40% of your patients drop off before their treatment course is complete.
An analysis of patient retention patterns across Australian acupuncture practices — and the system that brings them back.
Routiq — Australian Acupuncture Report 2026Acupuncture is a regulated, growing health profession with strong consumer demand.
Acupuncture works in courses.
Patient behaviour doesn't follow.
Pain management protocols typically run 6–10 sessions. Fertility support programs span 3–6 months. Stress and anxiety treatment needs ongoing maintenance. These are structured courses being abandoned mid-way — often just before therapeutic breakthroughs occur.
PMC/BMC Public Health, WebPT, Dialog HealthThe economics of ignoring retention.
Most practices spend the majority of their marketing budget chasing new patients while existing ones silently disappear.
A consistent pattern across every acupuncture practice we analyse.
Regardless of size, location, or specialty mix, the same story repeats: the vast majority of patients in every database are lapsed, reachable by SMS, and have never received a clinically-relevant recall message.
What follows reflects the typical patterns we see across Australian acupuncture practices.
In a typical acupuncture practice database, around two-thirds to three-quarters of all patients haven't been seen in over 90 days. Many haven't visited in years — despite ongoing treatment needs and unfinished courses of care.
Typical patient recency distribution
Most acupuncture practices have no automated system for identifying patients who've fallen off their treatment course, understanding where they are in their protocol, or sending clinically-relevant recall messages at scale.
Practice management software manages bookings. It was never designed to bring patients back.
Four reengagement segments hiding in every acupuncture database.
What reengagement looks like for a typical acupuncture practice.
Based on a practice with 1,500 patients, ~70% lapsed, at standard Australian acupuncture rates.
| Segment | Estimated Pool | Reengagement Rate | Recovered | Avg Value | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Treatment Course Dropouts | ~315 | 10% | 32 | $270 | $8,640 |
| Maintenance Lapsed | ~263 | 12% | 32 | $90 | $2,880 |
| Initial Contact Only | ~263 | 8% | 21 | $770 | $16,170 |
| No-Show Recovery | ~53 | 25% | 13 | $90 | $1,170 |
| Total — First Pass | 98 | $28,860 |
Maintenance patients come fortnightly to monthly. Those 32 recovered maintenance patients generate $2,880 every month in recurring revenue.
Modelled on Australian private acupuncture rates. Conservative reengagement assumptions.These numbers aren't optimistic. They're conservative.
“Can't I just send a WeChat message or call them myself?”
Sending messages is easy. Getting lapsed patients to act is the hard part.
82 cognitive principles from Nobel Prize-winning research. Applied to every message, automatically.
Routiq's messaging engine is built on behavioral science frameworks from 20 seminal works in psychology and economics — not marketing copywriting.
Commitment & Consistency + Goal Gradient
The first asks for action. The second activates commitment & consistency (you already started), goal gradient (you're past halfway), and loss aversion (don't lose the cumulative benefit). Acupuncture's cumulative mechanism is the perfect fit for goal gradient messaging — research shows people accelerate effort as they approach a goal.
Loss aversion (cumulative benefits fading), anchoring (6 weeks vs. 2–4 week norm), default effect (spot already found), Pratfall Effect (zero guilt for no-shows), and planning prompts (specific options, not open-ended).
The 3-touch behavioural escalation sequence.
Every campaign follows the same evidence-based structure. Three messages. Three psychological mechanisms. Automated and personalised.
Commitment & Consistency + Loss Aversion
“You're 4 sessions in. The cumulative benefits you've built up start to fade without continuation. Let's pick up where you left off before that progress is lost.”
Default Effect
“We've found a time for you on Thursday at 2pm — reply YES to confirm, or CHANGE for other options.”
Social Proof + Scarcity
“Most of our patients who complete their full course report lasting results. We have a few spots left this week.”
Three layers no one else has.
Routiq doesn't just know a patient is “overdue.” It knows they were 4 sessions into a 7-session pain management course when they stopped. It knows their practitioner was Dr Li. It knows their last session was 6 weeks ago. It knows they were responding well to treatment.
82 principles from 20 seminal works in psychology and behavioral economics. Not copywriting tips — systematic frameworks applied automatically. Each segment gets the right lever at the right time.
Every patient monitored daily. Messages sent at the exact overdue moment. Replies handled instantly with AI-powered clinical context. Works nights, weekends, holidays. Sends from your own clinic number.
Where Routiq sits.
| Capability | Self / Front Desk | PMS / Booking Platform | Routiq |
|---|---|---|---|
| Messages per day | ~10–20 (manual) | Basic reminders | Unlimited, daily |
| Knows treatment course progress | If you check notes | Stores data, doesn't act on it | Yes — protocol-based |
| Triggers at exact overdue moment | No | No | Yes — treatment protocols |
| Segments by priority | No | No | Yes — 4 segments |
| Behavioral science messaging | No | No | 82 principles, systematic |
| Multi-touch campaign escalation | No | No | 3-touch, automated |
| AI-powered reply handling | When you're free | No | Instant, 24/7 |
| Works after hours | No | No | Yes — always on |
Your PMS holds the data. Routiq turns that data into revenue.
Reengagement isn't a campaign. It's a system that compounds.
Maintenance patients come fortnightly to monthly. Treatment course patients return for multiple sessions. Each reactivated patient becomes recurring revenue. Based on recovering 15 maintenance patients per month at $90/visit.
By month 6: 90 reactivated maintenance patients generating ongoing recurring revenue — plus treatment course completions worth $270–$770+ per patient.
What this means for your practice.
The pattern is universal. The opportunity scales with your database size.
| Your Database Size | Estimated Lapsed (~70%) | Conservative Recovery (5%) | Moderate Recovery (10%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 patients | 350 | $5,075 | $10,150 |
| 1,000 patients | 700 | $10,150 | $20,300 |
| 1,500 patients | 1,050 | $15,225 | $30,450 |
| 2,000 patients | 1,400 | $20,300 | $40,600 |
| 5,000 patients | 3,500 | $50,750 | $101,500 |
Based on blended average value of $290 per recovered patient (mix of treatment course completions, maintenance reactivations, and initial conversions). Excludes recurring revenue multiplier.
Industry benchmark: 15–25% of lapsed patients can be successfully re-engaged via recall campaignsWithout Routiq
No visibility into who's mid-course and overdue
Revenue entirely dependent on new patient acquisition
No automated recall system
Patients silently dropping off treatment courses
Manual follow-ups when you remember
With Routiq
Automated reengagement with clinical context
Revenue from patients you've already acquired
Acupuncture treatment protocols running daily
Treatment course progress tracked and acted on
Fraction of the cost, 10x the ROI
You already did the hard part — building trust, understanding their body's patterns, guiding them toward balance.
Those patients didn't leave because treatment wasn't working. They left because life got busy and nobody followed up.
Their body hasn't stopped needing care. They just need the right nudge.
How much of your dormant revenue do you want to leave on the table?
routiq.
Clinical Intelligence Meets Behavioral Science
routiq.ai
Chinese Medicine Board of Australia
AHPRA Annual Report 2024/25
KPMG Australia
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
Medicare Benefits Schedule Data
PMC / BMC Public Health
NaturalTherapyPages
Bain & Company / Harvard Business Review
WebPT
Dialog Health
PMC Systematic Reviews
Practice analysis data from Routiq platform insights. All data anonymised and presented as industry patterns. February 2026.