A patient with a sore back looks for a private physiotherapist. The first clinic's website has beautiful photos of treatment rooms, a long page about the history of the practice and a contact form. It does not say how much an appointment costs, whether a referral is needed or where to park. The patient books with the second clinic, whose website answers all three on the homepage.
Clinic websites often lose patients through small, fixable problems. Here are the common ones.
Mistake 1: hidden fees
Patients want to know what an appointment costs. If the website says "contact us for prices", many assume the worst and go elsewhere.
Mistake 2: no referral or insurance information
Patients often do not know whether they need a referral or whether their insurer is accepted. Answer both clearly on the appointments page. The admin questions patients ask first are covered in clinic websites and the admin questions patients ask first.
Mistake 3: booking that is hard to find
A booking button or request route should be visible on every page, not only on the contact page.
Mistake 4: missing directions
Patients arriving for the first time need the address, the right entrance and parking details. Missing directions lead to late, stressed patients.
Mistake 5: no first-visit guidance
What happens at the first appointment, how long it takes and what to bring are among the most common questions. A short "your first visit" section answers them.
Mistake 6: no language support
Patients who are more comfortable in another language often never make contact. Language support is covered in patients writing in other languages to clinics.
Mistake 7: treatment pages that read like brochures
Treatment pages that describe benefits without explaining the process, duration, cost and who it suits leave patients with more questions than answers.
Mistake 8: no answers out of hours
Many patients research in the evening. If the website cannot answer their admin questions then, they may book with a clinic that can.
Mistake 9: no clinician profiles
Patients want to know who they will see. Short profiles with qualifications, specialisms and a photo help them choose and feel more comfortable. Clinics that hide their clinicians behind a generic "our team" line miss an easy way to build trust before the first appointment.
Mistake 10: an outdated website
Old opening hours, clinicians who have left and treatments no longer offered all create confusion. Review key pages every few months, and every time something changes.
Similar mistakes elsewhere
Consultancies make a parallel set of mistakes, hiding practical information behind polished language, as described in consultancy website mistakes that hide your expertise.
Fixing the mistakes
Publish fees, referral and insurance information, a clear booking route, directions and first-visit guidance. Then train the assistant on the updated pages, as described in how to train your chatbot on your website content.
SpideyChat for private clinics answers admin questions from your own pages at any hour. It does not give clinical advice.
Mistake 11: forms that ask for medical history
Some clinic contact forms ask patients to describe their symptoms or medical history in detail. That is off-putting and puts sensitive information in an inbox. First contact should ask only for what reception needs to arrange an appointment.
A patient's-eye check
Ask someone who has never visited to find the price of a first appointment, whether they need a referral and where to park, using only a phone. Fix wherever they get stuck. The guides to installing the widget and training your bot cover the setup.