We learn how your clinic runs by asking and looking before we set anything up, then we bring it all into one system. It starts with a free 45-minute Patient Revenue Audit. Then we map who books, how your desk checks out, your memberships and packages, your treatments, rooms and staff, and which treatments involve a prescription medicine, and set Clinic App up to match before switch day.
Every clinic owner I meet says some version of the same thing: "We do things a bit differently here." They are right. Two clinics with the same treatment menu can run their desk, their memberships and their nurses' days in completely different ways. Software that ignores that ends up fighting the clinic. So the first job is not setting anything up. It is learning how you work, including the rules a cosmetic clinic works under, which are easy to miss when a system wasn't set up with them in mind.
Why does it matter that new software matches how your clinic runs?
When software doesn't match the way a clinic works, staff build workarounds. A paper list behind the desk. A spreadsheet of who is on which membership. A group chat for room bookings. Each one is small. Together they mean the system is no longer the truth, and nobody trusts the numbers.
The opposite is just as bad. A system set up by someone who has never stood at your desk will be full of settings that look sensible and don't fit. Treatment times that are too short. Discounts anyone can give. A checkout that takes six taps for your most common sale.
Good set-up starts with how you actually run, then removes the workarounds, not the other way round. Clinic App was built inside working Australian cosmetic clinics, front desk first, so we start where the busiest part of your day is.
Why bring every workaround into one system?
Most workarounds exist because a job lives outside the main system. Loyalty in one tool, consent forms in another, memberships in a spreadsheet, review requests sent by hand. Each tool has its own login, its own copy of the patient, and its own way of going out of date.
Clinic App is one system: bookings, front desk checkout and payments, memberships, packages, gift vouchers, rewards, consent, treatment records and reports, with one record per patient. So mapping your clinic is really a hunt for every workaround, and then giving each one a home in that system. When it works, there are no add-ons to connect, no data copied between tools, one login for the team and one bill for you.
What happens in the free Patient Revenue Audit?
The Patient Revenue Audit is a free, one-on-one 45-minute session with me. It is the first step with Clinic App, and it is where we start learning your clinic.
We look at how many of your patients come back, and at the patients who stopped coming, in plain numbers. You don't need to prepare, and you don't need to know your numbers first. It is a working session, not a sales call. If Clinic App is not right for your clinic, I will say so.
If it makes sense to keep going after that call, we move on to mapping how your clinic runs in detail. There is no obligation either way.
Software should learn your clinic. Your clinic should not have to learn its way around the software.
What should a good onboarding discovery cover?
An onboarding discovery is the stage where a software provider learns how your clinic works before setting anything up. Whatever system you choose, a good one covers each area below. If a vendor skips most of it, expect to do the set-up yourself.
| Area | Questions to answer | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Bookings | Who books: online, phone, walk-in or messages? Which treatments need a deposit or a consult first? | Sets the online booking rules and deposit settings |
| Front desk checkout | How does a patient pay? Split payments, vouchers, packages? Who is allowed to discount? | The checkout is used more than any other screen |
| Memberships and packages | What plans exist, what is included, when members are billed, and what the terms say | Members are billed automatically, so mistakes repeat every billing cycle |
| Treatments, rooms and machines | How long each treatment really takes, which room or machine it needs, and who can perform it | Stops double-booked rooms and impossible appointments |
| Prescription medicines | Which treatments involve a Schedule 4 (prescription-only) medicine, and how you describe them to the public today | Those treatments must stay out of rewards, offers and public promotion |
| Reviews and marketing | How you ask for reviews, what offers you run, and what messages go to patients | AHPRA's rules on testimonials and inducements apply to the clinic as a business |
| Staff and rosters | Who works where and when, and who should see or change what | Rosters drive availability, and access protects patient data |
| Consent and records | Which consent and intake forms you use, their exact wording, how under-18s are handled, and how notes and photos are kept | Health information carries extra privacy rules, and consent must match what the patient agreed to |
| Locations | One site or several? Shared patients, separate rosters, separate stock? | Shapes reports and who sees which diary |
| Reports | Which numbers the owner checks each week, and how | The system should answer those questions without a spreadsheet |
A general checklist for any clinic software. Your clinic may need more areas, for example retail stock or prescriber workflows.
The consent and records row deserves care. Under the Privacy Act, health information is sensitive information, and the Australian Privacy Principles apply higher standards to collecting sensitive information. The Privacy Act and client data explains what that means for a clinic day to day.
You can make any discovery faster by gathering a few things before the first proper session:
- Your treatment menu with real times, not the ones on the website, and a note of which treatments involve a prescription medicine.
- Your membership and package terms, exactly as patients signed up to them.
- A normal week's roster, with who works where.
- Your consent and intake forms, with the current wording.
- A list of the workarounds your staff use today. Ask the front desk. They know every one.
That last list is the most useful thing you can bring. Every workaround is a job the current system doesn't do well, and it tells a good vendor exactly where to look.
Why does mapping a cosmetic clinic include AHPRA and TGA rules?
A cosmetic clinic is not a hair salon. It advertises regulated health services, and two sets of rules shape what it can promote and how:
- AHPRA. The guidelines for advertising a regulated health service apply to anyone advertising one, including businesses, not only practitioners. They prohibit using testimonials, and say a gift, discount or other inducement must come with its terms and conditions. Higher-risk cosmetic procedures also have their own cosmetic procedure advertising guidelines.
