We’re in a time of life where quicker = better. Unfortunately, this has caused us to be very impatient and expect things immediately. Instead of rushing and risking mistake, we’d recommend automating things within your private practice that makes sense. Your private practice website automation doesn’t have to be techy; it can be modernized and very helpful for a busy individual. Throughout this post we’re going to discuss what automation can look like on your private practice website and mistakes to avoid!
Why Automation Matters for Private Practices
When making the choice to dive into private practice, you make the decision to wear every hat. You’re now the admin assistant, marketing executive, patient care, and clinician. It’s hard!
Within our own business, we use automation to fill in gaps so that we can reclaim our energy back. As a design studio for private practice clinicians, we want our focal point to be providing the best experience for our clients. Website automation has allowed us to do that.
Private practice website automation can help take things off your plate without losing the personal touch you love. If you’ve considered automation but are a little hesitant by it or don’t know where to start, keep reading!
What Website Automation Looks Like in a Private Practice
The first thing to getting started in website automation is to shift your perspective of it. Automation is not just “robots”. It’s smart systems that work for you! You likely wanted autonomy in who you work with and how you work with them (i.e. cash pay vs. insurance) when you started your private practice. Instead of worrying about the mundane tasks, you want to serve people! Website automation for private practices simplifies daily tasks such as:
- Appointment scheduling
- Intake forms
- Reminders
- Client follow-ups
These tasks are likely ones that you are “okay” doing, but sometimes look at as a burden because they are so easy to do! This is where your website automation can come into play.
The Benefits of Automating Your Private Practice Website
Automation was a thing before AI came into the sphere. However, now that AI is such a prominent part of our world right now, automation is absolutely beneficial.
Automation saves time and reduces admin load. Time is valuable. We all know this. When we audit our businesses, the first thing that we look at are tasks that we feel are mundane. Most of the time this is admin work. By automating things like appointment scheduling, intake forms or reminders, you reduce your admin load and can focus on things you actually enjoy doing.
Automation creates a smooth client experience. We can be our biggest competitors. When you lack automation within your private practice, you are leaving yourself up for human error. Human error is something that we cannot avoid (because – humans, duh). But, automation does help mitigate those issues. Your automated scheduler wouldn’t forget to follow up with your client, but you may.
Automation builds consistency across touchpoints. Say you’re a therapist who has weekly appointments with your clients. Without automation, you may remind your client of their appointment when easy for you (say, Sunday evenings). Sometimes we either forget or get too busy to follow up and one week it may come on Monday morning. Automation allows you to be consistent with your schedule and hence brings more professionalism to your practice.
Action tip: We recommend starting with one simple workflow within your client management system and go from there. For an example, use your appointment scheduler to setup automated confirmation emails for appointment booking.
The Best Website Tools for Therapists and Dietitians
Now that you know the why and how, let’s talk about the what. If you’re new into private practice, you’ve maybe never heard of these before. However, if you’re a seasoned dietitian or therapist, you may be using these platforms already. These are tools the best website tools for therapists and dietitians that we’ve seen benefit them the most.
Scheduling. We love each of these tools because of how well they integrate into private practice websites. Applications like SimplePractice or PracticeBetter can be either directly embedded into your website via HTML widgets or hyperlinked out into a client portal. This website has a book appointment button that is directly linked to her SimplePractice portal.
- SimplePractice
- PracticeBetter
- JaneApp
- Healthie
Payments. Accepting payments can sometimes be an expense that you roll your eyes at (hello credit card processing fees). However, my bookkeeper always tells me that this is a part of running a business, and having accessible payment options is a need. Most CRMs above (i.e SimplePractice, Healthie, etc) allow you to send and accept payments online. If you are newer into private practice and don’t want to invest in one of those platforms, we recommend using Stripe directly or another platform like Dubsado. All of these can easily be implemented on your website via button linking to a cart for purchase.
- Any CRM above
- Stripe
- Square
- Dubsado/Honeybook
Email Marketing. Email marketing is a tool that I dread, but also love! If you’re not on our email newsletter Between Sessions, here’s your sign to be! This can be some of the best website tools for therapists and dietitians strictly because you can provide free, valuable information and generate leads. We always recommend Flodesk because it’s intuitive and beautiful (here’s a 50% off code BTW). However, if you’re a seasoned private practice owner and have thousands of subscribers and need advanced segmenting features, ConvertKit is a great option. All email marketing forms can be embedded directly to your website via HTML widgets.
- Flodesk
- ConvertKit
Analytics/SEO. Our favorite website tools are those that track data and SEO. If you’ve hired us as your design team, we’ve already implemented Google Analytics + Google Search Console for your website. These are both integrated through code snippets that we inject into the header of your website. You can access the data itself in either of the backends of these platforms.
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
Avoid These Automation Mistakes
Let’s briefly chat through what not to do with automation. It’s always important to keep in mind that you are a human, and people work with you because of your personality/expertise. You cannot be replaced by robots or AI. With that said, avoid these common automation mistakes:
Over-automating client communication (feels impersonal). When following up with your clients, be sure that you limit the automated workflow and that you use verbiage that sounds like words you’d say.
Forgetting to test forms and workflows. There is nothing worse than an automation goes wrong! We’ve been there, done that. Again, mistakes happen. We always recommend to test forms and workflows to make sure things get sent correctly, sound like you and users get what they are supposed to get.
Not aligning automations with your brand’s tone and visuals. Adding branding can really make your automations feel personalized. For example, when sending an appointment confirmation, include your logo and maybe an email signature that has your face + alternate logos. This helps to build brand awareness even when robots are doing the work for you!
Conclusion: Let Your Website Work as Hard as You Do
It’s time that you look at your website as a tool and not just a visual. While websites are beautiful to look at and fun to navigate, if they aren’t working for you, then it may be an investment gone wrong.
Automation helps your private practice scale without losing its humanity. By confirming automations with tests, integrating platforms that work for you and implementing branding as needed, you can use automation to do the heavy lifting.
We encourage you to audit your current website tools and see where you can cut costs (by removing unnecessary tools) or add-on to take some weight off your shoulders. At our studio, we help you decide what automation tools are best for your private practice and implement them so that you can focus on serving others.
When you’re ready for a professional team to take over, contact us and apply to be a client. We also have a ChatGPT Cheat Sheet to help you integrate AI within your private practice.
