managing your dental practice without the right dental software can be tough. You wouldn’t use an excavator to create an insertion for a filling, right? You’d use a dental drill. Similarly, you wouldn’t have notes or a spreadsheet nowadays to handle and manage your patient information.
There are better ways, and this blog is written to help you choose the best UK-based dental practice software for 2025.
We’ll cover a range of topics leading, from practice management tools, CRMs, chatbots, website content management systems and social media automation software.
We wrote the first edition of this post all the way back in 2023. Much more has changed in the landscape of software, business processes, AI and automation. This updated version will provide you with a revised list of tools that you are NOT going to want to miss.
Our Top Dental Software Recommendations For 2025
Dental Practice Management Software: Dentally or Software of Excellence
Dental CRM Software: Boxly.ai
Dental Chatbot Software: EnquiryBot
Social Media Posting: Meta Business Suite
Website Building Platforms: WordPress or Wix Studio
What is the Purpose of Dental Software?
Dental software is designed to make managing your practice easier. The tools provide ways to simplify tasks, work more efficiently and win the day at the clinic. Sometimes, tools do not work out the way we imagined, and it’s important to read reviews, watch some use cases on YouTube, schedule a product demo and go through the ropes to ensure you are making the right choice.
Unfortunately, you will unlikely be so open to changing software once you select software. You will have thoughts about the disturbances it will cause at the practice, what will happen to the data, the alternatives and much more.
The Best Dental Practice Software UK - 2025 Edition
You may have encountered several articles about dental software – in most cases, they highlight practice management software.
I’m here to tell you that there is much more involved than just that. A different set of software needs to be considered and explored during your decision-making process.
The best dental software blog post isn’t only for existing dental offices, clinics and practitioners. If you want to open a practice soon, this will be your Yoda to Luke Skywalker aka your guide (I hope you’re a Star Wars fan).
A quick disclaimer: The listed tools are in no particular order but a curated list based on research and feedback from practice owners who have used/are using them.
So what do I mean by types of dental software?
Let’s discover the breakdown:
Dental Practice Management Software
This may be one of the most important software categories to get right for your dental practice. From experience, once practice owners are set on dental software, they’re a bit reluctant to move later on because:
It can be a new learning curve
Data could go missing
Systems that work may get broken
But things change, and technology develops. You may already be considering alternative tools from the legacy ones, such as Software of Excellence (widely known across the industry, but you already knew that – smarty pants).
Dentally: Cloud-Based Dental Practice Management Software
Dentally has been making significant strides in the dental industry, offering cloud-based solutions that modernise practice management. For those accustomed to traditional systems like Software of Excellence (SOE), the shift to Dentally's fully cloud-based platform addresses the need for accessible data from any location. In today's fast-paced world, having information at your fingertips is essential, much like preferring instant messages over handwritten letters.
Beyond its cloud capabilities, Dentally offers a suite of features designed to streamline daily operations:
Patient Management
Dentally's software is centred around patient care, enabling practices to efficiently manage schedules and records. With a dynamic diary, quick patient search functions, and transparent records, providing a seamless patient experience has never been easier.
Reception
Enhance every step of the patient journey with tools that allow for self-check-in, digital medical history forms, and swift payment options, both on-site and remotely. Dentally ensures your team has all necessary resources readily available to deliver exceptional service.
Online Bookings
Patients can book, view, manage, and cancel appointments online 24/7 through your practice's website, thanks to the Dentally Portal's Online Appointment Booking system. This feature offers convenience for patients and efficiency for your scheduling needs.
Practice Administration
Dentally simplifies administrative tasks, keeping your team connected and operations running smoothly. From task tracking to financial management, the platform handles day-to-day activities, allowing you to focus on patient care.
In addition to these core features, Dentally has introduced several updates to further enhance practice management:
Lab Tracking (Now Live!)
Stay on top of lab work effortlessly. With Dentally's lab tracking feature, you can update a patient's lab status to indicate whether work is 'Sent', 'Received', or 'Overdue', ensuring appointments proceed without unexpected delays.
Age-Based Predictive Dentition (Coming Soon)
Charting is set to become more intuitive. Dentally will soon introduce age-based predictive dentition, automatically predicting and charting a new patient's dentition based on their age, reducing errors and saving time.
