(3 of 4) I went looking for an acupuncturist. Here's what happened.

I’m back in your inbox today with the 3rd installment in my series on four common ways private-practice health practitioner websites can go astray, and what you can do instead. 

Miss the previous posts? Check them out here and here.

To date, we’ve examined the consequences of missing messaging and predictable photography.

Today’s topic:
3. The Unfamiliarity Dilemma.
Acupuncturists are not alone here. Practitioners of any healing modality with which prospective clients do not have prior first-hand (or family) experience will want to pay careful attention here.

A couple of data points for context:

Only around 1 in 10 Americans has tried acupuncture, though 60% said they would consider it.

Comparative data from the National Health Interview Survey is also striking. In 2002, just over 1% of American adults saw an acupuncturist that year; in 2012 (the year of the most recent national survey), the number had moved to 1.5% of adult Americans who had seen an acupuncturist for treatment in that year. 

The numbers don’t lie. That’s plenty of folks unfamiliar with acupuncture in the U.S.  And that’s likely the case for your complementary or integrative modality, even if you’re not an acupuncturist. 

What’s the risk of this unfamiliarity?
Unfamiliarity makes folks feel unsure, and unsure or confused prospects don’t buy. Hence a dilemma for the prospect, and for you.

And that leads to the question:
What kind of conversation can you begin online (and offline) to help an unfamiliar, yet curious potential client go from uncertain to open and ready to book an appointment? How do you help someone navigate through their uncertainty to the other side?

The answer is not always more information, as counterintuitive as that may seem. 

Several private-practice sites include a dry, almost textbook-style mini-education course on Qi, the foundations of TCM, and how acupuncture works—almost in the way an L.Ac or a DOM would have learned in their training. 

I totally get the impulse behind the education campaign. The thinking goes: if I can explain how my modality works with enough detail to be credible and uber-professional, folks of course will be swayed.

The problem or unexamined consequence here: With the mini-textbook approach, things feel technical quickly, rather than emphasizing outcomes or benefits that your prospect is seeking. It can suck the soul or humanity out of things.

Prospective visitors to your site are not looking to train as acupuncturists, needing detailed knowledge so they can DIY their own treatment, or perform it on their loved ones. They simply want to understand how acupuncture may be relevant or helpful to their situation.

You may have even had an inkling that the educational material on your site felt too abstract, or simply too much, yet not quite sure what to do.

A better approach? Here are two you might use:
First, flip your education model into an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), in which you frame questions, one-by-one, from a client’s perspective, always making your responses accessible and your own.

Ex of FAQ: 
What conditions are you most successful at treating?
How often will I need to be seen? 
How many treatments in total will I need?
Can I eat before my appointment?
And even, how exactly does acupuncture help me feel better?

Most important: An FAQ is conversational. And conversation creates the opportunity for connection—which is what your prospective client and you are looking for.

Some FAQ templates even allow you to hide the answers (goodbye, impenetrable wall of text), so the potential client can quickly identify their specific question, and click through to open the relevant answer(s).

When crafting your questions, don’t invent. Collect actual questions verbatim that clients, friends, and family have asked you. 

As you winnow and organize your questions, use the ones most relevant to the specific person or group of people you serve. 

Enjoy the process, and infuse your own voice and approach into your FAQs and responses! (Folks can learn a lot about you by the kinds of questions you anticipate, and hence legitimate, by including them on your site).

Remember your goal: to guide someone along their buying journey, from unfamiliar to ready, so they can get the results they’re looking for. 

Once you have guided your prospect from curious to comfortable, help yourself and make it easy to book a phone consultation or first appointment. My favorite online booking tool (from the patient perspective): Genbook.

A second approach—to use alone, or with the FAQ option above: 

Case Studies
For each case study, talk about the situation before the patient sought care, how you approached the case, and what positive changes occurred. 

Let your prospective client see the transformation in the narrative you craft. Along the way, introduce one or two key insights—things your prospect isn’t thinking about, that you know are key to their getting a good result. Names can be left off to protect patient identity—and you can link a couple of past clients together to create a more in-depth case study on a specific topic. What is the condition or trigger that leads folks to reach out to you most often? Start there, and create your first case study about that.

Your Turn:
Do a mini-textbook course audit.
Do you have one on your site?
Rewrite your mini-textbook into FAQs, and/or consider adding case studies.

And take heart, given the smaller numbers of folks who’ve tried acupuncture, and the much larger percentage open to trying it, you should be heartened that the market is far from saturated.

I'll be back next week with the final installment in this series, where we will be talking about creating a tone that helps you stand out.