Naturopaths: win new patients and keep them.

How do you, as a naturopath, win new patients who come back?

As a naturopath, you keep new patients for the long term when you set the second appointment at the first one and then get in touch at fixed intervals. That's a recommendation, not a study. The table shows the five points to start with.

Why is the end of the first appointment so important?

We recommend setting the next appointment at the end of the first one. The patient is still sitting in front of you. After that, everyday life often gets in the way. So before saying goodbye, mention when a follow-up makes sense and put it straight into your calendar.

Also give the patient the time in writing, for example on an appointment card. That way they don't have to remember anything.

How do you follow up without being pushy?

One single short check-in one to two days after the appointment is enough. Ask how the patient is doing and offer a way to ask questions. Nothing more. Don't write anything about diagnoses or treatment details, because that belongs in a personal conversation.

If someone doesn't reply, don't send a second check-in right after. Give them space and only get in touch again at the next fixed time.

What do you do with patients who haven't been in for a long time?

Get in touch with patients who haven't been in for a long time once, in a friendly way and without pressure. One sentence is enough: you're thinking of them, the practice has free appointments, they can get in touch.

For this, keep track in one place of who was last in and when. A simple list with name, last appointment and preferred interval is enough to start.

How does WhatsApp marketing with SmartChat help?

With WhatsApp marketing, you reach patients directly on their phone. SmartChat sends your messages over WhatsApp to contacts who have explicitly agreed to it. For this, each patient signs up themselves via a landing page or a QR code in the practice and confirms once, briefly, in WhatsApp.

This confirmation is called double opt-in and runs automatically in SmartChat. For every contact, SmartChat stores the proof of consent with date, time and method, which you can download as a PDF. Learn more under proof of consent. You set up the right messages after the appointment with Follow-ups . There's a dedicated page for practices: SmartChat for naturopaths.

Important: SmartChat does not replace legal advice. How you handle health topics in messages is something to clear up with your professional association or a lawyer.

What does a message after the appointment look like?

A good message after the appointment is short, contains no health details and ends with a way to reply. The name, practice and times below are examples.

Practice messages outside an ongoing conversation only go out on WhatsApp as a template approved by Meta.