Improved 'Accounts' Tab
Financial management is simplified with Dentally's revamped 'Accounts' tab. Already live in Canada and rolling out globally, this update allows for easy handling of invoices, payments, and family accounts, providing a clear view of balances and streamlining claims and payments.
New 'Visit' Tool
The upcoming 'Visits' panel will help you manage patient arrivals, confirm essential information, and address outstanding tasks like medical history updates—all from a single, convenient location.
These developments reflect Dentally's commitment to evolving with technological advancements, ensuring dental practices operate efficiently and effectively in 2025 and beyond.
Sensai – A CareStream Dental Software
CareStreams Sensai Cloud is probably one of the least talked about dental software I’ve seen – yet it offers a powerful cloud-based solution for practices.
In comparison to the success of Dentally, there is a bit of a learning curve to this software but nothing which some training cannot fix.
Reports show that it can occasionally freeze, slowing down the way you work at your practice. Users have also suggested that some key features are missing that could impact the process of bookings and management too. See Reviews To Sensai’s Dental Software.
2025 Update on Sensai
Carestream Dental's Sensei Cloud is making waves in the dental software scene, offering a robust cloud-based solution that's continually evolving to meet the needs of modern practices. While it might not always be the talk of the town, it's packed with features designed to streamline your workflow and enhance patient care.
User Experience and Training
Some users have noted a bit of a learning curve with Sensei Cloud, but with the right training, teams can quickly get up to speed. The platform is regularly updated to enhance usability and performance. For instance, the February 2025 release focused on improving bulk statement generation, making the process faster and more efficient.
Performance Enhancements
In the past, there were occasional reports of the software freezing, which could disrupt daily operations. However, recent updates have addressed these issues, leading to a more reliable and smooth user experience. The development team is committed to ongoing improvements, ensuring the software keeps pace with the demands of busy dental practices.
Expanded Features and Integrations
Sensei Cloud has expanded its feature set, recognising the need for comprehensive tools. The software now includes soft-tissue charting, allowing clinicians to maintain detailed records of patient findings with notes and condition labels on an anatomical chart. Additionally, customisable questionnaires enable staff to record medical histories directly into patient charts, reducing repetitive data entry.
In summary, Sensei Cloud is steadily gaining traction as a reliable, feature-rich platform for dental professionals. Its continuous updates and commitment to user feedback make it a strong contender for practices seeking a modern, cloud-based management solution.
Software of Excellence (SOE)
Software of Excellence's EXACT practice management software has evolved significantly to meet the dynamic needs of dental practices. The latest updates have introduced several enhancements that address previous limitations and introduce new functionalities.
Cloud Capabilities and Remote Access
EXACT now offers robust cloud-based solutions, enabling practice owners and staff to securely access the system from any location. This advancement facilitates remote management of practice operations, allowing team members to work efficiently off-site. Tools like MyPractice Cloud (MPC) provide real-time business analytics accessible from any device, enhancing operational flexibility.
Enhanced Online Booking Systems
The online booking module has been refined to offer a more seamless and intuitive experience for patients. Improvements include a user-friendly interface and integration with automated reminders, reducing no-shows and optimising appointment scheduling.
Integration With Third-Party Tools
EXACT now supports integration with a variety of third-party applications, including popular payment processors and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. This interoperability streamlines workflows and enhances the practice's ability to manage patient relationships and financial transactions effectively.
Regular Software Updates
Software of Excellence maintains a commitment to continuous improvement, releasing monthly updates that introduce new features and address user feedback. For instance, the January 2025 release included enhancements to Gmail authentication, appointment booking workflows, and the short notice list functionality.
These developments demonstrate Software of Excellence's dedication to evolving its EXACT software in line with technological advancements and user needs, ensuring dental practices can operate efficiently and effectively in 2025 and beyond.
In conclusion, Software of Excellence's EXACT has truly stepped up its game for dental practices in 2025 and beyond. With its cloud capabilities, enhanced online booking, seamless third-party integrations, and regular updates, it's clear that EXACT is committed to keeping practices running smoothly and efficiently. If you're looking for a reliable and forward-thinking practice management solution, EXACT is definitely worth considering.
iSmile
Learning what dental management software can do for practices may seem like a recurring pattern. What it boils down to for the actual users is:
Modern interface
Intuitive
Price
Functionality
Efficiency
iSmile provides a solution built on a classic user interface. Whilst it’s still a great tool and will perform the needs of practice management, they could certainly improve the look and feel of it. It’s to modernise – everyone loves a soft, friendly-looking UI.
