> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.routiq.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Lapsed-Patient Reactivation

> The third Robyn pillar. Bring dormant patients back through multi-touch sequences informed by behavioural science. The capability that defines Routiq.

<Info>
  **Why this matters.** Most clinic owners can name 50-200 patients by
  face who used to come in regularly and just stopped. They didn't
  leave because of a bad experience — life got busy, the appointment
  slipped, the meaning-to-rebook never happened. Reactivation is the
  highest-yield outbound work a clinic can do because the relationship
  was already there. Routiq's reference data shows 12-18% of dormant
  patients rebook from a well-designed reactivation sequence — that
  same number is 1-3% from generic "we miss you" texts.
</Info>

## Why this is the Routiq wedge

Reactivation is the third pillar (Reception, Notes, Re-engagement). It's the one capability competing AI receptionists don't have, and it's the reason Routiq exists. Most "AI receptionist" tools handle inbound calls. Robyn handles inbound *plus* the outbound work that recovers the patients you'd otherwise lose silently.

The wedge is sharper because of *behavioural science*. Generic recall ("you're overdue, book now") is the AI-receptionist industry default and it underperforms hard. Robyn's templates are built around timing (when), reciprocity (what you give first), specificity (what about *this* patient, not all patients), and loss-framing (what they're walking away from, not what they're missing).

This is a knowledge layer, not a clinical layer. Behavioural science informs *how* Robyn nudges, not *what* care she recommends.

## How Robyn handles reactivation

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Multi-touch sequence" icon="layer-group">
    SMS Day 0 → Email Day 7 → SMS Day 14 → Voice call Day 21 (high-value only). Each touch different angle, different channel.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Behavioural-science timing" icon="clock">
    Sequences fire at the patient's typical engagement window — Tuesday 10am vs Saturday 2pm makes a measurable difference.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Stops on response" icon="hand">
    Any positive reply, rebook, or STOP ends the sequence. No nagging.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Specificity over generic" icon="bullseye">
    "Hope your knee's improved since you stopped care in March" beats "we miss you" by 4-6× in our reference data.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Per-segment campaigns" icon="users">
    6-12 month lapsed gets one campaign; 12-24 month gets a different one; 24+ month dormant gets a third. Different angles for different cohorts.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Replies handled in-thread" icon="comments">
    Patient replies → Robyn handles the conversation, books the appointment, escalates clinical questions to your team.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What your patient sees

> **Robyn (SMS, Day 0):**
>
> *Hi Sarah, this is Robyn from Bondi Physio. I noticed you stopped your physio plan with Dr Lin in March — hope the knee's been okay since.*
>
> *Dr Lin had you down for a 6-week follow-up that never quite happened. If you'd like to lock in a check-in, I can find a time that works. Or just reply NOT NOW and I'll leave you alone.*

> **Patient:** Yeah it's been giving me trouble actually
>
> **Robyn:** Sorry to hear. Dr Lin has Friday at 2pm or Tuesday at 10am — want me to book one in?

## Setup

<Steps>
  <Step title="Build your lapsed-patient segment">
    See [Patient Segmentation](/features/patient-segmentation). Recommended starter:

    ```
    Last visit BETWEEN 6 months ago AND 12 months ago
    AND Patient status = Active
    AND Has mobile = Yes
    AND Treatment type IN [your high-value services]
    ```

    Save it (e.g. `Lapsed-physio-6-12mo`).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a reactivation instance">
    **Outbound** → **Create Automatic Instance** → **Lapsed-Patient Reactivation**.

