How do aesthetics clinics stop consultation no-shows?
Take a deposit when the consultation is booked, send reminders before it, and show your cancellation rules at the point of booking. Consultations booked on a whim from an Instagram message are the easiest to skip, so a small deposit that comes off the treatment makes people commit.
By Sammy Morgan, who runs M1 Studio in Chichester. Updated .
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- Industry
- Aesthetics clinics
- Problem
- No-shows
- The fix
- Online Booking & Deposits, £1,800
- Do it yourself?
- Yes, the first steps below
Why it happens to aesthetics clinics.
- Booking by DM
- Many clients arrange a consultation in an Instagram message. There’s no deposit, no confirmation and no reminder, so it’s easy to forget or drop.
- Impulse interest
- Someone sees a post late at night and books. By the day itself, the urge may have passed.
- Consultations come first
- For prescription treatments a consultation with a prescriber has to happen before treatment, so each missed consultation also delays the treatment slot behind it.
- Long, specialist slots
- Consultations and treatments take a practitioner’s time and sometimes a prescriber’s too, so a no-show costs more than one empty chair.
What to do, in order.
Move bookings out of the DMs
Reply to Instagram messages with a booking link, not a time. The booking tool takes the details and sends the reminders.
Take a consultation deposit
A deposit that comes off the treatment if they go ahead is easy to explain and feels fair.
Write your rules plainly
How much notice you need, what happens to the deposit and how to rebook. Show it at booking and in the reminder.
Remind twice
One reminder a couple of days before and one the day before, each with a rebook link.
Have it set up for you
Online Booking & Deposits adds booking, deposits and reminders to your current website.
Where M1 can do it for you.
Fixed prices, or a fixed quote before any work starts. No VAT is charged. Any running costs are listed before you agree.
- Online Booking & Deposits £1,800
Clients book a consultation from your Instagram link, pay a deposit and get reminders, with your cancellation rules shown as they book.
Bookings taken online, with a deposit paid up front.
- Website Chat Assistant £1,800
It answers late-night questions about consultations and aftercare on your website, then hands serious enquiries to you on WhatsApp.
Questions answered day and night, then passed to you on WhatsApp.
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Before you decide.
Something else? Ask Sammy on WhatsApp.
Should the deposit come off the treatment?
Many clinics do this. It makes the deposit feel like part of the price rather than a penalty, and you keep it if the rules aren’t followed.
What does the booking tool cost?
Online Booking & Deposits is a fixed set-up price. The booking tool’s monthly fee and the card fees on deposits are paid directly by you, and listed before you agree. See Online Booking & Deposits.
Keep reading.
Know what to fix. Then decide.
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