Let's explore some of the key features of iSmile and what makes it what it is:
Patient Reminders Management
With iSmile’s central patient module, managing patients is a breeze. Using a user-friendly menu system and mouse point-and-click, you can manage patient information, dental charts, financial statements, appointments, communications, important alerts and overall manage patient records.
Diary Management
Users can see their day, week or month with iSmile’s diary functions. The diary automatically picks up appointment information for patients who need appointments based on a mini summary day view, which interacts with the main calendar for quick navigation.
Surgery Management
It has management tools that let you manage staff and practice tasks efficiently. Detailed reporting lets you see daily sales, expenditures, and net and bankable amounts.
Surgery Live
Whenever patients arrive at your practice, Surgery Live alerts you, lists them, and lets you track their progress. With this feature, users can jump to their patient’s records to do anything without looking for them manually.
Reporting Tools
To successfully manage a practice, you need to collect data and draw out valuable information. With iSmile, you can produce detailed reports about your patients and practice.
SMS and Email
A single click of a mouse lets you send multiple SMSs to patients due to recalls linked to automated patient recall alerts. You can send SMS and email messages to iSmile’s patient lists for marketing purposes.
Dental Charting
By clicking, dragging, and dropping, iSmile offers dentists a unique and flexible clinical module for charting, creating treatment plans, planning, and recording clinical notes while maintaining all patient data in one place.
With system settings, you can set up common notes and treatment durations – but still, reorder and set prices anywhere you want. iSmile’s features are designed to be flexible because we know all practitioners work differently.
Cosmetic Charting
In addition to Botox, Dermal Filler, PRP and Dermal Therapy charts, iSmile also tracks hyperhidrosis, chest, and neck. You can add items to charts with drawing tools and take pictures and generate quotes with the other functionality.
To stay competitive, iSmile’s highly talented in-house product development team allows them to innovate and deliver upgrades ahead of their competitors.
Automated Recalls and Reminders
Keeping patient numbers up to date is key to your business. With iSmile’s automated reminders and recalls, you can update patients regularly by email, text or letter.
You can easily set up recalls and appointment reminders to go out before the recall or appointment due date, as well as if the recall is overdue or the appointment is missed through powerful forms.
Software4Dentists
Software4Dentists is a promising practice management solution designed for. The dental management software is available for both localised computers as well as having it on the cloud too.
It’s clear that we’ve talked a lot about the cloud in this post. It illustrates how important it is to be able to access information at any time and from anywhere.
Overall the solution serves its purpose and does well at that, it’s followed by some feature and customisation limitations which matter to practice owners. And, my personal opinion would be that they could do with a UI upgrade!
It’s feature-rich and has a lot of functions that can help build Dr-patient relationships, retain patients and provide a decent experience for both patients and practices.
CRM/Lead Management Software Tools
Leads are everything to a growing dental practice.
There are budgets of tens of thousands spent on monthly Google Ads and social media ads by clinics to acquire new patients for their practice.
It’s extremely noisy online.
A dental CRM (pretty much the same as any other CRM software) can help organise:
Incoming leads/enquiries
Marketing communications
Patient relationships
and more.
The key is in:
Mapping out your patient journey
What is the desired outcome
Set up your pipelines
Configure your website to drive leads into your pipeline (easy access to forms, appointments and enquiry bookings)
Launch it
Pro Tip: The best way I've felt this should work is to draw it out on paper or consult your marketing team about it and then build and deploy the pipeline.
Efficiency is one part of enabling the utility of a CRM, but practice owners discovered that there was no room to miss leads any longer.
Whether it’s a message from online, directly on your website or even a phone call, the CRM will handle almost everything you need.
We’ve prepared an eye-popping list of CRMs you can adapt within your practice. As I said, it’s not about having niche-specific CRMs, i.e. it doesn’t need to be labelled dental CRM, only dental software, for it to deliver impact to your business.
They all achieve the same thing. It is just about which one you’re the most comfortable with.
DenGro
DenGro is a CRM created specifically for dental practices and practitioners.
