{"id":178960,"date":"2026-09-22T15:57:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.phorest.com\/?p=178960"},"modified":"2026-09-22T15:57:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:57:02","slug":"why-86-of-aesthetics-patients-enquire-before-they-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.phorest.com\/gb\/blog\/why-86-of-aesthetics-patients-enquire-before-they-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Why 86% of Aesthetics Patients Enquire Before They Book"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Most patients contact a clinic before they are ready to book. New Phorest research with 795 aesthetics patients in the UK, Ireland and the United States found that 86% had sent an enquiry to a clinic, and that the most common reason was not price and not availability. It was to learn more about the treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Booking support, product information, and pricing came next. That changes what an enquiry is. It is not a booking request that arrived early. It is someone asking for help with a decision they cannot easily undo, and the reply they get is the first real evidence they have about how a clinic works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What patients want when they send an enquiry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Patients enquire to get information. When asked in our research why they had contacted a clinic, 86% wanted to learn more about a treatment. Half wanted help with booking. Just under half asked about products, and slightly fewer asked about price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason for Enquiry<\/strong><\/td>Share of Patients<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Learn more about a treatment<\/td>86%<\/td><\/tr>
Booking support<\/td>50%<\/td><\/tr>
Product information<\/td>48%<\/td><\/tr>
Pricing<\/td>46%<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Patients could choose more than one reason, which is why the figures add up to more than 100%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pricing comes last of the four because it is rarely the opening question. Patients want to know a treatment is right for them before they work out what it costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How long will a patient wait for a reply?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not long. In Phorest research, 69% of patients said that waiting more than 24 hours for a response would count against a clinic when they chose where to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That window is often missed. The clearest benchmark available comes from the US, where clinics using lead management take an average of 4.8 days to record first contact with a new enquiry. Around a quarter of clinics have lead management switched on at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not about effort. Enquiries arrive at nine in the evening, on Sundays, and halfway through a treatment. When they land somewhere nobody owns, a slow reply becomes the default rather than the exception. The clinics that reply quickly have usually decided in advance who replies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What belongs in a first reply<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Patients weigh up the reply itself, not only how fast it arrived. A useful first message does four things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n