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What does a booking system alone leave out?
A booking system is built around the appointment. That is the right tool for the diary, and it tells you little about people who are not in the diary yet.
| Question | Booking system alone | With a CRM connected |
|---|---|---|
| Where did this enquiry come from? | Shows the booking, not the advert, post or referral behind it | Records the source on every enquiry, booked or not |
| Who enquired and never booked? | Nothing, because no appointment exists | A list with the date, the treatment asked about and the last contact |
| What stage is each consultation at? | Booked or attended | Enquiry, consultation booked, attended, plan sent, treatment booked |
| Was the treatment plan followed up? | Depends on someone remembering | A dated follow-up with a named owner |
| Who has not been back? | A report you run by hand, if it exists | A recall list built from the interval your clinicians set |
What an aesthetics clinic needs from a CRM
Enquiry source
Every enquiry gets a source when it arrives: the web form, a social message, a phone call, a referral or a walk-in. Once sources are recorded, you can see which ones lead to consultations and which only produce questions. That is the figure to check before you raise or cut an advertising budget.
Consultation stage
In aesthetics there is a gap between the first question and the treatment: enquiry, consultation, a plan, then a decision. A pipeline shows how many people sit at each step and how long they have been there.
Speed matters at the first step. A Harvard Business Review study found that firms contacting a web lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as those that waited even an hour longer. It is US data from 2011 and not specific to clinics, so treat it as a direction, not a forecast.
Treatment-plan follow-up
A patient leaves a consultation with a plan and a price, then goes quiet. The CRM sets a follow-up for a named person on a date and can send a message you have approved. A question about whether a treatment is suitable never gets an automated answer: it goes to a clinician.
Lapsed-patient recall
Your clinicians set the interval after which a patient counts as due or lapsed, treatment by treatment. The CRM builds the list and prompts the message or the call. Recall messages can count as marketing, so the scope records what consent you hold and for which channel.
How those messages are written and timed is covered under follow-up and nurture.
When your existing booking system is enough
Some clinic booking systems include patient records, reminders and basic marketing. You may not need anything else if:
- Nearly all your patients book online directly, so there are few enquiries to track before a booking exists.
- You have one main source of new patients and already know what it is.
- Your treatments are single visits with no consultation or plan stage.
- Your booking system has recall and review features you have not switched on. Use those first.
- One person handles every enquiry and nothing is being missed.
If that describes your clinic, a CRM adds a second system to keep in step and little else. We will tell you so on the first call.
Should you buy a CRM or have one built?
There are two routes. The first is an off-the-shelf CRM, set up for your stages and connected to your booking system. The second is a custom system built around how your clinic works, which costs more at the start and belongs to you.
For a single clinic with a standard process, the first route is the sensible starting point, and we do that work under CRM setup and migration. Our guide on how to choose a CRM for a service business and our comparison of custom software vs SaaS cover the choice.
A comparable published build is MRM Group, a UK property company, where we built a public funnel connected to its CRM, an internal command centre for clients, deals and tasks, and reminders with audit history. It is a different industry with a similar problem: enquiries that need tracking through to a decision.
What patient information should the CRM hold?
Health information is special category data under UK GDPR. A CRM for an aesthetics clinic can collect more of it than it needs, through free-text notes and message history.
The written scope settles what patient information each system may hold and who can see it. One workable split is that clinical notes, consent forms and photographs stay in the clinical record, and the CRM holds the stage, the source and the next step.
Permissions are set by role, so front-of-house staff see what they need to book and follow up, and no more.
How do we set one up?
- List every way an enquiry arrives. Web form, phone, social messages, referrals, walk-ins. Each one needs a route into the CRM.
- Agree the stages. Name them in your clinic's own words and define what moves a patient from one to the next.
- Decide what the CRM holds. Field by field, with who can see each one.
- Connect the booking system. A booked, attended or missed appointment should move the stage without anyone typing.
- Write the follow-ups. You approve every message before it can be sent.
- Test with real cases. Including the awkward ones: duplicate patients, shared phone numbers, a patient who asks to be removed.
- Launch in stages and train the team. A CRM nobody updates is worse than none.
The timeline is agreed in the written scope. The full process is on our approach page, and the rest of the patient journey is on our clinics overview.
What does it cost?
A paid audit comes first: £3,000 plus VAT, with a written report within 10 working days. The fee is credited against the build when the build deposit is paid within 14 days of the report.
Scoped builds run from £5,000 to £20,000. Setting up and connecting an off-the-shelf CRM sits lower in that range than a custom system. The number of enquiry sources, the state of the patient data to move and the number of automated follow-ups all change the price.
A CRM subscription, if you use one, is paid directly to the provider from your own account. Projects are paid 50% upfront and 50% on launch unless the signed scope says otherwise.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a CRM for an aesthetic clinic cost?
The work is scoped after a paid audit, and before the audit we give a range, not an exact price. Any CRM subscription is separate and billed to you by the provider.
Does a CRM replace our booking system?
No. The booking system stays the diary. The CRM sits beside it and tracks enquiries, stages and follow-ups, with appointments passed across automatically.
Can it show which adverts bring in consultations?
Yes, as long as the source is captured when the enquiry arrives. Web forms can record it automatically. Phone and walk-in enquiries need a quick way for your team to record it.
Can it prompt patients when a repeat treatment is due?
Yes, on intervals your clinicians set. The CRM does not decide whether a treatment is right for anyone. It prompts a booking, and the clinical decision stays in the appointment.
Who can see patient details in the CRM?
Only the roles you name. Access is set in the scope and tested before launch, including what a new starter sees on day one.
Can we move our existing patient list across?
Yes. Duplicates, missing fields and old records have to be cleaned first, and the scope decides which fields move and which stay where they are.
Do we own the CRM?
With a custom build, yes: it is built in your accounts and you own the code and the data. With an off-the-shelf CRM you rent the software, and the account is in your clinic's name.