Project
Dentopia Dental
Dentopia Dental introduced a web-based Appointment Request Form (ARF) that lets prospective patients specify preferred date/time, treatment type, and office location. Within three months of launch, online appointment requests rose 62 %, phone call volume dropped 28%, and confirmed new-patient visits increased 35%.
Practice size
3 locations, 14 clinicians
Pre-project pain points
70 % of bookings via phone; long hold times; 15 % call-abandon rate
Strategic goal
Grow new-patient intake by 20 % YoY without adding call-center headcount
Success KPIs
Increase online requests, decrease call volume, increase confirmed visits, positive CSAT
DISCOVERY & RESEARCH OVERVIEW
Method
Data
Key Insights
Stakeholder interviews
8 staff (front desk, hygienists, partners)
Rework caused by incomplete paper forms; frequent schedule back-and-forth
Patient diary study
10 patients scheduling cleanings or first visits
Want after-hours booking, quick confirmation, ability to choose location closest to work/home
Competitive teardown
6 regional dental sites & 3 medical booking SaaS tools
Best-in-class flows ask for reason + availability first, then personal details
Analytics baseline
4-week GA data
Mobile traffic 63 %, but conversion only 0.8 % vs desktop 2.7 %
User Personas
Busy Professional (Alicia, 34)
Books after 9 PM prioritizes lunch-hour slots at the Fairview office. Name
Parent Scheduler (Marcus, 41)
Juggles family calendars; needs multi-child booking in one session.
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Profile name
CEO / Creative IT
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
Profile name
CEO / Creative IT
Potential patients abandon scheduling because Dentopia’s booking process is time-bound (office hours) and information-heavy, creating friction and uncertainty.
HOW MIGHT WE'S
HMW enable patients to request appointments 24/7 without phone calls?
HMW capture treatment-specific needs up front to shorten confirmation cycles?
HMW present only time slots that match each location’s real-time capacity?
Design Approach
Phase
Activity
Artifacts
Ideation
Crazy-8s, service blueprint
User flow map, value-exchange matrix
Low-Fi
Paper sketches → Figma wireframes
3 task flows tested in hallway usability (n = 5)
Hi-Fi
Responsive Figma prototype
Click-through tests on desktop & mobile
Validation
Remote unmoderated tests (n = 12)
SUS ↑ to 88 (from 64 baseline); task success 92 %
Iteration
Accessibility sweep (WCAG AA)
Color-contrast updates, label pairing
Key UX Decisions
Progressive disclosure – date/time selected alongside personal data to internal team structure bookings
Smart defaults – Location services leveraged to help device locale for nearest office suggestion.
Soft-reserve logic – Discussions are underway as to the possibility of holding a slot for 30 min while staff reviews, avoiding double-booking.
The Solution
Multi-step form (3 screens)
Step 1: Login screen for current patients, new patient option presented.
Step 2: If patient is new, they can submit reason for visit along with preferred date/time (calendar with real-time availability).
Step 3: Allow new clients to upload verification of I.D. Card patient details, insurance snapshot upload, and consent.
Introduce client portal.
Existing clients will be allowed access to a client portal where they can schedule, manage and view details of past visits at Dentopia.
User Flow
Low Fidelity & high fidelity Wireframes
prototype
Lessons Learned & Next Steps
Web first wins – allowing users to manage their dental appointments via an Online channel helped increase overall number of bookings.
Expectation - setting (confirmation SLA) reduced follow-up calls dramatically.Insurance data capture at request time shortened chair-side admin by ~3 min.
Roadmap Ideas
Real-time two-way sync for automatic confirmations on low-complexity treatments.
Family booking mode to add multiple patients in one flow (supports Persona 2).
Chat bot triage to answer per-visit questions and nudge lapsed patients.
Conclusion
By focusing on genuine user pain points—after-hours access, location convenience, and transparent confirmation—Dentopia Dental’s online Appointment Request Form not only improved conversion and reduced operational load but also elevated patient satisfaction, positioning the practice for scalable growth.