    Pick the segment from step 1.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose a template angle">
    Routiq ships with a few proven angles. Pick the one that fits your clinic:

    * **Specific-context** (recommended) — "you stopped your plan in March, here's a slot to lock in" — references the actual care plan
    * **Practitioner check-in** — "Dr Lin asked me to check in" — warmer, name-anchored
    * **Soft "still good?"** — "checking in to see how things are" — lowest friction, lowest conversion
    * **Limited-time offer** — only use if you have a genuine offer; otherwise feels manipulative

    Each is a fully editable template. Customise to your clinic voice.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Configure the cadence">
    Default 4-touch sequence:

    * **Day 0** — SMS, primary angle
    * **Day 7** — email, longer-form, includes a "what to expect" link
    * **Day 14** — SMS, alternative angle (different practitioner mention, different prep)
    * **Day 21** — voice call (Robyn calls), only for patients with LTV > \$X

    Tunable. Most clinics start with 2-3 touches and add more if conversion data justifies it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set frequency cap and exclusions">
    Recommended:

    * **One sequence per patient per 90 days** — if they don't engage, don't re-attempt for 3 months
    * **Exclude active opted-out patients** (automatic)
    * **Exclude patients with a future appointment** (automatic)
    * **Exclude patients flagged "do not contact"** (manual flag in the dashboard)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pilot small, measure, scale">
    First-time reactivation campaigns:

    * Start with 50-100 patients in the segment
    * Run for 14 days
    * Check conversion rate in **Analytics** → **Outbound** → **Reactivation**
    * Adjust template, retime, expand to full segment

    <Tip>
      Don't pilot fewer than 30 patients — sample size is too small to learn anything statistically.
    </Tip>
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Recommended starter campaigns

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Lapsed-physio-6-12mo">
    Highest yield. Recent enough to remember the clinic, lapsed enough to actually need the nudge. Specific-context template works best here.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Lapsed-podiatry-12-24mo">
    Mid-cohort. Practitioner check-in tone often works better — gentler, less "you're overdue" framing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Dormant-24mo+">
    Long-tail recovery. Lower per-message conversion (\~3-5%), but big segment in most clinics. One quarterly touch worth it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="High-value-orphans">
    Patients with LTV > \$1k whose practitioner left the clinic. Needs a warmer, more personal angle — escalate to a human call, don't auto-text.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Measuring reactivation

[Analytics](/features/analytics) → **Outbound** → **Reactivation** shows:

* **Bookings recovered** — patients who rebooked within 30 days of a touch
* **Revenue recovered** — bookings × per-appointment-type fee
* **Conversion rate by segment** — which cohorts respond
* **Conversion rate by template** — which copy works
* **Cost per booking** — messaging cost ÷ bookings recovered (typically AUD \$1-3)
* **LTV uplift** — for clinics where the rebooked patient went on to multi-visit follow-ups

## Common questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Won't patients be annoyed?">
    Done well, no — done badly, yes. The data shows patients who *don't* want to be contacted reply STOP within the first message and never receive another one. Patients who *do* want contact (the majority) appreciate the specificity ("you'd been on a plan, here's what was missed") far more than generic marketing-style reactivation.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What about patients who left because of a bad experience?">
    Robyn doesn't see those signals automatically. Use the "do not contact" flag in the dashboard for any patient your team knows shouldn't be reactivated. We're working on automatic detection from PMS notes for the Q3 release.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What if a patient asks why we're contacting them?">
    Robyn explains: "Dr X asked me to check in" or "we noticed your plan didn't quite finish — wanted to see if you'd like to come back." Honest framing.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is this AHPRA-safe?">
    Yes — reactivation messaging is administrative, not clinical. Robyn doesn't recommend treatment, doesn't diagnose, doesn't give medical advice. She prompts a rebooking conversation. Patients who reply with clinical questions get escalated.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What's the typical conversion rate?">
    For a well-designed lapsed-6-12-month campaign with specific-context messaging, our reference data shows 12-18% of patients rebook within 30 days. Generic templates run 1-3%. Specificity is the multiplier.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I run this without behavioural science?">
    Yes — every template is fully editable. The "behavioural science" part is the *defaults* and the *training data* that informs Robyn's reply handling. You can use Routiq for reactivation with your own copy and still get the multi-touch, multi-channel, stop-on-response infrastructure.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Patient segmentation" icon="users" href="/features/patient-segmentation">
    The cohort definitions that drive every reactivation campaign.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Analytics" icon="chart-line" href="/features/analytics">
    Measure recovered revenue and conversion by segment + template.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>