ℹ️ Who this tutorial is for
Want to automatically notify referrers when they’ve earned a reward? This guide shows you how to set up a referral reward email to thank patients who refer others to your clinic.
🕐 This process requires about 1 minute of manual time by admin/reception staff without having to leave Cliniko
Referrals are gold. Rewarding your referrers helps strengthen patient loyalty and keeps the referrals flowing. With Peptalkr, you can automate a personalised email to thank your referrers — and optionally add a credit or offer to their account.
Choose from two flexible methods using either a billable item or a medical alert in Cliniko.
What you'll need
💼 A referral reward trigger method (billable item or medical alert)
💌 A Transactional Email to send to the referrer
⚡ An Email Trigger to link it all together
The two methods
There are two ways to achieve this that we recommend:
By creating a reusable billable item in Cliniko that applies a credit, then adding that to a referrer's invoice.
Or by adding a medical alert to a referrer's patient profile - better if you're not looking to send an account credit - but maybe a VIP booking link for something free or discounted such as a free 15 minute massage.
We like method 1 the most, but keep reading to learn more about each 😊
🎟️ Using a billable item
Billable items in Cliniko allow you to create invoice line items that can be re-used. You can also use them to create discounts. Let's go ahead and make one:
The process:
Create a billable item in Cliniko - for example '$25 referral credit:
👉 Ensure you set the price to a negative value so it is a discount, and not a charge!
2. Now create a Transactional email in Peptalkr which will send to the patient receiving the credit - here's an example:
3. Now let's connect a trigger - we'll be using the 'After an invoice is created' trigger type - and on the filters step, we'll select the $25 referral credit item we created in step 1.
How to trigger it:
Once you have identified a patient as being the referrer of a new client - go ahead and open up the referrers (the person receiving the credit) patient file in Cliniko.
Go to the Invoice tab and press Add invoice
Add the $25 referral credit' item then press Create invoice
🎉 Woo! This patient will now be triggered the email you created. And a $25 credit will be waiting in their account for them, next time they visit 😊
🏷️ Using a medical alert
Medical alerts are a super flexible way to send patients specific emails with a high degree of control.
If you rather not apply an actual credit to a patient account, and instead:
Just notify them of a discount manually (but ask them to show the email at reception to receive the discount) then you can use a medical alert trigger.
Send them a special VIP booking link to access a free or discounted service
The process:
Go ahead and create a medical alert for use with this trigger following our best practices - e.g.
ReferralRewardNow create a Transactional email containing the details of the offer. Be sure to add your VIP booking link (see Cliniko's instructions) if it's a bookable service.
Now connect a trigger - ensure you select 'When a medical alert is added' as the trigger type
On the filters step - select the medical alert you created in step 1.
Turn on your trigger.
How to trigger it:
Once you have identified a patient as being the referrer of a new client - go ahead and open up the referrers (the person receiving the credit) patient file in Cliniko.
Add the medical alert - e.g. ReferralReward
🎉 Woo! This patient will now be triggered the email you created. And a $25 credit will be waiting in their account for them, next time they visit 😊
🙋🏻♀️ FAQs
Can I put the name of the patient who referred them into the email?
Can I put the name of the patient who referred them into the email?
Not currently. It is planned, but for now we suggest just typing the name into the 'Notes' field of the invoice - that way when the patient arrives for their discounted appointment, you can easily tell them who it was if they ask 😊