3 new booking apps to connect you to your clients
The coronavirus pandemic has meant that conducting business online has become essential for survival. While clinic doors have been shut, everything has moved to a digital format and this looks set to continue while we ease out of this crisis. It may come as no surprise then that the sector is seeing the launch of a number of new digitally-focussed busineses.
Even before the pandemic, searching online was the main way patients did their research and found doctors and clinics, but the lack of regulation within the sector has meant that trying to decipher all of that information and find an ethical practitioner can be a minefield. It is no surprise then that people have started to look for a solution to this problem by developing websites and apps that bring together practitioners and enable consumers to find them more easily.
We take a look at three recently launched examples:
Zoom Clinic
ZoomClinic is a new private clinic booking app developed by Dr Sadaf Hussain. Dr Hussain came up with the concept after noticing it was difficult to find a single platform where patients could search, find, review and book private clinic appointments quickly and easily.
“The healthcare landscape is currently undergoing phenomenal change and ZoomClinic is aiming to help revolutionise healthcare by connecting clients and clinics in just a few clicks”, Dr Hussain said.
“I launched ZoomClinic after many years as a GP. I felt there was no single private clinic directory where I could find the healthcare specialist I needed to refer patients to and even if I could find the specialist, often there was no direct booking service and not much information available about the clinician themselves.”
ZoomClinic lists almost all types of private practitioners (not just aesthetic) on its platform, including doctors, dentists, surgeons, physiotherapists, counsellors, podiatrists, chiropractors and wellbeing practitioners.
The platform provides free appointment booking software that clinicians can manage easily from their phone and clients can view and book into directly. It is built to be flexible to individual needs.
Clinicians can create as many or as few appointment slots as they wish. For example, some clinicians may already have morning and afternoon clinics, but have a spare hour or two between. The clinician could use a spare hour to open up 15 or 30 minute private appointments on the ZoomClinic App.
ZoomClinic will also be adding teleconsultations in the future, to allow practitioners to book in remote appointments and work from home. Clinicians pay no upfront fee or subscription fees and, as an early adopter, can benefit from a loyalty promise of no future subscription fees.
“ZoomClinic provides a fantastic opportunity to create a free profile page highlighting your training and experience, upload your photos and let the world see who you are”, adds Dr Hussain.
“Clinics are being added constantly and we have steady growth and expansion across the UK in many specialities. It is an exciting time for ZoomClinic as we have had excellent
uptake by clinicians creating their free profile pages."
SafeAP
SafeAP, which stands for The Safe Aesthetic Practitioner, was developed by Dr Sieuming Ng and Dr Subha Punj to connect people wanting non-surgical aesthetic procedures with qualified independent healthcare professionals.
Dr Ng came up with the idea back in 2019. “I realised as a newcomer to the industry, unless you’re very socialmedia savvy, marketing yourself isn’t the easiest”, she says. “Apart from that, there is a struggle in handling mountains of paperwork that comes with it.
“SafeAP is the first mobile application marketplace founded by two medical doctors with a passion for improved safety in the medical aesthetics industry. It is designed based on our personal experiences, both as users of medical aesthetic procedures and as practitioners ourselves.” SafeAP serves as a dual platform for clients and practitioners.
For clients, it connects them to qualified and fullyinsured healthcare practitioners (doctors, dentists and nurses). They can filter based on treatment, price and location to make an informed decision and able to communicate with practitioners before and after treatments using a GDPR-compliant messaging service to provide them with continuity of care. They can then review and rate practitioners.
For practitioners, SafeAP is a one-stop platform that strategically markets the practitioner, based on services, location, prices, and most importantly, ratings and reviews. It can also be used as a client management system so practitioners are able to organise bookings, document procedures, gain consent, receive payment and generate invoices. Practitioners can also conduct e-consultations using a GDPR-compliant messaging service.
“Our vision is to improve safety, empower clients to make informed choices and to champion practitioners by providing them with the basic tools to run their aesthetics business effectively”, Dr Ng adds. “I aim to use SafeAP as a portal to improve client awareness and educate them of the different procedures there are out there and the associated risks.”
Glowday
Launched early this month with around 150 UK clinics on board, Glowday is the brainchild of former science teacher Hannah Russell who describes the platform as the “AirBnB for medical aesthetics”. The site aims to connect consumers with medically-qualified non-surgical cosmetic practitioners.
A patient herself, Russell was inspired to set up the business after finding it challenging and confusing trying to find a clinic for her injectable treatments. She says, “Very quickly, I identified that getting information that was transparent and used non-medical language when explaining treatments was really tricky.
“I probably did about eight months of research before booking my first appointment and it just felt a little bit cloak and dagger. Being a normal woman – I am not a Kensington mum or a Love Island contestant – it kind of felt like this wasn’t for women like me. The whole world of aesthetics felt a little bit like when you walk into a fancy clothes shop and think ‘this is not my club’.”
Russell was looking for something that spoke to women like her but also allowed her to indulge in what she describes as the “normal consumer behaviour” of being able to review, compare, contrast and inform yourself, “that seemed to be available everywhere else except within aesthetics”, she says.
“The market is wildly fragmented with thousands of practitioners delivering a mix of quality, service and price, yet non-surgical treatments are increasingly seen as a normal part of beauty regimes,” Russell adds. “We created Glowday so consumers can research and book non-surgical aesthetic treatments in absolute confidence with the best practitioners, providing reassurance in an unregulated industry.”
Customers can find local clinics, review practitioners’ treatments, read verified reviews, compare before-and-after photos and book online 24/7. Software will also give clinics a patient-management system including a diary and scheduling software.
Russell and husband Joby Russell (who, as chief marketing officer helped take estate agent Purplebricks from start-up to IPO), also recently secured a £3.8 million investment deal in Glowday from Horatio Investments, which is led by entrepreneur Adam Norris, who previously built the pensions division of Hargreaves Lansdown and is currently working to transform the urban transport market through his electric bike and scooter retail business; Pure Electric.
Russell believes the investment will enable them to “hit the ground running” in the post-covid landscape. She says, “Glowday is a tech-driven business for a booming market which is still very much off-line. This will be more important post-covid, when practitioners will need as many aspects of their business as possible to be digitised and automated, to enable them to treat more clients. This investment means we’ll be ready to hit the ground running - clinics have huge waiting lists for when their doors reopen.”
Once the platform has 600 clinics on board the next phase will be a UK-wide marketing campaign, including TV advertising.
Practitioners who partner with Glowday will receive 30 days commission-free. Following this, there will be a commission structure of 30% on treatments completed with new clients, and 2% on treatments booked through Glowday from existing clients.