Using Salon Software to Build Trust with Patients

Sisu Uses Phorest to Create a 5-Star Client Experience in their Aesthetic Clinics

A seamless experience at every step; from booking through to aftercare, is essential when building trust with patients in the aesthetics industry. Watch how Sisu Aesthetic Clinics uses Phorest to achieve this trust and address inefficiencies within their clinics.

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We have extremely high exacting standards, and finding a partner that allowed us to carry that experience from a support structure, booking engines, right through into the treatment room, that was vital. That's why we chose Phorest.

Dr. Brian Cotter, Co-Founder & Global Medical Director

Sisu Aesthetic Clinic - Ireland | UK | USA
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With Phorest, Sisu creates a seamless client experience:

Pre-filled consultation forms build trust and put clients at ease

PhorestPay cardless payments give a modern, touchless checkout experience

Streamlined front-of-house automates communications with clients and professionals

660 New 5 Star Reviews on Google

Phorest helps when addressing inefficiencies

Sisu Clinics is a chain of a wildly successful, doctor-led aesthetic clinics. After opening their first location in Ireland in 2018, in just a few short years Sisu now has more than 20 locations across Ireland, the UK and USA. Such quick expansion comes with its challenged – according to Dr. Brian Cotter, Co-Founder & Global Medical Director of Sisu Aesthetic Clinics, prior to using Phorest, the clinic structure wasn’t as efficient as it should have been.

“We used a lot of email. We used a lot of call-based communication. Two things with this; from a consumer/patient perspective, it probably wasn’t as slick or as seamless as we wanted. And the second thing is, in terms of the administrative side of things, it took up an awful lot of time.”

The doctors in the clinic flagged other inefficiencies they noticed during the course of their days. Dr. Ailbhe Lohan felt there was ‘clunkiness’ when front-of-house staff needed to come into the treatment room to relay information or updates on client check-ins. She also found clients were forgetting to flag important information during their consultations, often when nerves took over in the treatment room.

Being a ‘hyper-medicalised’ clinic model, Sisu needed a software provider that would help them give a standardised, high-level experience to every client.

Building Trust via a Seamless Experience

“By introducing Phorest, it allowed every aspect of the clinic, from how somebody books, to how the staff interact, front-of-house, doctors, just to be a much more seamless process,” said Dr. Brian Cotter.

There were a number of elements within the Phorest system that allowed Sisu to address the inefficiencies in their client journey, including;

Smooth online booking

“That ability to book instantaneously, that ability to be able to look at your own schedule over the course of the day and slot in a treatment or an appointment, that is massively convenient. So when you have something like Phorest as a platform, It’s easy to use, it gives the consumer a just really nice way to make an appointment that’s totally stress free, and from the business perspective, it’s seamless.” – Dr. Brian Cotter, Co-Founder & Global Medical Director

Discreet check-in notifications

“If we stopped using Phorest, I think I’d miss how efficient it makes our days. The front-of-house are able to check-in our patients, we get a notification to show that the patient is in, and it prevents any kind of clunkiness throughout the day, I suppose… I feel like the patient then gets some more kind of efficient and cohesive treatment on the day.” – Ailbhe Lohan, Aesthetic Doctor

Helping things move smoother, in the clinic & out

Aside from the client-focused benefits that Phorest offers Sisu, the team also remarked on how much easier Phorest makes their everyday routine. This is especially evident from the system’s streamlined check-out and consultation form process.

Cardless checkout

“We just brought PhorestPay on, and I think, for me, that’s the game changer, because there’s no touch. People log on online, they register their credit card, there are no forms, there’s no paper. That’s the part that excites people today. I have my consultation form the night before, I’m all checked in, I go see a doctor, I don’t – I almost don’t even have to check out. And I think that’s the part we’re very excited about.” – Pat Phelan, CEO & Co-Founder

Pre-sent digital consultation forms

“Being able to refer back to previous appointments with different doctors develops a great sense of trust with the doctor and the patient. Patients feel like they’re being listened to. Phorest definitely puts the patient at ease, I feel. When they come in, I’ll already know a little bit about them if we’ve seen them previously, because I’ll have read their previous notes. We’ll also have their consultation form already filled out. This can help jog a patient’s memory as well, because they’ll come in on the day, they can often feel a bit nervous and a bit worried, especially coming into a clinical setting with the doctor, it can be intimidating. But if they have the consultation form filled out already, they’ll have thought about their own past medical history and things that might be important before we go ahead with treatment.” – Ailbhe Lohan, Aesthetic Doctor

660 five-star reviews and counting

Dr. Brian Cotter said, “We decided to go with Phorest as a management software because quite frankly, when we looked at the market, it was the best. It served our needs. It allowed us to focus on our patients, and we are patient-obsessed, so anything that allows our patients to have a better experience, a better flow, a better interaction with the clinic [is important]. And I guess, in reality, we have extremely high exacting standards, and finding a partner that allowed us to carry that experience from a support structure of booking engines right through into the treatment room was vital, and that’s why we chose Phorest.”

What’s more – since using Phorest’s Online Reputation tool to follow up with these happy clients, Sisu has garnered 660 new Google reviews in the last year. That averages 33 per location, with all of them being 5-star.