Your agency says the campaign brought in 20 inquiries. Your treatment coordinator says there were eight consultations. Your schedule shows three starts. Are the ads working? Those three numbers cannot answer the question until you know whether they describe the same people and the same dates.
A useful orthodontic marketing report connects the ad account to the office's actual records. It should help the owner and treatment coordinator choose their next action, without creating a second full-time reporting job. Start with the worksheet below and one short weekly review.
The distinction matters beyond any single campaign. ADA marketing guidance separates prospective-patient interest from people who actually visit the practice. The report below is our practical way to preserve that distinction, not an ADA benchmark or prescribed reporting format.
Give every number a definition and an owner
Put the office, treatment focus, reporting dates, and last-updated date at the top. Assign one office team member to reconcile the final report. The agency supplies campaign information; the office confirms what happened after contact. Neither should guess at the other's records.
| Measure | What it means | Who supplies it |
|---|---|---|
| New inquiries | Unique people making a first inquiry during the period; flag duplicates separately | Agency or lead-system owner |
| Consultations booked | A real consultation time was reserved, not just requested | Scheduling team |
| Consultations due | Appointments scheduled to occur during this period | Scheduling team |
| Consultations attended | The office confirmed the person attended | Front desk or treatment coordinator |
| Treatment starts | The practice recorded a start under its written definition | Treatment coordinator or practice manager |
| Pending decisions | An attended consultation still has an open next step at the cutoff | Treatment coordinator |
| Next action | One specific task, responsible person, and due date | Owner and team together |
Use internal reference IDs when joining records. Keep patient-identifying details in the office's approved systems and give each collaborator only the access needed for their role. The shared owner summary can contain counts and operational notes without exporting names, health histories, or financial details into an agency spreadsheet.
Keep two views instead of forcing one misleading funnel
The activity view answers: what happened in the office this week? It includes this week's attended consultations and starts, even when those people first inquired earlier. It is useful for staffing and follow-up. It is not automatically a conversion report for this week's advertising.
The inquiry-group view answers: what eventually happened to the people who first inquired during a chosen period? This is often called a cohort. Keep that original group fixed and update its outcomes over time. Record the review date so next month's results do not quietly replace the original snapshot.
In that example, 12 divided by 20 describes bookings among the inquiry group so far. Six divided by eight describes attendance among its appointments that became due under the stated rule. Six divided by 12 would mix appointments that happened with appointments that have not happened yet. None of these percentages should become a target simply because they appear in an example.
Choose a consistent rule for cancellations and reschedules. For example, an appointment moved before the reporting period can be excluded from this week's due list, while a cancellation during the period stays visible as cancelled. Whatever rule you choose, write it down and keep the original appointment history. Do not turn rescheduling into a new person or erase it to improve a rate.
Add a short pending list that someone actually owns
A total labeled 'pending' is not a follow-up plan. Inside the practice's approved system, each open record needs a next action and a named owner. Use neutral reasons such as awaiting a requested call, needs scheduling options, wants to discuss payment arrangements with the office, or needs a clinical question answered. Do not label someone unqualified because they need time or ask about cost.
Use the meeting to change one thing
- If inquiries are present but contact outcomes are missing, fix record ownership before judging the campaign.
- If people are reached but cannot find workable appointment times, inspect availability before buying more volume.
- If consultations are booked but missed, review expectations, directions, and the confirmation process.
- If attendees remain pending, have the treatment coordinator identify the actual unanswered question. The clinician owns clinical recommendations.
End with a sentence such as: 'Maria will check the six open scheduling records by Thursday and report whether appointment availability is the obstacle.' Bring the same definitions to the next meeting. That is more useful than another dashboard screenshot with a larger lead number.