Win back patients who haven’t been in for 18 months
A once-a-month campaign texts and emails lapsed patients a friendly "we miss you" with a one-tap booking link.
Your cheapest new patients are already in your database. Book 5 of them back a month.
The problem
Every practice has hundreds of patients who quietly stopped coming. Recall messages stop after a few tries, and nobody runs a proper reactivation.
Pain point we researched: Dentalbase: what an empty dental chair really costs
What it could earn or save you
Rough estimate- Time
- About 3 hours a month
- Money
- Illustrative: 5 reactivated patients a month at ~$200 per hygiene visit = about $1,000
How we got this: Assumes a database of 1,000+ lapsed patients and a low response rate. Rough estimate. Your results depend on your business; this is an illustrative estimate, not a guarantee.
How to switch it on
- 1
Run a report of patients with no visit in 18+ months and no future appointment (Dentrix, Open Dental, Dentally).
- 2
Remove anyone who asked not to be contacted.
- 3
Send a 2-step campaign: text with booking link, then an email a week later.
- 4
Call the 20 highest-value patients personally.
Tools you can use
- DentrixVisit site (opens in new tab)
Dental practice management software with scheduling, recall and treatment-plan reports.
- Open DentalVisit site (opens in new tab)
Open-source dental practice management with recall and treatment-plan tracking.
- DentallyVisit site (opens in new tab)
Cloud dental software popular in the UK, with online booking and patient portal.
- WeaveVisit site (opens in new tab)
Healthcare texting, reminders, reviews, payments and phones in one inbox.
Tool links are plain links for now. Some may later become affiliate links, which will always be labelled. Check each tool’s current pricing on its site.
Template and prompt
Template:
Template:
Hi {first_name}, it’s been a while since we saw you at {practice}! Book your check-up in 1 tap: {link}. Reply STOP to opt out.AI prompt (generic text only, no personal data):
Write a warm 2-step reactivation campaign (text + email) for dental patients who haven’t visited in 18 months. No guilt, no clinical claims.