Which tool does each visitor need?
Match the route to what the visitor is thinking, not to what the demo showed.
- "I know the appointment I want": online booking. It works when they pick the right branch and appointment and get a clear confirmation.
- "I don't know what to read": a clear menu or a guided treatment finder. It works when they reach the right explanation without anyone choosing their treatment.
- "I've got a question for the clinic": a short enquiry form. It works when the message lands in a monitored inbox with a named owner.
- "Is there parking?": the answer on the branch page. It works when they find it without asking anyone.
Put the obvious answers on the page before you make anyone ask a bot. To find the missing job, ask reception for the five questions they hear most, then check how your website answers each one.
Check the booking system you already pay for
Before buying another booking system, check whether your practice software already has a public booking page. Often it does, and what's missing is the right link and appointment names people understand.
Alder's did. "Book now" opened a booking page for all three branches, with the service called "LHR consult (new client)". The fix was a direct link to the Bristol page and a new name: "Laser consultation (Bristol)".
Our Business Profile guide shows where to find branch booking links in the common systems.
Be clear with patients about what they've got. A request waiting for staff approval isn't a confirmed booking.
Fix the form before you buy anything
A form works when reception needs contact details and a sentence or two before replying. It doesn't need to choose a treatment for anyone.
Example · Alder's decision
The problem: the enquiry form forced people to pick a treatment from a dropdown before they could send anything. Reception only ever used the name, contact details and question.
The fix: make the treatment choice optional, add a "What would you like help with?" box and test that the message reaches the Bristol inbox.
Why it matters: the missing job was letting an unsure visitor ask a question. The form did that job without another subscription.
Our enquiry form guide shows how Alder's form went from eleven required fields to five.
When is a treatment finder worth having?
A finder is a guided contents page: plain-language choices that lead people to the right treatment information. It's worth having when:
- your menu is big enough that people get lost in it
- many visitors describe a concern ("unwanted hair", "dull skin") rather than a treatment name
- reception keeps hearing "what should I book?"
- you want enquiries to arrive with context: what the person looked at and asked
To see one from the patient's side, try PatientPulse's live Finder demo, or open Frith Medispa, our demo clinic's website, and tap "Find treatment". Neither sends anything to a real clinic.
If you offer a handful of treatments, a clearer menu with a "Not sure where to start?" link may do the same job for free. A good finder shows information before asking for contact details, always offers a way to ask the team and never tells anyone a treatment is right for them. Your clinical team signs off the groupings.
Decide what kind of chat you mean
"Chat" covers three different things, and each needs something different from you.
- Live chat with staff needs real cover and a handover routine. When nobody's free, it should say when staff are back and offer another route.
- Automated answers need a source someone keeps current. When the bot doesn't know, it should say so and hand over to a person.
- A form that looks like chat needs a monitored inbox, and it should say the message was sent rather than imply someone's typing back.
Ask who owns the answers. Updating your website doesn't necessarily update the chatbot, and hours, fees and booking instructions change. Clinical questions go to clinicians, however friendly the chat window looks.
Send every supplier the same five tasks
Send these before the demo, and insist on made-up admin details.
- Known appointment: find the Bristol consultation and reach its booking page on a phone.
- Unsure visitor: ask a question without choosing a treatment.
- Known fact: find the entrance or parking details.
- Unknown fact: ask an admin question the tool has no answer for. Does it hand over or guess?
- Failure: switch off the normal route in a test setup and reach the backup.
Then ask reception to look at what arrived: the branch, contact details, the question and someone able to own it.
First draft · don't file this: "Great demo."
Our edit: "Passed the Bristol booking task on a phone, but the enquiry landed in an unmonitored group inbox. Don't launch until the inbox has an owner; retest the same task."
Why: a verdict needs a reason and a next step.
Work out what it really costs
Ask for the licence, setup, usage charges and exit terms, then add your own team's time.
The sum · the £90-a-month chat tool Alder nearly bought
£90 licence + £40 upkeep (two hours at £20) = £130 a month.
First year with £300 setup: £130 × 12 + £300 = £1,860.
If upkeep takes twice as long: £170 × 12 + £300 = £2,340.
In plain words: nobody knows the upkeep until they've lived with the tool, so price the doubled version too.
Compare that with the repair. Alder's form change took its web editor two hours. Before signing anything, ask how you'd get your settings and records out, and what stops working the day you cancel.
Keep it working, and judge it by the job
Name an owner and a backup, and retest after any change to branches, services, fees or staff. On a phone, check the chat bubble doesn't cover the booking button.
Get whoever handles privacy for your clinic to sign off what the tool collects, where it goes and how long it's kept (collect only what you need). Never paste real patient conversations into a demo.
A chat started isn't a question answered, and a tap on a booking link isn't a booked consultation. Don't credit the tool with every extra enquiry either: a new ad campaign or a staffing change can move the same numbers.
Alder's finished decision
A finished decision names what stays, what gets repaired and what waits.
Alder's finished decision
- Missing job: unsure visitors can't ask a question without choosing a treatment
- Keep: the Bristol booking page, now linked directly and renamed "Laser consultation (Bristol)"
- Fix: make the treatment choice optional and add a "What would you like help with?" box
- Hold off: chat, until someone owns the answers and there's a working handover to a person
- Cost avoided: £1,860 in the first year
- Next step: the web editor changes the form this week; reception confirms a test arrives
Do this today
Write the missing job in one sentence, then name the cheaper fix to price first. For example: "Unsure visitors can't ask a question without choosing a treatment. Price the form change first."
Done when: both are written on the demo and decision sheet.
Questions owners ask
Can we use booking and a finder together?
Yes, if they serve different people. Let people who know what they want go straight to booking, and give unsure visitors the finder with a way to ask a question.
What if the booking route takes a payment?
Ask the supplier to show when payment is taken and whether the appointment is then confirmed or still awaiting approval. A payment receipt mustn't read like a confirmed booking when it's only a request.
Should we switch practice software to get a nicer website tool?
Try configuration and website fixes first. Switching core systems affects calendars, records and staff routines, so ask for the missing task to be demonstrated, and a full migration plan, before a slick demo moves everything.
Alder is an example clinic. Its costs are illustrative, not supplier prices.
