The number of people using smartphones is expected to increase from 93.1 million to 115.8 million in 2012, this according to an eMarketer mobile roundup report.
As consumers continue to adapt to the idea of having the Internet in their pocket at all times, they are no longer waiting until they are at home or on break from work to set appointments, make reservations, purchase products and connect with family — instead, consumers are reaching for their smartphones to take action right at the moment they think of it.
Think about the bride who is planning her wedding and updating her to-do list who suddenly decides that she needs to have her teeth checked well in advance of the big day. Right at that moment she is most likely to pick up her smartphone and call her dentist for a dental appointment.
If she doesn’t have a dentist, she is likely to text her friends for a referral, or ask for one on Facebook — all from her smartphone. As soon she gets a response, she will use that same smartphone to call the dentist and make an appointment.
It’s the millennials 18 – 29 who are leading this real-time, smartphone trend, but eMarketer expects that as network speeds improve and older consumers adopt smartphones, real-time access will become the new norm for everyone.
The shift toward real-time engagement means that dentists need to make sure their dental websites are optimized for smartphone viewing and mobile search. Since mobile search is mainly local search and smartphone users hate to scroll down long search pages, it is more important than ever that your dental practice information show up in the top three spots in local search.
Yet with so many dentists resisting the smartphone trend, having a mobile-friendly dental website has been greatly ignored. With real-time mobile use dramatically on the rise, dentists can no longer ignore the impact that mobile will have on their dental practice.
Having a dental website that is mobile compliant ensures that your dental practice will appear in mobile search portals.
The Internet Dental Alliance, Inc. (IDA) includes mobile dental websites in each of its New Patient Marketing Machine™ packages. Dental practices now not only need traditional websites, but also their mobile counterparts, and IDA dental practice marketing packages provide both.
Visit the Internet Dental Alliance today to see how IDA marketing packages can help keep your dental practice ahead of this new real-time mobile trend.
