Case Studies

T.LINK® was OK. Sesame Is So Much Better

Dr. Thomas Chamberlain

Chandler, AZ

When Dr. Thomas Chamberlain purchased T.LINK®, it seemed like a smart decision. "TeleVox told us it was the most comprehensive online communications product for orthodontists. Plus, for patients who don't have access to an Internet connection, they gave us an 800 number patients could call for appointment and account information," says Dr. Chamberlain. He recalls he was also told that T.LINK® had the tightest integration with his practice management software.

In the half-year the Chandler, Arizona, orthodontist had T.LINK®, fewer than 100 patients signed up — less than 15% of the practice's active patients. His staff thought that was as good as they could expect. "I concluded that online communications was over-rated," reports Dr. Chamberlain. "Our patients who used it seemed to like it, but I didn't like how hard my staff was having to work to get patients into the system. I had bought a tool that was supposed to save staff time; instead, we were spending time reminding patients to sign up for T.LINK®."

Receptionist Jessica Franke was frustrated. She talked to staff in Phoenix-area practices using Ortho Sesame who had the vast majority of their patients logging on and getting emails. "I figured it must be our fault that our T.LINK® was under-utilized," says Jessica. "But the patients never registered from home, and it was such a hassle printing out those password letters over and over again. Even after we had captured a patient's email address, they would still constantly call the office and ask us to remind them what their User ID was."

After doing more homework and hearing lots of praise for Ortho Sesame from other orthodontists, Dr. Chamberlain decided to switch to Sesame. In the first month, they saw patient usage increase more than 300%. Jessica describes the difference. "Sesame is so simple. Everything just makes sense. Patients don't call us anymore asking about their User ID. If they forget their password, they just click 'Send me my password,' and get it automatically."

In Jessica's view, it all comes down to the system's design. "It's easy to take advantage of all the Sesame features. It didn't make sense trying to use the custom mail tools in T.LINK®, because they were not user friendly and did not reach enough patients."

Jessica goes on to point out that Sesame's training makes it easy for her and other staff to keep improving their online communications skills. "We were supposed to figure out T.LINK® by watching these canned videos" she says. "The T.LINK® user interfaces are already confusing, and the training videos only made it worse. Sesame gives us ongoing training with a real-live expert."

Dr. Chamberlain says his experience with T.LINK® taught him the importance of listening to his colleagues when choosing products for his practice. "We felt TeleVox didn't deliver on its promises to us. Instead of promising the world, they specialize. I'm a specialist myself, so I appreciate a company that focuses on being the best at what they do."

Another caution he offers to other orthodontists: do your homework and make sure you get your money's worth. "The important thing is that you choose someone who delivers what they promise and that you get the best product for your money."

As far as that 800 number for patients to call with a password? Jessica says, "We figured out it was worthless. Nobody used it." She expresses relief at having switched companies for online communications. "I really felt saved by Sesame," says Jessica. "It wasn't our fault that our patient usage numbers were so low with T.LINK® — that system is just much less intuitive." The switch itself was easy, she says. "Sesame transferred over the email addresses we had and those patients just clicked for their new password. It was no harder than changing banks." Dr. Chamberlain appreciates the personal attention his practice gets from Sesame Communications. "TeleVox is such a big, anonymous company. With Sesame," he notes, "everything they do shows us that they care about our success."

T.LINK® is a registered trademark of TeleVox Software, Inc.

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