background sun illustration background plant illustration

Opencare vs. Zocdoc:
Which is Better for your Bottom Line?

Dentists need digital marketing to solve their “empty chair” problems, but they are not marketers. They would rather spend their time treating patients than worrying about generating new ones. The only problem is they are often unsure which third-party marketing experts will help them reach their revenue goals.

A popular choice is Zocdoc: a healthcare market that helps many dentists fill empty chairs. But for most dental practices, Opencare is actually a far more efficient option, leading to a dramatic reduction in risk and an increase in profits.

In this article, we’ll explore why this is the case – and what it means for your practice.

illustration-woman-explaining

Opencare vs Zocdoc -
What's the Difference?

Both Zocdoc and Opencare help dentists attract more patients. However, Zocdoc functions as a general marketplace for healthcare providers, whereas Opencare is a comprehensive patient acquistion platform that exclusively serves dentistry practices. While the output looks very similar, the two companies operate in very different ways.

While Zocdoc offers lead generation for a wide range of healthcare businesses, Opencare is a patient acquisition platform that works exclusively with dentists. This leads to a number of vital differences...

3 Key Differences Between Lead Gen and Patient Acquisition

1. Payment Structure

payment process

What’s the difference?

Lead generation companies charge based on the number of leads they produce, whereas patient acquisition agencies only ask you to pay when a patient pays you. In other words, you would pay ZocDoc any time a patient requests an appointment, regardless of whether they show up. Whereas with Opencare, you only pay when the patient shows up and is treated.

Why does this matter?

The volume of leads you generate does not directly correlate with your revenue. Ask any experienced marketer: they’ll tell you that your actual conversion rate - the number of leads that become paying customers - can vary wildly, depending on the sector, quality of lead and various other complex factors.

As a result, lead generation can often be extremely wasteful. Lead generation companies like Zocdoc are incentivised to maximize the number of leads in your pipeline, and don’t have any accountability to your practice growth.

As a result, Zocdoc can leave you with both a steep bill and an empty chair - which essentially doubles the loss you would have otherwise made. And for most dental practices, even a few such instances can have a lasting negative impact on your bottom line.

Patient acquisition platforms like Opencare provide more benefits than Zocdoc with none of the risk. The business model is directly tied to your revenue, which means that both quality and quantity are given equal weight, and you are more likely to receive a reliable stream of paying patients.

Additionally, Opencare provides transparent performance data securely from your PMS to show your return on investment (ROI). You can easily see how much Opencare patients spend at your practice relative to how much you spend to acquire them.

This means your marketing budget can only produce positive ROI when used on patient acquisition, and the returns are much easier to measure. Detailed analysis from historical data shows that the average practice generates 228% yearly ROI working with Opencare.

2. Level of Specialization

payment process

What’s the difference?

While Zocdoc serves companies across a broad range of healthcare niches, Opencare works exclusively with dental brands.

Why does this matter?

Every company has a limited scope for marketing, and specialising in a single area ensures your efforts go further. While Zocdoc has built a reputation as a reliable platform to find any number of healthcare providers, Opencare has established real authority in the specific domain of dentistry – and this can be seen across three key areas.

The first is visibility. Zocdoc’s popularity may lead it rank highly in some dental-related searches, but Opencare has invested in heavily in dentistry-specific SEO to ensure the platform ranks high on every “Dentist in [x] area” search. In combination with heavy paid search advertising – all geared towards to dentistry-related keywords – the platform captures more people specifically looking for a dentist.

Second, the two platforms offer very different user experiences. While Zocdoc users have to search the platform to find a dentist, we know that every Opencare user is looking for a dentist – and can therefore delve into more specifics. Users undertake a quiz that explores their unique needs and dental health, and we are then able to help match them with the perfect dentist – so they get exactly the kind of service they want.

Finally, Opencare has built a reputation for industry expertise. Our brand has developed a strong content hub, as well as a social media presence that speaks specifically to dental patients’ needs. Our brand is highly recognizable to 25-45 years old – a key demographic for any practice – and we promote our platform to patients that would otherwise never see a dentist.

The result? A larger, more enthusiastic pool of potential patients for your dental practice.

Given these points, many dentists will see the clear merits in engaging a patient acquisition company like Opencare. But that raises the question…

Interested in Learning More?

Contact Now
woman in clinic

What Should I Do If
I Already Use Zocdoc?

Most marketing companies want to create an “Either/Or” question for their clients. But the truth is, there is no reason to use any single provider or marketing strategy exclusively. Marketing should be treated like a science, where regular experimentation helps you better understand what works - and what does not.

That’s why we don’t encourage dental practices that already use Zocdoc to drop it and switch to Opencare right away; we simply suggest they try using both solutions. Because Opencare offers a zero-risk business model, there is nothing to lose from adding us to your patient acquisition roster, and you may find that the impact on your bottom line is significant enough to warrant a complete switch down the line.

Generate Risk-free Revenue with Opencare

While Zocdoc helps many healthcare providers build their practices, it offers neither the risk-free model nor specialization of Opencare. As the industry’s leading patient acquisition markers, we unlock unparalleled growth for our clients - producing 228% yearly ROI for our partners, along with more than 10 new patients each month for many leading practices.

Want to see how we compare to your current marketing partners?

Contact Us Today

Looking to grow your practice? Join the platform with everything you need to grow your practice and level up the care you provide.

Contact Now
dentist waving in clinic