MHM#71 Decision Lag or Marketing Problem?

If you’ve noticed people clicking your ads, visiting your website, reading multiple pages and even making their way to your contact page, but not actually reaching out, it can be easy to assume something isn’t working.

Sometimes there is a problem with the marketing.

But sometimes what you’re seeing is simply the reality of how people make decisions about therapy.

Unlike many services, therapy can involve a relatively long decision-making process. Add the perceived risk involved in choosing a therapist, and there can be a considerable gap between someone first discovering you and eventually becoming a client.

Understanding this therapy client decision lag can help you interpret your marketing data much more accurately.

Therapy is rarely an impulse decision

Think about the difference between searching for a restaurant and searching for a therapist.

If you’re choosing somewhere for dinner, you might look at a few options, check the menu and reviews, and make a booking within ten minutes.

The consequences of choosing the “wrong” restaurant are fairly small.

Therapy is different.

Someone may have been thinking about getting help for weeks, months or even years before they type something like anxiety psychologist near me into Google.

There is also considerably more perceived risk involved in the decision.

Will this therapist understand me? Will I feel comfortable talking to them? Will therapy actually help? What if I spend the money and it doesn't? What will I have to talk about? Am I even ready to do this?

Finding a therapist who looks right doesn't necessarily mean someone is ready to contact them.

They might visit your website today, come back next week, look at another therapist, return to your website again, read your About page, check your fees, close the browser and do nothing.

Then two weeks later, something finally prompts them to make contact.

This is why website behaviour is really important

It is easy to look at enquiries or bookings as the only meaningful measure of whether your marketing is working.

But the behaviour leading up to those enquiries can also tell you a lot.

For example, if people are clicking your Google Ads and immediately leaving your website, there may be a disconnect between what attracted them and what they found when they arrived.

But if people are clicking through, spending time on your website, visiting several pages, reading about how you work and making their way to your contact or booking page, that tells a different story.

They are showing intent.

They simply haven't acted on that intent yet.

Instead of:

Search → website → enquiry

you may see:

Search → website → consideration → return visit → more consideration → enquiry

And the time between those stages can be considerable, sometimes weeks or months.

Specific marketing doesn't completely remove decision lag
This is particularly important when you're running highly targeted campaigns.

Imagine an adult is searching for therapy for their ADHD and a Google Ad pops up that says:

Adult ADHD therapist

They click an ad because the ad tells them the therapist specifically works with what they’re needing help with.

They arrive on a page describing what they're experiencing.

They read about the therapist, who they work with and their approach, and see that this therapist supports people like them.

They visit the contact page.

That is a very different visitor from someone who clicked a very generic mental health Google ad.

The targeting and specificity of the campaign appear to be doing their job.

But specificity doesn't entirely remove the perceived risk involved in starting therapy.

Good marketing that deeply connects with your ideal client can help someone feel understood, build trust and reduce uncertainty. But it can't completely remove the decision lag.

So how do you know if there is actually a problem?

This can be really tricky. Website traffic that doesn't convert into enquiries or appointments shouldn't all be explained away as people just needing more time.

The key is to look at the whole journey rather than one number or data point.

If we think about Google Ads:

Very few impressions or clicks?
You may have an awareness, targeting or ad messaging problem.

People are clicking but quickly leaving your website?
There may be a disconnect between the ad messaging and your website messaging.

People are engaging with the website but rarely visiting your contact or appointment booking pages?
You may have a relevance, connection or trust problem.

People are clicking, exploring multiple pages and visiting your contact or booking page?
There are positive signals in the data, even if enquiries are currently slower than you'd like.

This is why it's important not to confuse decision lag with marketing failure and continuously change your marketing and messaging.

Every time you change something, you potentially interrupt something that just hasn't had enough time to mature. Constant changes also make it difficult to work out what the original problem was, or which change actually made a difference.

So how long should you wait?

For something like a Google Ads campaign, I generally recommend giving it around three months, and sometimes a little longer if you're targeting a very specific niche.

Then use the data you've collected to decide what needs changing and test one thing at a time.

If you're not getting enough clicks, test your ad messaging or targeting.

If you're getting clicks but people are leaving after reaching your homepage, test new website messaging that connects more strongly with your ideal client.

And if you're getting clicks, people are spending time on your website and they're visiting your contact or appointment booking pages, look at what might help reduce the perceived risk of taking that final step.

That might mean acknowledging that reaching out can feel like a big decision, making it clear that an enquiry is simply an opportunity to learn more, or offering a free, no-pressure initial call.