It’s a beautiful piece of software designed to be friendly for everyday practice users to quickly get to the essentials of what you need.
With DenGrow, you can nurture and handle patient inquiries and leads that come in through your PMS (practice management software).
The all too familiar system is to note down enquiries on a sticky with the hopes that the receptionist will get back to the prospective patient for their appointment.
At this stage, it’s normal to let those things slide or to lose the sticky note entirely.
That’s where DenGro thrives; all information goes directly into the CRM, meaning no leads are ever missed or forgotten about.
In turn, for your practice, this means that it stays booked out, with more revenue and more patients to love and care about.
Key benefits of DenGro:
Automates marketing, In other words, all the tasks you find are a bit of a mission to get to are handled well by DenGro, such as sending out new patient emails, newsletters, SMS and more.
CRM to help manage leads whether you’re an NHS practice, private or both. Centralises all enquiries
Understanding where leads are coming from, in turn, can help optimise your marketing budget.
Dashboard view of high-line figures e.g. the number of appointments, which specific treatments and which quantity etc.
Here is our 2025 update to DenGro
DenGro is a leading Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system specifically designed for dental practices, aiming to streamline operations and enhance patient engagement. As of 2025, DenGro continues to offer a range of features tailored to meet the unique needs of dental professionals.
Lead Capture and Management
DenGro automatically collects enquiries from various sources—such as websites, social media platforms, and call tracking solutions—into a unified task list. This ensures that no potential patient is overlooked and facilitates efficient follow-up.
Automated Nurture Messaging
The system sends pre-written, automated emails and SMS messages to prospective patients, keeping them informed and engaged throughout their decision-making process.
Integration Capabilities
DenGro seamlessly integrates with popular Practice Management Systems (PMS) like Dentally, EXACT, and Aerona, as well as social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. This integration ensures a cohesive workflow and reduces the need for manual data entry.
Comprehensive Reporting
Users have access to detailed reports on key performance metrics, including lead volume, conversion rates, and marketing ROI. These insights enable data-driven decision-making to foster practice growth.
Team Performance Tracking
DenGro provides transparency and accountability by monitoring team responsiveness to enquiries and tracking practitioner performance from consultation to treatment initiation.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a more generic CRM than DenGro, but when it all comes out in the wash, you can achieve the same on either CRM.
ActiveCampaign is packed with many features that can take automation to the next level for dental practices, but it’s all down to the patient journey and acquisition. You may not always need everything a CRM has to offer – right away, at least.
How do you maximise the use of a CRM and unlock its potential to automate basic processes and make your practice thrive?
Consider the journey and the pipeline.
ActiveCampaign can help think of it in two:
Sales automation: Where you manage the enquiries and leads
Marketing automation: Where you manage patient relationships and communication
There may be a learning curve for setting this up, but the appointed marketing company would generally know how to work it out. However, if you’re trying to do this on your own, what better way than to ask ActiveCampaign themselves how you can set up a powerful CRM for your dental practice?
You would be surprised to see how much help these companies can be.
Overall, it’s worth considering ActiveCampaign as your CRM. With the fantastic tools that it packs, your dental practice automation will be on cloud 9.
PipeDrive
If you’re starting out with CRMs, pipelines and automation, PipeDrive is a great place to start.
A simple setup and interface can make or break your confidence in using a CRM and channelling your marketing efforts. PipeDrive integrates better with Office365. If this is your way of managing your emails and flow, then it is worth considering this.
Key benefits of PipeDrive:
Simple to get started
Various different pipelines for business needs
Intuitive AI
Smooth UX
Great support
Not-so-steep learning curve
Automate marketing
Easily manage leads and opportunities
Monday CRM
Monday CRM is an interesting one. In fact, this is one CRM / management tool I’ve always been interested in and peculiar about.
Monday.com adapted the feel of an excel spreadsheet into an intuitive and user-friendly interface.
The CRM allows you to create the user flows needed to run a successful dental practice, including automation – so you don’t have to keep doing the boring stuff.
When we talk about automation, we mean something like this:
A patient enquires about treatment at your practice. The submission from your kick-ass dental website then shoots into the CRM. Your receptionist picks up on the lead and moves along the sales pipeline, which can look something like this:
Lead ➞ Made Contact ➞ Considering Treatment ➞ Offer ➞ Win or Lose
This is the essence of the CRM pipeline, but it’s not a cookie-cutter model. You can tailor this to your patient’s desired journey.
