Paid traffic: what it is and how it works
Quick facts
- Definition
- Paid promotion on digital platforms to bring people to the website, WhatsApp or a form.
- Counterpart
- Organic traffic: visits that arrive without direct payment per click or impression.
- Common metrics
- Cost per lead, conversion rate, cost per patient and return on investment.
- Risk
- Ads outside the professional council's rules or with a promise of results.
- Relevance in HOF
- Acquisition channel that demands extra attention to health advertising rules.
Paid traffic is promotion done through payment on digital platforms, such as social networks and search engines, to bring people to the clinic's website, WhatsApp or a form. The opposite is organic traffic, which arrives without paying for the click or the impression, through content, referral or natural search.
How does it work in practice?
The professional or the agency creates an ad, chooses the audience and sets a budget. The platform shows the ad and usually charges per click or per impression. Whoever clicks becomes a lead when they leave a contact. From there, service begins, and this is where many clinics lose the investment: if the reply is slow, what you see in first response time applies.
Which metrics to track?
| Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|
| CPL | Cost per lead captured |
| Conversion rate | How many leads turn into a consultation and a plan |
| Cost per patient | How much was spent to close one patient |
| ROI | Return on investment |
| Average ticket | Average value per patient seen |
Looking only at the number of clicks is misleading. What matters is the result at the end of the funnel, and the calculation should include the cost of the ad, the team and the service time.
Ethical and regulatory limits
In healthcare, advertising is regulated. Each professional council has rules on what may be advertised, such as before-and-after images, prices and promotions, and CONAR covers advertising in general. Promises of results, guarantees, "the best" without proof and sensationalist language can amount to misleading advertising and violate Brazil's Consumer Defense Code. Before running ads, confirm your council's rules.
Data and the LGPD
Campaigns collect personal data, such as name, phone and interests. You must state the purpose, store the data securely and honor deletion requests, in line with the LGPD (Brazil's data protection law). Avoid asking for or receiving photos and health data through channels you do not control.
In Harmy
Harmy is a consultation tool and does not manage ads. The projection and the patient link help at the stage when the patient is already at the clinic, and they must not be used to promise results in advertising.
Also called: paid media, paid ads.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run before-and-after images in paid traffic?
The rules for advertising images in healthcare are set by each professional council's rules and by CONAR (Brazil's advertising self-regulation body). Check your council's rules before advertising, and never present a simulation as if it were a result.