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Why the Tone of a Dental Site Caused Melissa Not to Enquire

popcreative

3 mins

Her Background

Melissa recently moved to a new area and is looking for a reliable dentist. Like many people, she is afraid of the dentist and is quite a nervous patient. She is apprehensive about the change and wants to ensure the one she chooses is right for her. She browses some reviews on Google. 

Her Actions

She visits a website which has a number of great reviews. She sees that it is extremely professional. The imagery takes up a lot of the page and it clearly showcases the treatments that they offer.

Although it looks reputable, the tone of the site is not very welcoming. The copy and headers are very apathetic and do not make her feel at ease. Despite the imagery on the homepage, there is none of the actual staff, which would help relieve her anxiety by putting a face to a name before she arrives for her appointment. She decides to look at an alternative.

The Outcome

The practice is one of the most reputable dentists in the area, and has specialist services available for those who are anxious about the dentist. Recent studies show that dental anxiety has increased to around 75% of adults. Although a business may have all the right qualities that a user is looking for, the language and copy needs to be adapted for the target audience to make conversions happen.

This means that although the practice would have been appropriate for Melissa, she does not feel she could put her trust in the dental practice, losing them a conversion.

The Resolution

User-testing helped to uncover Melissa’s reason for not converting. By giving us an insight into a user who was anxious about the dentist, it provided an alternative viewpoint that may not have been acted on originally. 

Changing the tone of voice to be more welcoming throughout the site helped to resolve this issue. Changing headers such as ‘About us’ to ‘How can we help you?’ for example, provided a much more intimate approach. Additionally, by adding more pictures of the team and a description of the key members of staff on the homepage, a user would feel like they can get to know the team personally before booking an appointment. This way, new patients who are nervous about the dentist will be more likely to book a consultation in the future. 

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