Let’s say, for example, you want to promote composite bonding. Composite bonding can be a high-ticket item for patients to go for immediately. In fact, you even scare them with the whole pricing aspect of things.
So you decide to set up a low-ticket campaign to generate as many leads as possible. You go for “Free Oral Cleaning, Until March End 2025”.
Your pipeline can look something like this:
Lead ➞ Hygiene Appt ➞ Consideration ➞ Offer ➞ Close Deal
Let’s break this down a little further.
Lead: This is when the patient enquires about your Google/social Ad campaign
Hygiene Appt: The receptionist will then pick up the lead, contact the patient, and schedule them for an oral cleaning appointment.
Consideration: The dentist then provides consultation during the cleaning about composite bonding and discusses the benefits. Your patient gets excited and says they will think about it.
Offer: Because of your brilliant CRM configuration, once the patient leaves, an hour later, they will receive an automated email thanking them for visiting and displaying an offer for composite bonding followed by a button that is a booking link.
The patient gets excited by the offer and thinks about the consultation with the dentist. They let themselves feel they deserve it and make a booking with your brilliant offer.
Close Deal: You got the booking for composite bonding in the bag. The campaign looks like a success, and you decide to use this process across your practice for high-ticket treatments.
You scale, grow and succeed.
FYI: this isn’t just a story. This is your patient’s journey and a recipe for success with any CRM. Remember to map out your user journey and goals for your campaign; then, you can put the processes in place.
You can automate emails that help carry your patient on their journey from the moment they fill in that form on your website.
If I filled in a form showing interest in Invisalign treatment, It would be in your interest as a dental practice owner to provide me with information in the run-up to booking my treatment. This could be things like:
Beginners guide to Invisalign
Things you should know before getting Invisalign
How the treatment works
What can they expect
and much more.
You may be thinking, why is this relevant? Well, because you’re getting your lead much earlier in the journey and having this form of patient communication, that only helps patients feel much more comfortable about their experience.
It’s important to understand that not every lead is a customer. I could enquire and still go somewhere else. That’s why it’s really important to keep patients:
Engaged
Interested
Cared about
Before they even walk into your practice doors.
Content doesn’t mean blogs alone. It could be a simple explainer video, an infographic explaining the basic concepts, a friendly video pre-recorded by a dentist from your practice etc.
All in all, Monday.com has the potential to be something spectacular as a CRM and even dental software for your practice if used correctly.
Copper CRM
Copper CRM provides a great way to manage leads and dental practice marketing.
To maximise the potential of Copper CRM, you need to use Google Workspace.
This can start to look like a possible barrier to many of you or an opportunity for others.
Google is a very sophisticated platform that provides businesses with ample power to run their business from Google Workspace.
The integration with Google allows you to use the CRM to send emails, track campaigns, create email templates to add efficiency to your workflows and see all lead data with an intuitive interface.
Moreover, it also sits within your Google mail, making the experience simpler to manage.
Boxly CRM
Boxly CRM simplifies the management of patient enquiries and boosts patient engagement, making it an invaluable tool for busy dental practices.
Why Boxly CRM is a Game-Changer for Dental Practices
Boxly isn't just another CRM; it's crafted with dental professionals in mind. The product is constantly evolving and bettering the process of day to day lead management for dental practices. Built in with a powerhouse AI engine, it organises the right leads in the right buckets so your receptionists know exactly how to handle each lead. Let’s check out some of the awesome features of Boxly CRM.
All-in-One Lead Management
Tired of juggling emails, social media messages, and phone calls? Boxly brings all your patient communications into a single, easy-to-navigate inbox, ensuring you never miss a beat.
AI-Powered Efficiency
Let Boxly's artificial intelligence handle the grunt work. It automates tasks like assigning leads and sending follow-ups, slashing your admin time by over half.
Seamless Integrations
Whether it's your website chatbot, Facebook page, or WhatsApp Business, Boxly integrates effortlessly, funnelling all patient enquiries into one hub.
Insightful Reporting
Make informed decisions with comprehensive reports on lead sources, conversion rates, and team performance, helping you fine-tune your practice's growth strategies.
