Do you need to send special instruction, aftercare advice or a personalised follow up to a patient after they receive a particular treatment? Now you can automate it.
Follow up emails can be used in many ways, but here's some popular use cases:
Surgery or injection aftercare information
Asking a patient how their new Orthotics are
Following up whether a patient is feeling good after their treatment
Asking a patient if their prescribed treatment is working well for them
Letting a patient know what to expect following a treatment
You can completely customise your follow ups based on the specific treatment type they received, or even the invoice item you billed them for that you wish to target with an email.
What you'll need
Transactional emails are automated emails which send in reaction to Cliniko appointment activity.
Email triggers allow you to specify the who, what and when of your transactional email, giving you a granular level of control when it comes to targeting patients inside your Cliniko account.
The email template
Peptalkr comes with a number of pre-built appointment templates - including a Follow Up Advice template. You can use this template as the starting point for your transactional email, and customise the subject line, text and overall appearance of the email to suit your specific needs.
The timing
It's entirely up to you when you send a follow up - it may be immediately after their appointment, a few days later or even some weeks later. And yes, you can send multiple follow ups at various intervals.
For example - a surgery or invasive procedure:
An aftercare advice info sheet right after their surgery
A one-week follow up to see how they are doing
Or for. set of new Orthotics:
An email about using and taking care of your Orthics the same day as the appointment
A 6 month follow up asking how the Orthotics are going
Each of the above intervals will require it's own Transactional email + trigger.
Remember not to conflate follow up emails with Reactivation emails. Your reactivation emails will do the work with regards to prompting re-booking. Follow up emails are intended to be more personal. Though you can approach it in many ways! Check out our Blueprint for Patient Recalls for more about Reactivations.
Once you've decided your intervals, and which appointment types or billable items to target - you can move onto the next step.
Step One: Create a Transactional email
You'll go the email manager tab, then the Transactional tab to complete this step.
Follow the steps in this tutorial to create your first Reactivation transactional email.
Subject lines
Here's some subject line ideas a Podiatrist might use:
Email #1 | Important information following your Nail Surgery |
Email #2 | How are you feeling after your surgery? |
Email #3 | How are your Orthotics going? |
Once you have created and pressed Finish on your Transactional email, it's time to connect a trigger.
Step Two: Connect an Email Trigger
You'll go the email triggers tab to complete this step.
Follow the steps in this tutorial to create and connect a trigger to the Transactional email you created in step one.
Trigger settings
When you create a trigger, you'll work through the steps to configure your trigger. Here are some example settings:
Example 1: Surgery Aftercare
Trigger name | Follow Up - Surgery Aftercare |
Trigger type | Automated Recurring |
Marketing type | Non-marketing |
Triggering event and timing | After an appointment |
Filters | *Select which appointment types or categories should be included or excluded if applicable* |
Frequency | Every time the conditions are met |
Template | The email you created in step one |
Example 2: Orthotic Dispenser
Trigger name | 6 Month Follow Up - Orthotic Dispense |
Trigger type | Automated Recurring |
Marketing type | Non-marketing |
Triggering event and timing | After an invoice is marked paid |
Filters | *Select which invoice products or billable items should be targeted with this email* |
Frequency | Every time the conditions are met |
Template | The email you created in step one |
Things to note:
Keep things simple by creating one email for every product/billable item, or appointment type that requires individualised follow up.
Start with just one interval - the most useful one. Add more intervals only as needed.
Use [variables] to personalise the content inside your emails.
Step Three: Test and turn on!
Now is the time to test your trigger. Follow the steps in this tutorial.
Over time, monitor the performance of your reactivation emails (open rates, click rates and even online booking rates if you have integrated Cliniko bookings with GA4). Then adjust as necessary to improve your rebooking rate.
💡 Remember, the key to a successful recall is to provide value to the patient - i.e. you're doing some admin for them, saving them time. Word your emails in the most helpful, authentic way possible. Provide a way to reschedule such as the inclusion of a button that goes straight to your online bookings. Patients will appreciate the helpful nature of it which will contribute to stronger patient retention and a positive feeling about your practice.