Pairing Mail & Digital Drives Higher-Intent Appointments
The Challenge
A five-location dental practice turned to Darwill with the request to drive more booked appointments. With multiple offices to manage, the practice required a marketing strategy that could increase patient intent locally while working across both direct mail and digital channels.
The Strategy
Darwill launched a campaign combining direct mail and Meta advertising across the client’s five dental offices, designed to increase patient intent at the local level.
To accurately measure impact, we evaluated performance by the city and the surrounding areas where the campaign was live. This allowed us to see where patients were actually exposed to the campaign.
Because direct mail influences behavior beyond a single click, Darwill assessed all website traffic in those markets to understand how the combined exposure affected patient decision-making.
The Insights
When direct mail and paid social targeted the same consumer, the traffic quality improved significantly. While overall website sessions did not rise, conversion activity increased.
This ruled out broad organic growth as the driver and confirmed a stronger outcome:
- Visitors were more qualified
- Brand awareness was reinforced before the site visit
- Patients arrived with higher intent and were more ready to book
Rather than driving more volume, the integrated campaign improved traffic quality and conversion efficiency, shifting behavior from browsing to booking. In short, the campaign didn’t bring more visitors; it brought the right visitors.
The Results
During the active campaign period (Aug–Oct), across the five locations:
- 450+ Yelp appointment requests
- 1,700+ additional appointment requests compared to when the client did not leverage direct mail and digital
- Nearly 500 completed appointment submissions
All of this occurred while overall website traffic was lower than the previous three-month period.
Why It Worked
The combination of direct mail and paid social shifted user behavior:
- From browsing to booking
- From low-intent visits to high-intent actions
Direct mail created awareness and credibility, while paid social reinforced the message digitally. This resulted in higher conversion efficiency across every key patient action.
Key Takeaway
This campaign proves that pairing direct mail and digital marketing drives performance beyond volume. For multi-location dental practices, this integrated approach can:
- Improve lead quality
- Increase appointment bookings
- Drive localized demand lift even when total traffic remains flat or declines
Ready to bring in the right patients through direct mail and digital? Darwill helps dental practices connect channels and turn marketing touchpoints into measurable patient growth. Contact us to get started.