Why Boxly Tops Other CRMs
From this giga-giant list of options I have so graciously written out for you, why would you choose Boxly CRM as your tool of choice? Well, unlike many software for dental practices:
User-Friendly Design
Boxly is so easy to use, your team will be up and running in no time!
Cost-Effective Plans
Boxly's features are truly impressive, offering a wide range of functionalities that cater to various needs and preferences. Additionally, their pricing structure is incredibly reasonable and won't strain your budget.
Dedicated Support
Boxly's support team understands the ins and outs of dental practices and is ready to assist you in optimising your lead management.
Implementing Boxly CRM into your dental practice will revolutionise your patient interactions and drive substantial growth. By streamlining administrative tasks, automating communication, and centralising patient data, Boxly CRM empowers your team to deliver personalised care, enhance patient engagement, and optimise operational efficiency. This comprehensive solution will not only elevate the patient experience but also unlock new opportunities for practice expansion and success.
ChatBot Software For Dentists
Chatbots are the talk of the practice when it comes to revamping your websites. Dental practices are always pushing to new heights to deliver exceptional patient care. This starts by helping them the moment they reach the website.
Depending on the Chatbot technology used, you can do some seriously powerful things with it; this includes automating general conversation.
For dental practitioners and practices, automating patient bookings is a booming trend in the UK anyway.
Have you ever heard of a tool called EnquiryBot? If not, you’re missing out on a beast of a dental software that can exponentially grow your patient bookings.
I mean this now because it’s the most popular tool out there that dentists use, but it’s not the only one.
I’ll go through EnquiryBot below as well as some alternative exciting chatbots for you to consider too.
EnquiryBot
Imagine a world where your receptionist is always awake, sitting at his desk, taking in one appointment after the other. Not wasting time with anything else, taking coffee breaks, and missing opportunities whilst trying to serve patients at the front desk.
What a world that would be. And, it’s a world that is possible today with EnquiryBot. EnquiryBot is your go-to 24/7 receptionist that takes a cosy seat on the bottom-left-hand-side of your website page.
It works in an automated way to deliver the best possible experiences to patients. Though dental practice websites are filled with information (probably for SEO more than anything else), EnquiryBot takes a website visitor and turns them into a lead for the practices by taking the following info:
Basic contact information
Service of interest
Provides an opportunity for patients to submit any images of their teeth that might be helpful
Sometimes, it can be that simple.
EnquiryBot has a backend engine that also behaves like a super easy CRM. This can help practice managers, and receptionists manage the enquiries that come into the practice.
Now, check this out.
EnquiryBot allows you to merge all communication channels into one area. What does this mean for you?
If you’re using Facebook or Instagram, a website chat, business WhatsApp and more, these can all be brought together on the EnquiryBot dashboard, making communications simple and highly effective.
Who is it for?
Well, EnquiryBot is built for anyone. The pipeline and workflow are entirely bespoke to your practice. So, it doesn’t matter if you’re a:
General Dentist
Cosmetic Dentist
Implantologist
Aesthetic Dentist
And the list goes on, and your pipeline is designed to fit your business.
One last thing, EnquiryBot works with dental software known as Pabau CRM too. They have direct integration, so gathering and managing patient information will be simple.
To me, it’s a no-brainer to have EnquiryBot integrated into your website.
And no, you don’t need someone sitting there answering all the enquiries one at a time whilst pulling their hair out and wishing they could 2x their caffeine load to cope.
It’s simple, seamless and fast. We’ve partnered with EnquiryBot to help you with an exclusive plan just for you.
Trengo
You can create the right touchpoints and connect at the right time by connecting with Trengo, a customer engagement platform that consolidates all customer channels.
Trengo allows you to be where your customers are in areas they love to communicate with. Whilst Trengo packs a versatile communications solution, it doesn’t have too many similar features to EnquiryBot. For example, the CRM pipeline.
Communication is a part of the journey, and the customer experience goes beyond just an online chat. In fact, applying customer relationship management tools allows practices to stay on top of patient leads and enquiries whilst taking them through your pipeline.
Though Trengo can help you connect to external CRM tools like PipeDrive and HubSpot, you may want a centralised system that handles the whole process rather than separated components.
