Best Dental Software 2021

Best Dental Marketing Software

Looking for the best dental marketing software? Here's a short list of the top solutions used by thousands of dental practices worldwide.

Acquiring and retaining patients is critical to any practice's success. However, marketing has become more complicated as consumer behavior has shifted online. Today, practices need a high-quality website and an understanding of how to use multiple marketing channels to effectively engage patients.

There are hundreds of marketing software tools to choose from. This makes finding the best dental marketing software extremely difficult. To streamline your vendor selection process, we've created a short-list of the best marketing software for dentists.

Table of Contents

Types of Dental Marketing Software

There are several types of marketing software for dentists. Below are the major categories of marketing software, along with a description of each, and the most important features.

Software TypeDescriptionTop Features
Patient Communication SystemsPractices use patient communication systems to automatically engage patients before and after appointments
  • Appointment reminders
  • Recalls
  • Missed Appointment Reminders
  • Web chat
Reputation Management SoftwareReputation management software is used to generate online reviews and engage patients online
  • Generate online reviews
  • Respond to online reviews
  • Web chat
  • Two-way texting
Search ToolsSearch software is used to increase the effectiveness of organic and paid search campaigns
  • Keyword research
  • Keyword position tracking
  • SEO audits
  • Backlink analysis
Email Marketing SoftwareEmail marketing software is used to send email campaigns to patients
  • Email templates
  • Email builders
  • Drip campaigns
  • Email analytics
Social Media Management SoftwareSocial media management software is used to publish content and engage patients on social media
  • Content creation
  • Content scheduling
  • Conversation management
  • Social media analytics
Website BuildersPractices use website builders to design, build and host websites
  • Website templates
  • Custom designs
  • Widgets
  • SEO optimization

Which Dental Marketing Software Should I Use?

There is no need to purchase marketing software just because it exists. In addition, many marketing software tools have significant overlap in terms of the features they offer.

Here's a recommendation for the marketing software you should use based upon the types of marketing your practice does.

What Marketing Does Your Practice Do?The Software You Should Use
Minimal marketing
  • Build a high-quality website
  • Pick your favorite patient communication system
We invest in content marketing & paid search
  • Build a high-quality website
  • Pick your favorite patient communication system
  • Pick your favorite search tool
We send a high volume of emails
  • Build a high-quality website
  • Pick your favorite patient communication system
  • Pick an email marketing tool
We invest in social media
  • Build a high-quality website
  • Pick your favorite patient communication system
  • Buy a social media management tool
We invest heavily in marketing
  • Build a high quality website
  • Pick your favorite patient communication system
  • Buy a reputation management system
  • Purchase a search tool
  • Purchase a social media management tool

How Much Does Dental Marketing Software Cost?

Most practices do not have sufficient budget to buy the best tool in each category. However, if managed wisely, single-location practices can invest around $1,000 per month and gain access to a broad range of highly impactful marketing tools.

Software TypePrice
Patient Communication Systems$250-500 per month per location
Reputation Management Software$200-500 per month per location
Search Tools$100 per month
Email Marketing Software$10-100 per month
Social Media Management Software$20-100 per month
Website Builders$20-500 per month

Best Dental Marketing Software

We've researched the market to find the most popular, highest-quality dental marketing software in the market. The solutions below are used by single location practices, multi-location practices, and DSOs. Read the solution overviews to find the product that is best for your practice.

Top Patient Communication Systems

Patient communication systems are the foundation of your digital marketing strategy. It's important that you pick a modern, fully-featured system that aligns with your practice's workflows. The newest patient communication systems also allow you to generate customer reviews, so you don't need a reputation management system.

CompanyWhy We Recommend It
  • Doctible has nearly every tool you could want including two-way texting, intake forms, a chatbot, scheduling, reputation management, & payment processing.
  • You save money by only needing to purchase the tools that you need.
  • Prices range from $100 to $500 per month per location.
  • Read the full Doctible review.
  • Weave is a modern practice management system with integrated VoIP phones.
  • Also includes a two-way texting app and a full payments module.
  • Prices start at $399 per month per location.
  • Read the full Weave review.
  • Lighthouse 360 is one of the most widely used patient communication systems.
  • It's a more mature platform with a full set of features.
  • Prices start at $329 per month per location.
  • Read the full Lighthouse 360 review.
  • Nexhealth is a complete patient engagement platform with a wide range of integrated features.
  • Includes a scheduling module that allows you to embed schedules directly inside emails.
  • Prices start at $550 per month per location.
  • Read the full NexHealth review.

Top Reputation Management Software

Reputation management systems are built to help businesses strengthen their online reputations and attract new customers. BirdEye and Podium are market leaders that offer the most features. Swell is a newer product built specifically for dentists that's offered a much lower price point.

