Patient management and marketing can be daunting tasks in the healthcare industry, especially in specialized fields like orthodontics. For Southern Orthodontic Partners (SOP), a rapidly growing Orthodontic Service Organization, building strong relationships with patients while scaling their operations across multiple practices was a challenge they needed to solve to stay competitive.
Southern Orthodontic Partners, founded to support the growing needs of independent orthodontic practices, has become a force in the industry by acquiring and partnering with individual practices across the U.S. However, with that growth came unique operational and marketing challenges. Enter ActiveCampaign, the marketing and sales automation software that helped Southern Orthodontic Partners reimagine how they engage with patients and streamline operations, leading to impressive growth and efficiency gains across their network.
The Early Days and Initial Challenges
Southern Orthodontic Partners, unlike traditional franchises, operates with a unique model that combines the support of an agency with the structure of a franchise. The company’s approach allows local orthodontists to focus on patient care while the central team handles administrative burdens like HR, finance, and, of course, marketing.
Despite this innovative model, SOP faced several challenges in their early days. Their practices were not equipped to handle the modern consumer’s expectations for quick and consistent communication. “When I first joined the company, I conducted secret shopper calls to see how our intake processes were working,” says Ben Goodman, Chief Marketing Officer of Southern Orthodontic Partners. “I was surprised to find that most of our practices followed up with new leads only once, if at all. We were leaving so many opportunities on the table simply because we didn’t have the right tools to ensure consistent communication.”
Each practice within the network operated independently without a unified CRM or automation tool, making it nearly impossible to manage leads effectively and keep track of follow-ups. As a result, potential patients often fell through the cracks, causing frustration for both the central marketing team and the local practices.
“We knew we needed a solution that could not only centralize our CRM but also help us automate follow-ups, segment our audience more efficiently, and integrate seamlessly with our existing systems—all while being HIPAA-compliant,” Goodman explains.
Why ActiveCampaign? A Search for the Right Solution
After evaluating several solutions, SOP chose ActiveCampaign for its robust automation capabilities, easy-to-use interface, and crucially, its compliance with HIPAA standards. “Being in healthcare, HIPAA compliance was non-negotiable for us,” Goodman notes. “We needed a tool that could maintain the privacy of our patients’ information while providing the marketing automation we needed.”
Beyond compliance, ActiveCampaign’s flexibility and integration capabilities stood out. “We needed something that could integrate with our existing practice management systems and our data warehouse,” says Goodman. “ActiveCampaign ticked all the boxes and was incredibly easy to set up and use.”
How Southern Orthodontic Partners Uses ActiveCampaign to Manage and Grow Their Business
Once Southern Orthodontic Partners onboarded ActiveCampaign, they wasted no time leveraging the platform’s features to solve their pressing business challenges. Here’s a closer look at how they’re using the tool to streamline operations and boost patient engagement:
1. Modernizing Lead Management with Automation:
One of the first areas SOP addressed was their lead management process. They set up a robust marketing automation system using ActiveCampaign to ensure no lead was left unattended. As soon as a potential patient submits an inquiry through the SOP website, an ActiveCampaign automation sequence is triggered to send out a timely message. The new contact receives an SMS and an email almost instantly, keeping them informed, and a follow-up call is made to the practice.
“We know that the modern-day consumer in orthodontics isn’t going to sit and wait,” Goodman says. “Our competitors aren’t able to respond at night or on weekends when someone submits a lead. We can. And that’s been a game-changer for us.”
This led to an impressive 87% response rate within the first 24 hours. This rapid follow-up has helped SOP capture more leads and convert them into patients at a significantly higher rate than before.
2. Enhancing Patient Communication Throughout the Customer Journey:
SOP uses ActiveCampaign’s automations to segment and engage with potential patients based on their behavior and interactions. This segmentation allows SOP to craft personalized follow-ups for each patient.
For example, if a patient doesn’t respond to initial outreach, they are added to a 10-day follow-up sequence that includes texts and emails. “We still get about 6% of people responding to us after 10 days. That’s 6% of leads that would have been lost if we didn’t have these follow-ups in place,” explains Goodman.
3. Operational Efficiency Through Centralized Oversight:
With multiple orthodontic practices spread across different regions, maintaining operational consistency is critical. ActiveCampaign’s centralized CRM system allows SOP’s central marketing team to ensure consistent branding, streamlined processes, and the flexibility to adapt to each practice’s unique needs. Each practice has its own ActiveCampaign instance while the central team retains a master account for overall oversight and management.
“Think of us as an agency that only does orthodontic marketing,” Goodman says. “We handle everything from setting up automations to providing reporting and templates. The practices just have to focus on patient care.”
This centralized approach has been instrumental in reducing administrative burden and allowing practices to maintain focus on what they do best—providing top-notch orthodontic care.
4. Increasing Patient Lifetime Value with Tailored Marketing Campaigns:
Beyond patient acquisition, SOP has found innovative ways to use ActiveCampaign to increase the lifetime value of their patients. For example, they created a series of educational campaigns promoting additional services like teeth whitening. By tracking which patients have or haven’t opted for these services, SOP can send targeted campaigns as patients near the end of their treatment.
“We know exactly who didn’t get our whitening service and when they’re getting their braces off,” Goodman shares. “So we send them educational material about the benefits of whitening leading up to that date. That way, when they come in, they’re already familiar with the product and more open to purchasing.”
The Business Impact: Results That Speak for Themselves
Since implementing ActiveCampaign, Southern Orthodontic Partners has seen impressive improvements in patient engagement and operational efficiency. The automation and centralized CRM system have enabled them to respond faster to patient inquiries, recapture lost leads, and maintain consistent communication across all practices.
With ActiveCampaign’s automations, SOP has turned what was once a disjointed lead management process into a well-oiled machine that drives more patient starts and boosts overall business growth. “The difference ActiveCampaign has made is night and day,” Goodman says. “It’s not just about generating more leads. It’s about building stronger relationships with our patients and providing a better overall experience.”For Southern Orthodontic Partners, the decision to switch to ActiveCampaign was more than just adopting a new tool—it was about transforming their entire approach to patient engagement and marketing. As they continue to expand, ActiveCampaign will help them scale their business and improve patient outcomes. If you’d like to see how ActiveCampaign can help you grow your franchise business through powerful automation, start a 14-day free trial today!
