‘Tis the season for Botox!

From the end of October through December, aesthetics practices and med spas see more Botox appointments than at any other point during the year, culminating on National Botox Day.

Officially celebrated on the third Wednesday in November, National Botox Day marks the busiest treatment day in the U.S. Since its inception in 2019, the number of appointments, gift card sales, and social media buzz has only grown, making it a significant opportunity for aesthetics practices to strengthen existing patient relationships and attract new patients as well.

Whether you're set on impressing your patients for their first appointment or their next appointment, here are three patient acquisition and retention opportunities to consider this National Botox Day — and every day after.

1. Automate your waitlist

Not only is National Botox Day one of the busiest treatment days of the year, it’s also a massive generator of future business. In fact, Allergan reported the highest number of gift cards ever sold on this day last year. What if you could help patients use those gift cards sooner?

Last-minute cancellations pop up every day, and for many practices, waitlist management looks something like patient names on outdated spreadsheets and miscellaneous sticky notes. Busy front office staff scramble to make phone calls to fill the open slots and then find themselves caught in inopportune phone tag with patients.

Too often, even after all the effort and stress, open slots go unfilled with revenue left on the table. Everyone’s left frazzled and disappointed — likely thinking, There has to be a better way. And there is!

Automating your waitlist fills last-minute cancellations without involving staff and gets patients in sooner. It’s a win-win-win for your staff, your patients, and your bottom line.

2. Boost new patient acquisition with self-scheduling

Just like you, your patients’ lives are managed almost entirely online. Your next hair appointment? Booked online. Friday’s date night reservations? Booked online too. Your Uber to the airport for holiday travel? Yep, booked online and often reserved in advance.

The convenience of booking anything and everything online is the way of the world, and life doesn’t happen just during office hours. Meeting patients where they are — online and after hours — is critical to a thriving practice. When potential patients are searching for and comparing practices online, why would they wait to find time to call for an appointment at one practice when they can self-schedule with your practice and get immediate confirmation?

The answer seems obvious and rhetorical, yet you might still be hesitant to embrace patient self-scheduling, especially for new patients. You’ve been burned too many times by no-shows, and collecting new consult fees at the time of booking is a non-negotiable. 

The good news: With the right tools and processes in place, you can boost your bottom line and deliver the convenience today's patients expect. NextPatient’s self-scheduling allows practices to securely capture credit card information upfront for consultation fees, reducing no-show rates and protecting both schedules and revenue.

3. Relieve staff of busywork

Whether your practice is new or more established, this time of year is demanding. You know the busy Botox season is an opportunity to pick up momentum heading into the new year, so you’re making the social posts, you planned and hosted #bootox events, and your office staff is stretched thinner than ever. 

Patients are on hold in the lobby as well as on lines 1 and 2. One patient’s interested in purchasing skincare, another patient wants to book their next treatment, a patient on the phone needs to reschedule. A couple of patients have arrived to check-in. There’s also a list of patients to call with pre-appointment instructions.

A frenetic front office certainly leaves an impression, but it’s not the patient experience anyone wants. Automating your front office’s most tedious tasks results in a less frazzled, stressed staff — staff who can be present and engaged with the patients right in front of them, with the confidence that patients are being taken care of online too. 

You cannot save your way to success. Use this National Botox Day as a catalyst to invest in your practice's growth. Interested in learning how NextPatient can help kickstart your 2025?