This patient/client journey consists of multiple stages, each calling for different types of communication strategies.

Peptalkr can automate every step. Check out our comprehensive list of automated emails you can set up - you needn't do all of this, just cherry pick the ones that resonate with your goals.

The patient lifecycle in healthcare (and many other service-based industries) generally consists of four main stages: engagement, onboarding, treatment and reactivation.

And there are also the optional stages of awareness and advocacy.

Let's walk through them all:

The journey begins with awareness. When someone has the realisation they require a service - they start looking for solutions. Maybe they use Google to search for providers local to them, or they see an ad.

Peptalkr can get involved at this step by hooking into your website and collecting 'leads' for you.

If you run advertising such as Google Ads or Facebook Ads - you can create a Custom List to your Peptalkr account, and connect a sign up form on your website to this list so that people who visit your website can enter their email address to claim an offer or request more information.
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Engagement is the part where you proactively contact the subscriber. You may do this in the form of a Newsletter, special offer announcement or other type of email marketing campaign.

But it could also be in the form of an automated journey:

Once a lead has signed up to your custom list, you can then trigger an automated journey which sends them the information they requested, sends them the details of the special offer they are claiming or educates them over a period of time about your business, service offering and practitioners with an end goal of getting the lead to book their first appointment.
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Once a patient/client has booked their first appointment, now is the time to welcome them and guide them through their very first visit.

Here's a bunch of ways you can do that:

Send a personalised welcome email that doubles as a confirmation to your new patient/client. Congratulate them for taking their first step and provide them any relevant/important information details they need at this time.
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Send a separate intake form email. Separating it from the confirmation works well because you can make the subject line really compelling to ensure your clients complete this step. For example:
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​Important - please fill in this form prior to your appointment
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Many of our users have achieved higher form completion rates by sending this as it's own email with the sole purpose of ensuring they complete the form.
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Remind your new clients about their upcoming appointment a day or two before. Continue to be specific for new patients by including necessary appointment preparation information and 'what to expect' details to differentiate this reminder from your standard reminder.
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​Peptalkr allows you to send more 'exciting' reminder emails than Cliniko's email reminders. You can include your branding, buttons, your colours and logos. Great for new patients.
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Now, the patient is fully engaged with your allied health services and is undergoing care or treatment. Here's some ways to keep your patient/client engaged and cared for.

Do you communicate similar information to client types regularly? Perhaps you have a great video you like to share, an information sheet or other some helpful resources. You can connect email/SMS containing this information to medical alerts in Cliniko.
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That way, practitioners can add medical alerts to a patient file during or after the appointment that can instantly send these resources to the client at need - all in a beautifully designed template. No more printing things out or having to remember to manually email a patient something.
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This helps patients to feel cared for in that they don't have to remember helpful information you've shared with them - they have a reference point they can go back to any time with all the details 😍
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Touch base with your new client and ask them how their experience was. This is a really important step in ensuring they were satisfied with their first appointment. Some of our users prefer to send this after the 2nd appointment if that's the appointment that contains the actual treatment.
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Do you offer specific treatment types or services in your clinic that require aftercare advice?
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For example - a patient comes in for a surgery or procedure - you can automate both preparation information before the appointment, and aftercare instructions for after the appointment - for each procedure you offer that requires unique instruction.
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You can connect emails to specific appointment types, as well as billable items in Cliniko so the information is always super specific to the patient's booking.
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After an initial treatment journey is over, the focus shifts to patient retention. You want to ensure that, if future needs arise, the patient chooses your services again.

Life happens, and sometimes patients need to cancel. They may reschedule right away, but what if they don't? We can stop busy clients from falling through the cracks by prompting them to reschedule after their cancellation. Peptalkr will only email them if they haven't booked in an appointment. Perhaps you send an SMS after 3 days, then an email after 7 days. It's all about making it convenient for the patient to rebook with friendly and helpful language.
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Like cancellations, sometimes patients miss their appointment. Keep them informed (and accountable) by sending them a notice when this happens. You can change the language depending on how many missed appointments they have had in their history. For example, if it's their first DNA - check in with them and ask if they are ok, and remind them about your no-show policy but waive it this first time around. If they miss a 2nd or third appointment - you may want to change the language.
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Think about how regularly you might like to attempt reactivation. Perhaps at set intervals - 30 days, 90 days and 180 days.
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Or perhaps you need to recall a specific appointment type every 12 months (such as an annual checkup/review). You can be specific about which appointment types, categories or even billable items in Cliniko require what recall and when.
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Or maybe you want to send a personalised email to new patients who never book a second appointment. So many possibilities!
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A friendly and non-intrusive way to stay in touch with patients is to wish them a happy birthday! Automate an email that offers them a birthday voucher or send a friendly and personalised message from their primary practitioner.
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The final stage of the journey is advocacy. Your patients are now loyal to your practice and are likely to recommend your services to others ❤️

While you may collect feedback early on in the patient journey, what about your most loyal patients?
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You can schedule feedback or Google review requests to patients with a select number of appointments in their history - for example, after 5 or 10 appointments. Make this email look really friendly - perhaps you include a video of the team thanking them, or perhaps you set the 'Sender' as their treating practitioner and write the feedback/review request personally from their practitioner.
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Encourage your biggest advocates to spread the word by incentivising your referrals. Automate thankyou's, vouchers or special treatments to patients who regularly refer.
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