Crisp.chat
Crisp.chat is a sophisticated lead generation tool. It’s advertised as a chatbot, but given its capabilities and functions, I see it as a management solution for leads and prospective patients.
Centralised Chat Inbox using Crisp.chat
What’s important for dentists is the efficiency level of each team member. Crisp.chat offers a centralised chat inbox which brings the different members of your team together.
Unlike EnquiryBot and Trengo, Crisp.chat does not bring together communications from other mediums such as Instagram and WhatsApp.
CRM using Crisp.chat
The CRM functionality is quite cool; under the same dashboard, hopping over to another tab, receptionists and practice managers can pick up on the leads coming to the practice via the chatbot.
Overall, this can help measure the volume of leads, types of services they’re interested in, and other patient information.
Co-browsing using Crisp.chat
Crisp.chat packs in co-browsing. Co-browsing is when your team can be on the same website page as your patient. This is exceptionally helpful when they have questions or want to know something about treatment.
In the instance of treatment at the practice, you can guide them towards things like pricing, before and afters, making a booking and more.
Campaigns using Crisp.chat
Next up are campaigns using Crisp.chat. Campaigns provide a good way to build relationships between practices and patients.
When you use the ‘segments’ option for your contacts and allocate them to appropriate groups, this can help create campaigns that are very specifically focused to that audience set.
For example. You may create a segment for teeth whitening leads. Now, the next time you have an offer on whitening or something you’d like to share about it, your campaign can be very much focused on them directly.
Delivering the relevant messages to the relevant people at the right time can tremendously improve the success of your campaigns.
ChatBot vs Live Chat
Chatbot vs LiveChat might be simple enough to understand now, but let’s make a clear distinction so we’re all on the same page.
ChatBot is conversational automation that can help prompt and guide the user.
LiveChat is when you have agents sitting and waiting to help customers with questions.
Using Crisp.chat, you can create the ideal customer experience flow that can lead to either an enquiry or a booking at your practice.
Knowledge Bases Using Crisp.chat
Knowledge bases are something that could prove to be very useful to dental practices. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a place actually utilise one to its true potential before.
So how can a knowledge base help?
A knowledge base provides a way to give answers to patients about important things faster. These could be guides, instructions, things they might need about treatments, etc.
There’s no one way to create content for knowledge bases. Still, they can prove to be very useful, especially if you want to know as an authority in your field and give your prospective patients an area they can refer to for information.
I wouldn’t be surprised if patients had a question such as:
“Which toothbrush to use for sensitive gums and how often to change brush head”
Though the question may be simple, it’s just an example of how simple you can make it for patients to find the information they need.
A knowledge base is forever growing, which means that as you learn more about the types of questions patients have, the more you can answer and fill it into the knowledge base.
You can even call this a “Patient-base” if you consider implementing one into your practice website.
Overall, Crisp is a powerful ChatBot with a great place in your business. With any tool, I encourage you to try them before going in for a full implementation. It may work out or not, but that’s why it’s worth you and your team trying to use them before making an affirmative decision.
Social Media Automation Software
Often, it can be hard to sit there and focus on what to post every single day on your social media feeds, but there is a way where you can strategise, plan and automate.
The best I’ve seen social media work for dentists is when their practice runs the account itself. This way, there’s no action missed, and you can talk and show off real things!
An automation tool allows you to gather insights into your account, schedule posts and make better decisions towards your marketing efforts. Let’s explore some tools you can use to automate dental social media marketing.
Buffer
Buffer is an incredible tool to use for your social media. A simple and intuitive UI makes planning, scheduling and organising your posts much easier.
Imagine spending 2 days a week creating and scheduling your months’ worth of social media content. Once you’ve done that, your content will be posting itself, with the desired captions and relevant hashtags you set out during your scheduling phase.
See how Buffer can help you achieve everything you need for your social media. What’s more, you can use its free trial features to see if it will work the way you want before going for a paid package with more advanced features.
Later.com
Later.com is a great place to get started for social media automation once you’ve created and designed your posts, carousels, reels, tweets and TikTok.
Later.com provides you with the same capabilities as Buffer regarding post-scheduling and analytics.
Auto post
The visual planner of your feed
Scheduling for stories
Best time to post
Reels
And much more.
