Ask any practice owner or front desk what eats their day and you’ll hear the same thing: the phone and the inbox. Often it’s the same handful of questions, over and over, from people who already have your website open on their phone.
So why do they call, when the Book now button is right there?
It usually isn’t because they prefer talking. It’s because they have a question, and the website didn’t answer it.
Booking is a decision, and decisions need answers
Booking a first session with a therapist, or a first visit at a physical therapy clinic, isn’t like ordering a pizza. People are spending money, often worrying about whether insurance will cover it, and sometimes feeling nervous about the visit itself.
Before they commit, most people want to know a few things:
- How much will it cost?
- Are you in network with my insurance? If not, can I get a superbill?
- Who will I see, and are they right for me?
- Are you taking new clients, and when can I come in?
- Where are you, can I park, and do you offer telehealth?
- What happens at the first session?
If any of these is missing or hard to find, the easiest thing to do is call. And if your line is busy, or it’s after hours, many people simply try the next therapist on the list instead.
The usual reasons, one by one
“I couldn’t find the price”
This is the big one. Lots of therapy websites leave fees off, or tuck them away on a page nobody can find from a phone. People don’t like booking without knowing the cost. So they call to ask, or they leave.
The fix: Show your fees in actual numbers on a clear fees and insurance page, and link to it from your main menu and beside every Book now button. Our fees and insurance page template gives you the wording.
“I wasn’t sure about my insurance”
“Do you take my insurance?” might be the most common question practices hear. “We accept most major insurance” doesn’t help someone who wants to know about their plan.
The fix: List every plan you’re in network with, by name. Explain out-of-network benefits and superbills in a sentence or two. Tell people what to ask their insurer. We wrote a whole post on what a therapy website should say about insurance.
“I didn’t know who to book with”
When a group practice has several therapists, clients worry about choosing wrong. If the online booking just shows a list of names, they’ll call to ask who’s best for their situation.
The fix: Give each clinician a warm, short bio with a photo, their license type, the states they’re licensed in, the plans they take and the kinds of clients they help. Mention it on specialty pages too: “For couples, Hannah and Sam are a good fit.”
“I wanted to check something first”
People call about small practical things: parking, accessibility, whether they need a referral, whether you see clients online in their state, whether you have evening sessions.
The fix: A short “Getting started” section and a questions page cover most of these. They’re easy to write, and they save a lot of calls.
“The website was hard to use on my phone”
Sometimes the answer is on the website, but the page is slow to load, the text is tiny, or the Book now button is hidden in a menu. On a phone, that’s enough to make someone give up and dial.
The fix: Open your own website on your phone, on mobile data, and try to book. If it’s frustrating for you, it’s frustrating for clients. Our post on slow websites on phones explains what usually causes it.
What calls are really costing you
Every call pulls you or your front desk away from the clients in front of you. If you’re a solo therapist, it’s time between sessions you don’t really have. And every missed call can be a missed client, especially in the evening, when many people finally sit down to reach out.
You can get a rough sense of the time involved with our front-desk time calculator. Type in how many insurance and fee questions you get by phone and email each week and how long they usually take, and it adds up the hours for you. Many owners are surprised by the total.
You don’t have to stop people calling
Some people will always prefer the phone, and that’s completely fine. Many older clients feel more comfortable talking to a person. The goal isn’t to hide your number. It’s to make calling a choice, not a necessity.
When your website answers the common questions clearly, the people who call tend to be the ones with genuinely unusual situations. Those are the calls your team should be taking.
A simple test
Keep a tally for one week. Every time someone calls or emails, jot down a word or two: “price”, “insurance”, “superbill”, “which therapist”. At the end of the week, look at the list.
Each of those words is a question your website could answer. Start with the most common one, add the answer to your website in plain words, and watch how the calls change.
Where to go from here
- Read the therapy website checklist for the 12 things clients look for before they book.
- See what we put on websites for therapists in private practice and group practices so fewer people need to call.
- Or send us your website for a free website check, and we’ll tell you which questions your website leaves unanswered.