CompanyWhy We Recommend It
  • BirdEye is a full-featured platform used by over 50,000 customers.
  • It includes a listing management tool to manage your business information across online directories.
  • Prices start at $299 per month per location.
  • Read the full BirdEye review.
  • Podium is a full-featured platform used by over 50,000 customers.
  • Also includes a full payments module and team chat.
  • Prices start at $399 per month per location.
  • Read the full Podium review.
  • Swell is a newer platform built specifically for dental practices.
  • It includes all the core features you need to generate reviews and engage patients.
  • Prices start at $179 per month per location.
  • Read the full Swell 360 review.

Top Search Tools

Search tools are built to support your online marketing efforts, specifically in paid and organic search. These tools help you find valuable keywords to target through paid ads & SEO, track your SEO performance, run website SEO audits, and investigate your competitors. All three of the tools below are highly recommended and used by thousands of marketers.

CompanyWhy We Recommend It
  • SEMrush offers over 30 tools that support all types of online marketing.
  • It's the best option for keyword research, keyword rank tracking, and competitive analysis.
  • Also includes tools to manage business listings and social media accounts.
  • Prices start at $99.95 per month.
  • Read the full SEMrush review.
  • Ahrefs has a complete suite of tools to support your online search efforts.
  • It's the best solution for backlink analysis and content marketing.
  • Prices start at $99 per month.
  • Read the full Ahrefs review.
  • SpyFu is an excellent tool for keyword research and competitive analysis.
  • It's far more affordable than SEMrush and Ahrefs.
  • Prices start at $39 per month.
  • Read the full SpyFu review.

Top Email Marketing Software

Email marketing software is used by customers to manage the email channel. These tools have templates and editors to help you build emails, drip campaigns to create marketing series, segments to increase the relevancy of your emails, and analytics to understand how your campaigns perform. The solutions below are built specifically for small and medium-sized businesses.

CompanyWhy We Recommend It
  • MailChimp is a powerful marketing platform that helps millions of businesses create email marketing campaigns.
  • Integrates with hundreds of major ecommerce platforms, social media, and other tools like Salesforce.
  • Mailchimp offers a free plan for up to 2,000 subscribers and 10,000 emails/month.
  • Read the full Mailchimp review.
  • Constant Contact is an email marketing provider with over 650,000 users worldwide.
  • Constant Contact has strong list management and segmentation functionality.
  • Prices start at $20 per month.
  • Read the full Constant Contact review.
  • Campaign Monitor is an email marketing platform with 250,000 customers that’s easy to use yet extremely powerful.
  • Comes with templates, drip campaigns, segments, and online forms.
  • Prices start at $9 per month.

Top Social Media Management Software

Social media management software is used by marketers to post content on social media platforms, engage customers online, and monitor their social media profiles. There are several high-quality options that work across all major social media platforms. When evaluating the options below, keep an eye on the pricing models of the tools – some get very expensive for larger teams.

CompanyWhy We Recommend It
  • Agorapulse is an all-in-one social media management platform with over 11,000 customers.
  • Much cheaper for teams than Sprout Social.
  • Prices start at $99 per month.
  • Read the full Agorapulse review.
  • Sprout Social is an all-in-one social media management platform used by over 20,000 companies.
  • Offers the most advanced, intuitive product on the market.
  • Prices start at $99 per month.
  • Read the full Sprout Social review.
  • Hootsuite was the pioneer of social media management systems.
  • It's unique streams of content allow customers to monitor a broad range of social media content
  • Prices start at $29 per month.
  • Read the full Hootsuite review.

Top Website Builders

Dental practices have two primary options for building their websites. They can either partner with an agency such as Officite, or use a self-serve software tool like Wix or Squarespace. If you are less technical, then it's probably best to go with a trusted agency. However, if you're able to use a tool like Wix to create your own website, you can save considerable money.

CompanyWhy We Recommend It
  • Officite provides affordable websites and digital marketing services to thousands of healthcare professionals.
  • Can purchase website design & hosting along with marketing services.
  • Price ranges from $49 per month to over $1,000 per month
  • Wix is a website builder with 100s of templates, unlimited pages & free hosting.
  • Subscription comes with Google Analytics integration and ad vouchers.
  • Prices start at $23 per month.
  • Squarespace is the all‑in‑one platform that thousands of customers have used to design and host their websites.
  • Pre-built templates and intuitive design make Squarespace very easy to use.
  • Prices start at $18 per month.
Bruce Hogan

Bruce Hogan is Co-founder & CEO of SoftwarePundit. He leads the team's research and publishes content about software products and trends. Bruce has experience investing at multi-billion dollar private equity firms, leading teams at venture-backed technology companies, and launching new businesses. You can connect with Bruce on LinkedIn.

Bruce is an expert in several software categories including:

  • Dental software
  • Mental health software
  • SEO software
  • Social media software

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