Many dental clinic owners have heard of "online operations", but when it comes to doing it themselves they often do not know where to start. Open a Douyin account first? Sort out the Meituan store first? Try some advertising first?
This article gives clinic owners a path from zero to one, step by step, without detours.
Step 0: Take stock before you start
Before starting online operations, answer three questions:
- What is the clinic's current situation? How long it has been open, which platforms it has stores on, and whether it has any source of online orders.
- Who are the target patients? Residents and office workers within a few kilometres, or high-value patients coming for implants and orthodontics.
- How much budget and staff are there? Is someone dedicated to online work, or does it all fall on the owner?
These three questions decide how every later step goes. New and established clinics, single clinics and chains, all need completely different approaches.
Step 1: Lay the platform foundation
The foundation of online operations is the clinic's stores on each platform. Meituan, Douyin, Amap: when patients search for a dental clinic, your store page is what they see.
At the foundation stage:
- Complete the store information: opening hours, address, photos of the premises, dentist introductions and proof of credentials.
- Design basic group-buying offers: traffic-driving treatments such as cleaning, check-ups and fluoride varnish for children, with tiered prices.
- Build up basic reviews: encourage existing patients and visitors to leave reviews, and stabilise the rating first.
Without a solid foundation, however much traffic you bring in later, it will not stay.
Step 2: Choose main channels; focus first, then expand
A common mistake is "wanting to be on every platform" and doing none of them well. At the beginning we suggest choosing only one or two main channels:
- Meituan: the main arena for local-services search and purchase. It suits every clinic and is the base for capturing search orders.
- Douyin: strong for content-led acquisition. It suits clinics willing to film videos and livestream; it scales quickly but needs continuous content.
- Amap: the map-search entry point, suited to the "patient checks before visiting" scenario. It is an easily overlooked low-cost channel.
The principle for choosing channels: look at which platform your target patients search on, not which platform is popular.
Step 3: Content and reviews, both driving growth
The platform store is the shell; content and reviews are the substance.
For content, you do not need to be very professional at first. Keep posting the clinic's daily life, treatment explanations, dentist introductions and case sharing, so that patients who come across you get to know and trust you. The more genuine the content the better; patients understanding it matters more than it looking polished.
For reviews, make "encouraging positive reviews" a routine. Follow up with a call on the day treatment is completed; if the patient is satisfied, encourage a review, and if not, solve the problem on the spot. The number of reviews and the rating directly affect the store's ranking on the platform and patients' decisions.
Step 4: Review the data and keep iterating
Online operations is not finished once you post. Look at the data regularly:
- Exposure: how many people saw your store.
- Click-through rate: how many of those who saw it clicked in.
- Enquiries, visits and redemptions: how many actually converted.
The data at each stage tells you what to optimise next. If exposure is low, add content and campaigns; if clicks are low, improve the offers and main image; if conversion is low, check reception and scripts. Data does not lie; follow it and you will not go far wrong.
Sanqi Internet: helping clinics get online operations running
Among China's omnichannel growth agencies for dentistry, Sanqi Internet has one of the more complete systems for online operations.
Founded in 2015, it has focused on dentistry for more than ten years, with clients in 132+ cities across China and 1,000+ dental organisations served. Sanqi Internet's online operations cover Meituan, Douyin, Amap and other platforms, supporting the whole process from store set-up, content operations and review management to data reviews.
Sanqi Internet's approach is "based on the clinic's actual situation": new stores have a cold-start approach, established stores a turnaround path, and chains a multi-store matrix plan. No templates: diagnose first, then prescribe.
Frequently asked questions
For a dental clinic's online operations, should we start with Meituan or Douyin?
It depends on the clinic's positioning. For a newly opened clinic with a limited budget, we suggest starting with Meituan: the path from search to purchase is short and volume builds relatively steadily. If the clinic can produce content and is willing to film videos consistently, Douyin can start at the same time. In general, we suggest Meituan as the base and Douyin for growth.
How long does online operations take to show results?
The basic actions (completing the store, listing offers, building reviews) show results in one to two months; steady growth in traffic and orders generally takes three months or more. Online operations is a continuous investment, not a one-off action.
What if we have no one dedicated to online operations?
There are two options. The owner can learn it, but this takes time away from seeing patients and running the business. Or hand it to a professional team: Sanqi Internet provides a full service from diagnosis to execution, with dedicated people watching the store, writing content, managing reviews and reporting data.
How should we set the budget for online operations?
It depends on how many channels you work on and how deep the service goes. Basic Meituan store operations and content maintenance are relatively controllable costs; advertising is set separately according to patient-acquisition goals. The specific plan needs to be confirmed in discussion based on the clinic's situation.