- TGA. Prescription-only medicines can't be advertised to the public, and the TGA's guidance on advertising prescription medicines to the public makes clear that indirect references, like brand names, abbreviations and nicknames, can count too.
That is why the discovery asks which treatments involve a prescription medicine, how you ask for reviews, and exactly what your consent forms say. The answers decide how the system is set up. In Clinic App:
- Points, rewards, discounts and offers never apply to Schedule 4 (prescription-only) treatments.
- Prescription medicine names are kept off public, patient-facing promotional surfaces.
- Marketing campaigns and automatic messages are checked for prescription medicine names, including disguised spellings, before they can be sent.
- Review requests never offer points or rewards for a review, aren't sent to staff, and are checked for prescription medicine names.
- Consent forms are signed digitally, with the exact wording the patient agreed to stored with each signature and versioned. An under-18 can't complete consent alone; it needs a parent or guardian.
- Treatment records keep their history. Changes are amended or struck out, never deleted.
- Patient data is hosted in Sydney, Australia, and card numbers are handled by Stripe, never stored by us.
None of this makes a clinic compliant by itself, and your clinic still owns what it publishes. It means the system is built around the rules and helps your team follow them from switch day on.
Which questions should you ask any software vendor before you switch?
These questions tell you quickly whether a vendor will learn your clinic or leave you to it. Ask them of anyone, including us.
- Who sets the system up, you or me? If the answer is a help centre link, you are doing it.
- Is it one system, or several tools joined together? Ask where memberships, rewards, consent forms and treatment notes live, and whether each patient has one record.
- Will you look at how our desk actually checks out? A good answer includes your awkward cases, not just a simple sale.
- What happens to our memberships, packages and gift vouchers? Ask what moves, and what each patient will need to do. How easy is it to switch clinic software? has a full checklist.
- What stops a prescription treatment ending up in a promotion? Ask how points, offers, campaigns and review requests handle prescription-only treatments, and whether the exact consent wording is kept with each signature.
- Who trains the team, and on what? Generic videos are not the same as training on your own set-up. More in how to train your clinic team on new software.
- Where is patient data hosted? Can your clinic's software store client data overseas? covers why this matters.
- What happens if launch slips? Ask for the answer in writing.
How does Clinic App set itself up to match your clinic?
Clinic App is one system for cosmetic and skin clinics: diary and online booking, front desk checkout and payments, memberships, packages, gift vouchers, rewards, consent forms, treatment records, rosters, stock and reports, with one record per patient. Because it replaces Fresha or Timely, the set-up has to fit your clinic from day one. Here is how we do that:
- We start with a free 45-minute Patient Revenue Audit. No obligation, and no need to prepare.
- Then we map how you actually run. Who books, how the desk checks out, what memberships and packages exist, which treatments, rooms and staff you have, and which treatments involve a prescription medicine.
- We bring it into one system, set up to match, before switch day. Your client list, visit history, gift vouchers and package balances are imported from your old system's exports and reports, with a preview before anything is saved and a report of any skipped rows. Active memberships come from Fresha's membership report. Timely has no memberships export, so Timely members are set up from your own records.
- The AHPRA and TGA guard rails are on from day one. More in the section above.
- Your team trains on your set-up, in one system. Each clinic gets its own training hub, with short step-by-step courses for the front desk, nurses and managers.
- I onboard you in person. Flat fees, with no setup fee, no per-seat fee and no lock-in.
And we put a promise on the timing, the 30-Day Launch Guarantee: if we are not ready to launch within 30 days of having what we need from your team, the next month is on us. To see the full system, read all-in-one clinic software.
Frequently asked questions
How does Clinic App know how my clinic runs?
We ask and look before we set anything up. It starts with a free 45-minute Patient Revenue Audit. Then we map who books, how your desk checks out, your memberships and packages, your treatments, rooms and staff, and which treatments involve a prescription medicine, and set Clinic App up to match before switch day.
What is the Patient Revenue Audit?
It is a free, one-on-one 45-minute session with Zoe, and the first step with Clinic App. It looks at how many of your patients come back and at the patients who stopped coming. You don't need to prepare or know your numbers first, and there is no obligation.
Do I have to change how my clinic works to use Clinic App?
No. We map how your clinic already runs and set Clinic App up to match before switch day. Where a workaround like a paper list, a side spreadsheet or a separate loyalty tool exists, the aim is to bring that job into one system so your staff can stop using it.
Does Clinic App set up for AHPRA and TGA rules?
It is built around them. During mapping we ask which treatments involve a prescription-only medicine and how you handle consent and reviews. In Clinic App, points, rewards, discounts and offers never apply to Schedule 4 treatments, and campaigns, automatic messages and review requests are checked for prescription medicine names before they are sent. Your clinic still owns what it publishes.
What will you need from my clinic to set up?
The exports and reports from your current system, such as your client list, visit history, gift vouchers and package balances, plus Fresha's membership report if you are on Fresha. Timely has no memberships export, so Timely members are set up from your own records. We also need your treatment menu, staff, rooms, consent forms and membership terms. Our 30-Day Launch Guarantee counts from when we have what we need from your team.
