Patients already message you on WhatsApp. Answer them properly.
Patients prefer WhatsApp to a phone queue. Clinqly connects your practice's WhatsApp Business account, answers from your approved information, offers real times and books, and hands anything that needs a person to your team in the same conversation.
How WhatsApp usually works in a practice
Many practices start on the WhatsApp Business app on a reception phone. It works until it does not.
One phone, one person
Messages arrive on a single handset. When that person is with a patient or off, nobody replies.
Patient details on a personal device
Conversations, photos and contact details sit on a phone the practice cannot manage, which makes data protection harder to show.
No link to the diary
Every booking needs times checked by hand and typed back, so a simple appointment takes a dozen messages.
A separate inbox from everything else
Instagram, Facebook and website chat each have their own inbox, so the same patient can be in three places.
A WhatsApp enquiry, before and after
| Moment | Without Clinqly | With Clinqly |
|---|---|---|
| The message arrives | On one phone, read when someone is free | Answered in the conversation, from your approved information |
| Questions about prices | Typed out from memory | Quoted from the prices your practice set, or handed over |
| Booking | Times checked by hand and typed back | Real times offered and booked in the chat, with any deposit through your Stripe account |
| It needs a person | Someone picks up the phone later | Handed to your team in the same thread, with the history |
What Clinqly does on WhatsApp, and what stays with your team
Clinqly keeps moving
- Connects your WhatsApp Business account through the WhatsApp Business Platform
- Replies in the conversation from the information your practice approved
- Offers real times and books inside the chat
- Uses approved message templates when a conversation is outside WhatsApp's 24-hour window
- Respects a patient who asks to stop, on that channel
- Keeps WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and website chat in one inbox
Your team keeps
- Clinical questions and photos, which are always handed to a person
- Conversations that need judgement or a call
- Your data protection decisions and records
- Which messages your practice sends, and to whom
Before your practice uses WhatsApp with patients
Questions to settle with whoever handles data protection at your practice. This is not legal advice.
- Are conversations held on a managed system rather than a personal phone?
- Is there a data processing agreement with every provider that handles the messages?
- Have you recorded a data protection impact assessment for the way you use it?
- Do clinical details stay in your PMS, not in the chat?
- Do you know which messages are service messages and which count as marketing?
Alongside your PMS and your other channels
Clinqly keeps the conversation and the booking. Your practice-management system keeps the clinical record, and there is no live connection between them today.
WhatsApp sits in the same inbox as Instagram, Facebook Messenger and website chat, so one patient's messages stay together. Read how Clinqly handles data in the Trust Centre.
How Clinqly fits your systemsQuestions practices ask
Do we need the WhatsApp Business app on a reception phone?
No. Clinqly connects your practice's WhatsApp Business account through the WhatsApp Business Platform, so conversations are handled in Clinqly rather than on a single handset.
Can patients book an appointment inside WhatsApp?
Yes. Clinqly offers real times from your availability and books in the conversation, taking any deposit through your own Stripe account first.
What happens if a patient sends a photo of a tooth?
Clinqly does not assess clinical photos or symptoms. It hands the conversation to your team.
Is WhatsApp GDPR compliant for a dental practice?
That depends on how your practice uses it, not on the app alone. Our guide sets out the questions to settle, and your data protection lead decides.
Bring a WhatsApp conversation from last week.
We'll show you how Clinqly would have answered it, booked it or handed it to your team.