How The Eleven Standard runs North American patient intake from WhatsApp

The Eleven Standard is an independent dental concierge in Istanbul. It does not run a clinic. It checks clinics against eleven criteria, matches each patient to one, and plans the treatment, travel and aftercare.

Most of its patients come from Canada and the United States, with a few from the UK. They find The Eleven Standard through a Facebook ad, fill in a short form and continue the conversation on WhatsApp.

Patients write while Istanbul sleeps

Canada and the US are 7 to 10 hours behind Istanbul. A patient who writes after dinner in Calgary reaches Istanbul in the middle of the night. In September, 84% of patient messages came in outside Istanbul office hours.

AriaBee answers first

AriaBee answers each patient in English, at any hour. Its median first reply time was 15 seconds.

It asks what treatment the patient is considering and for a dental X-ray or photos of their teeth. It also asks about budget, travel dates and hotel standard, and whether someone is coming with them. Then it books a consultation call with the team. In three weeks, 10 patients sent their X-rays or photos this way, and 6 booked a call.

A patient from Ontario

A man from Ontario filled in the form late at night, Istanbul time. AriaBee replied within a minute. He answered the next day and sent five photos and his X-ray. Eight minutes later, his consultation call was booked for that same day. His case is now with the team, who are preparing his quote.

The team speaks Turkish, the patients read English

The team gives AriaBee orders on WhatsApp in Turkish. AriaBee writes to patients in English. These are some of the orders the team sent:

• “Tell him our team tried to call him twice today.”
• “Ask him to send the X-ray he mentioned on the phone.”
• “Move this lead to lost.”
• “Remind me about this appointment tomorrow.”

In three weeks, the team sent AriaBee 172 messages like these.

When a patient wants a person

Not every patient wants to talk to software. One patient wrote, “I will not talk to computers.” AriaBee alerted the team at once and told him a person would call.

Clinical decisions stay with the partner dentists. The Eleven Standard stays responsible for its patients. AriaBee handles the coordination around their care.