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Loyalty and referrals

Clinic loyalty program software you can explain at the desk

Points earned automatically on completed visits, a referral code for every patient that works over the phone, and a balance made of lines with reasons.

Demo clinic · illustration

A program that costs more than it brings back

Loyalty programs are easy to announce and hard to run. The failures are usually the same three.

  • Nobody can explain the number

    A patient asks why she has 340 points. Your team looks at a balance with no history behind it, and ends up guessing or giving in.

  • Points for appointments never had

    Points land when a booking is made. Patients learn to book and cancel, and the program rewards the one behavior you were trying to stop.

  • "Who recommended you?"

    A new patient says a friend sent them, and cannot remember the friend's surname. The referral is real, and nobody gets credited for it.

How it works

Off by default, then simple

Loyalty is optional and stays off until you turn it on. When you do, there are four numbers to set and then it looks after itself.

  1. You set the rates

    How many points a unit of spend earns, what a point takes off a bill, and what a referral is worth to each side. Your rates, your call: {{LOYALTY_EXAMPLE}}.

  2. A completed visit earns its points

    Points are added when a visit is actually completed. A canceled or missed appointment earns nothing, so the program rewards showing up.

  3. Every patient gets a code

    Made from their own name, so it can be read over the phone or spelled out in a WhatsApp message without anybody getting it wrong.

  4. Both sides are credited

    When someone books with a code, the referrer and the new patient each get what you set. Who referred whom is recorded once and never changed.

  5. Points come off a bill

    A patient spends points at your clinic, at the rate you set, and the spend is recorded with its reason like everything else.

A points balance with every line explained. Demo clinic, illustration.

A balance is a sum, not a number

Every point in and out is recorded with the reason it happened: the visit that earned it, the referral that credited it, the bill it came off, the adjustment a manager made.

So when a patient at the desk asks why she has the balance she has, your team can read it back to her line by line. That sounds small until you have had the other conversation, where the number changed by itself and nobody in the building can say why. A program your staff cannot explain is a program your staff will quietly stop mentioning.

Earned on completed visits only

Points are added when a visit is completed, not when it is booked. A canceled appointment earns nothing and a missed one earns nothing.

That single rule keeps the program aligned with what your clinic actually wants, and keeps it honest in reports, where retention and what a patient is worth over time are counted from completed visits too. It also means the program never pays out for the behavior that no-show fees exist to discourage.

A visit paid for by a course earns nothing extra

When a patient uses a session from a course they bought up front, that visit does not earn points on top.

The course was already the discount. Paying twice for the same visit would make the balance impossible to explain at the desk, and would quietly make your best-value offer your most expensive one. The visit still counts as a completed visit everywhere else.

Referral codes people can actually say

A referral code made of random characters works on a screen and fails everywhere else. Patients recommend your clinic in a WhatsApp message, in a car, across a table at lunch.

So each patient's code is built from their own name, which makes it easy to read over the phone and memorable enough to pass on. Who referred whom is recorded once, when the new patient books, and never changes afterward. Both sides get what you set, and the new patient arrives as a lead with a source your lead inbox can see.

Points are not cash, and shouldn't be

A point takes an amount off a bill at your clinic, at the rate you set. That is all it does, and keeping it that narrow is deliberate.

There is no points shop, no transfer between patients and no way to withdraw a balance. Those turn a loyalty program into something that looks like money, which brings obligations and arguments no clinic wants. Patients can see their own balance and their code on their account page, which is usually the only thing they actually wanted.

Honest limits

What loyalty doesn't do

It is optional, narrow and deliberately unexciting.

  • Points are not cash. There is no points shop, no transfer between patients and no withdrawal.
  • A point comes off a bill at your clinic. There is no full online payment of a treatment bill.
  • No tiers, no bonus multipliers and no expiring points campaigns.
  • A visit paid for by a course earns nothing extra, and canceled or missed appointments earn nothing at all.
  • It stays off until you switch it on. A clinic that doesn't want a program never sees one.

FAQ

Questions clinics ask

Do we have to run a loyalty program?

No. It is optional and stays off until you turn it on. A clinic that doesn't want one never sees it, and nothing else changes.

When do patients earn points?

When a visit is completed. A canceled or missed appointment earns nothing, so the program rewards showing up rather than booking. A visit paid for by a course earns nothing extra, because the course was already the discount.

What is a point worth?

Whatever you decide. You set how many points a unit of spend earns and what a point takes off a bill, along with what a referral is worth to the referrer and to the new patient.

Can patients cash points out?

No. Points are not cash. A point comes off a bill at your clinic at your rate. There is no points shop, no transfer between patients and no withdrawal.

How does a referral get credited?

Every patient has their own code, made from their name so it can be read over the phone. When someone books with it, both sides get what you set, and who referred whom is recorded once and never changed.

Can our front desk explain a balance to a patient?

Yes, line by line. Every point in and out carries the reason it happened, so a balance is a sum that can be read back rather than a number that changed by itself.

A program your team can defend

Book a 15-minute demo. We'll complete a visit on our demo clinic and read the points back, line by line.

Book a demo