Sean Walsh
Sean is a Director at Intelligency heading up our digital marketing and client services operations. Sean has 15+ years experiencing working both in-house and agency with brands including Lloyds, Alstom, Hitachi, Lufthansa, Viaplay, DFDS Seaways and Mercedes-Benz.
At Intelligency, we work with a wide range of dental practices and groups across the UK, helping them grow their online presence, attract new patients, and build lasting relationships. Through this work, one of the most valuable tools we’ve seen practices adopt is a Customer Relationship Management system (CRM).
A CRM can transform how a dental practice manages enquiries, communications, and marketing activity. It helps teams work more efficiently, ensures no patient enquiry is ever missed, and provides the insight needed to improve conversion and retention rates.
What is a CRM?
A CRM is a central system that holds information about all your patients and prospects. It records every interaction they have with your practice, from the moment they make an enquiry to treatment and aftercare.
Instead of relying on spreadsheets or memory, a CRM gives your team a single, joined-up view of every patient journey. It shows who they are, how they found you, what treatments they are interested in, and when they were last contacted.
For dental practices, this means smoother communication, fewer missed opportunities, and stronger relationships with patients.
What does a CRM actually do?
Modern CRMs can do far more than just store contact details. The best systems can:
- Automate repetitive tasks such as follow-up emails, review requests, and recall reminders
- Segment your audience based on treatment interests, demographics, or patient status
- Track every lead and enquiry from your website, social media, or ads
- Integrate with your website, booking system, and email tools so everything stays in sync
- Provide performance reporting so you can see exactly which campaigns drive bookings
Why dental practices benefit from CRMs
Dental marketing is built on trust and personal connection. Patients need reassurance and consistency in how they are communicated with, and a CRM makes it easier to deliver that across your team.
Key benefits include:
- Improved patient retention through automated recalls and aftercare follow-ups
- Greater lead conversion by tracking every new enquiry from first click to booked appointment
- Better marketing visibility by connecting campaigns to real patient outcomes
- Enhanced personalisation so patients receive content that is relevant to them
- Simplified GDPR compliance with secure and auditable data storage
Practical ways dental practices can use a CRM
1. Email automation for enquiries and follow-ups
A CRM can automatically send emails to patients at key stages. For example, a new enquiry receives an instant thank-you message with your price guide and next steps, while a consultation booking triggers a reminder 24 hours before the appointment. After treatment, the patient might receive an aftercare guide and a polite request for feedback.
This creates a consistent, professional experience without the need for manual work, and helps to keep patients engaged between touchpoints.
2. Patient segmentation for targeted campaigns
With a CRM, you can group patients by useful categories such as treatment interest, demographics, or patient status. Once segmented, you can send more relevant and personalised messages.
For example, send a whitening offer to patients who completed Invisalign six months ago, hygiene reminders to those who have not visited for a year, or implant information to those who previously enquired about dentures.
Segmentation allows you to talk to each patient about what matters most to them, rather than sending the same message to everyone.
3. Reactivation campaigns for lapsed patients
Most dental practices have a pool of patients who have not booked an appointment in over a year. A CRM can identify these patients and re-engage them automatically.
For instance, anyone who has not booked since their last check-up 18 months ago can receive a friendly “We miss you” message followed by a recall reminder. You can even follow up a week later with a hygiene or whitening incentive to encourage their return.
These small automations often reactivate a surprising number of dormant patients without additional advertising costs.
4. Review and reputation management
After treatment, your CRM can automatically send a message asking patients to share feedback or leave a Google review.
For example:
“Thank you for choosing Wimpole Street Dental Clinic. We hope you’re delighted with your new smile. We’d love to hear your feedback. Your review helps others find us and supports our team.”
This kind of automation builds a steady flow of positive reviews that boost your online visibility and credibility.
5. Cross-promotion of related treatments
CRMs make it easy to promote related treatments in a relevant and timely way.
For example, a patient who has completed implant treatment could receive information about hygiene maintenance plans. Invisalign patients might be invited to book a whitening consultation, and long-term patients could receive seasonal cosmetic promotions such as whitening before summer or Christmas.
These communications feel helpful rather than sales-driven and can increase lifetime patient value.
6. Tracking lead sources and campaign performance
Every enquiry from your website, Google Ads, or social channels can be logged automatically in your CRM. Over time, this creates a clear picture of which marketing channels and campaigns are performing best.
For instance, you might find that 40% of Invisalign enquiries come from Meta ads, while Google Ads leads convert at a higher rate. With this data, you can focus your marketing budget on the channels that genuinely deliver new patients.
Popular CRM options for dental practices
There is a wide range of CRM platforms available, from simple systems suitable for small practices to enterprise-level tools for multi-site groups. Here are some of the most popular options and what they typically cost.
HubSpot CRM
- Best for: Private clinics that want to combine marketing automation and lead tracking
- Features: Visual pipelines, automated workflows, built-in email marketing, and website lead forms
- Cost: Free version available, paid plans with automation start around £45 to £70 per month per user
- Why dentists like it: Easy to set up, integrates well with booking systems and enquiry forms, and offers excellent reporting
Pipedrive
- Best for: Independent or smaller practices focused on lead tracking and follow-ups
- Features: Visual pipelines, reminders, email integration, and workflow automation
- Cost: From £15 to £60 per month per user, depending on plan
- Why dentists like it: Simple interface, fast to train staff, and ideal for managing new patient enquiries through to bookings
Zoho CRM
- Best for: Practices seeking good functionality at a modest cost
- Features: Lead tracking, automation, reporting, and optional add-ons for email, social, and finance
- Cost: Around £12 to £45 per month per user, depending on plan
- Why dentists like it: Affordable, scalable, and integrates easily with common marketing tools
Salesforce Health Cloud
- Best for: Multi-location or group practices needing a robust healthcare-grade system
- Features: Advanced data management, custom workflows, analytics, and strict data compliance
- Cost: Starts from around £120 per user per month and increases with customisation
- Why dentists like it: Ideal for larger groups that need detailed reporting and control over patient data
Monday.com CRM or Notion CRM templates
- Best for: Smaller or startup practices that want a visual, flexible solution
- Features: Custom boards for enquiries, appointments, and simple automation tools
- Cost: Around £8 to £15 per user per month
- Why dentists like it: Low cost, simple to use, and easy to tailor to specific workflows
Getting started and making it work
If you are new to CRMs, start small and focus on outcomes that matter most, such as increasing enquiries, improving follow-ups, or reducing admin time. Begin by mapping the patient journey from first enquiry to treatment and aftercare, then identify the communications that could be automated.
Choose a CRM that fits naturally with your existing systems, such as your website or booking software, and start with one or two workflows, like new enquiry follow-ups or recall reminders. As your team becomes comfortable, you can expand to include patient segmentation, automated reviews, and campaign tracking.
The key is to see a CRM not as another piece of software, but as the backbone of your marketing and communication strategy. It helps you bring all your patient data, touchpoints, and insights together in one place, creating a more consistent and personal experience for every patient. For dental practices, that means better relationships, higher retention, and smarter marketing decisions that drive sustainable growth.