Meta Business Suite
Facebook now falls under the bracket of Meta now. You can use Meta business tools if your Instagram and Facebook accounts are business accounts. To access this, on your browser, type in business.facebook.com.
These tools in Meta help you manage and organise your social media accounts. In addition, there are planner tools, a way to view your posts, ad contents, insights and more.
Tools To Build Dental Websites
The tools you use today can play a big role in developing and advancing your dental website. Many practitioners who want to start small tend to take things into their own hands. This is where platforms like Wix play a big role.
Previously we wrote an article that helped dental managers decide which website builders to use for their dentists. Whilst this article provides a more in-depth overview of choosing a website builder, I’ll quickly provide a summary down below.
WordPress
Don’t be surprised, but WordPress is one of the hugest web-technology used to create websites. WordPress powers most dental office websites. This very quickly sets the primacy of how powerful this must be if pretty much most dental practices use it.
To get started with a WordPress website, you don’t need to have knowledge of code. There are builders like BeaverBuilder, Divi, Elementor and Gutenberg that can create a drag-and-drop interface to help creators build websites.
Wix Studio
Wix Studio, previously known as Editor X by Wix is one of the most powerful design tools for websites that I have ever used. The flexibility, customisation and design freedom is just remarkable.
I never used to be a fan of Wix, I’ll be honest. But that was when it was just a basic editor. When you are more advance and want complete design freedom, Wix Studio is the tool to use.
We actually revamped our website and transitioned away from WordPress to Wix Studio - take a look around the website after this post and see what you think. It’s not to say that I don’t like or do not use WordPress anymore, I just now base it around project scope.
When you purchase a Wix Studio plan for your website, it includes tedious and additional expenses like hosting and SSL certificates that you have to renew yearly. This handles it all. And if you want to level it up further, it’s got an email marketing engine built inside it as well to help you with your newsletters too. There is just so much to Wix Studio that I might have to make a different post entirely just for it.
Webflow
Webflow is a great tool for designers and developers. In fact, the tool was built to empower designers to build out their website designs.
Whilst Webflow is power, is it one of those platforms that is overkill for dental practice websites? The answer is it depends. If you are that type of dental practice who wants control and the ability to update your website, add new pages, sections and more - then you’re going to have a rough time. It’s not a straightforward platform to get to grips with but if you feel like you want the challenge and want to learn it, then fair enough.
Sometimes, when designers have created templates that they reuse for dental projects, it makes the development cycle efficient. If they are to build you a brand new design on Webflow then it’s going to take time and a bit of that sweet wad of cash in your pocket to make it happen.
Would I build my websites on Webflow? No. I actually don’t build on Webflow for a few reasons, and I’ll be transparent with you:
Time and costs
Giving practice owners the ability to manage the sites without a struggle. What happens if you shift away from the agency? You’re left hanging high and dry. They’re not going to spend the time to train on you on the tool.
Available tools and plugins to make development economical and functional. A lot of extra add-ons on Webflow are paid for tools. For example, adding in live Google Maps and Reviews. With tools like WordPress, they’re easier and faster to do.
That’s just to name a few and give you my honest opinion on it. There are dental web design agencies out there who build custom and on Webflow but I still think it’s an overkill. Most functionalities of a dental website are similar, there’s no real custom development needed. Of course, you can have a beautiful, unique design but custom coding? Today? For a community-based practice? Nope.
Conclusion
I’d like to thank you very quickly for taking the time to read through this from top to bottom. People like you keep people going by creating in-depth content that can be of value to your practice managers and owners.
In conclusion, dental practices are well equipped with software other than just their traditional practice management software. It’s important to understand that a digital ecosystem is created around your dental clinic that can help you excel in how it performs.
Think of tools as a way to bring efficiencies to the practice. Automating as many tasks as possible means getting your team to start working on other growth strategies for the dental practice.
Tools will indeed cost your business, an expense you may think is unnecessary. But with that mindset, you’ll never see them as assets that drive change, speed, efficiency, better patient journeys, organised marketing content and more.
At Design Co Studio, we’re constantly consulting and advising practice owners of ways they can maximise their opportunities by using tools and software to enhance the dental practice flow. If you’re someone who wants to discuss any of these tools or strategies further, reach out at any time, info@designco.io
Till next time!
Don’t forget to brush and floss.
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