42% of your clients never finish their nutrition plan.
We analysed client databases across Australian dietetics practices. The pattern is universal: the majority of clients lapse before completing their care plan, and almost none are being followed up. Here's the opportunity.
Routiq — Australian Dietetics Report 2026Dietetics is one of Australia's fastest-growing allied health professions.
Nutrition plans are designed for sustained change.
Client behaviour says otherwise.
Managing diabetes requires ongoing nutritional monitoring. Weight management programs run 8–12 sessions. IBS elimination diets need 3–6 months of guidance. These are sustained interventions being abandoned mid-course.
Nutrition & Dietetics Journal, PMC, WebPTThe economics of ignoring retention.
Most practices spend the majority of their budget chasing new clients while existing clients silently disappear.
A consistent pattern across every dietetics practice we analyse.
Regardless of size, specialty mix, or location, the same story repeats — the majority of clients are lapsed, reachable by SMS, and have never received a nutrition-plan-aware message prompting them to return.
What follows is representative of what we typically see in dietetics practice databases.
In a typical dietetics practice database, nearly two-thirds of all clients are lapsed beyond their recommended review interval. Many haven't returned in years.
Typical client recency distribution
Most dietetics practices have no automated, nutrition-plan-aware recall system — no way to identify who dropped off mid-plan, who is overdue for a review, or to send clinically-relevant messages at scale.
Practice management software manages bookings. It was never designed to bring clients back.
Four reengagement segments hiding in every dietetics database.
What reengagement looks like for a typical dietetics practice.
Based on a practice with 1,500 clients, ~65% lapsed, at standard Australian dietetics rates.
| Segment | Estimated Pool | Reengagement Rate | Recovered | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nutrition Plan Dropouts | ~293 | 10% | 29 | $10,440 |
| Review Cycle Lapsed | ~146 | 12% | 18 | $3,240 |
| Initial Contact Only | ~244 | 8% | 20 | $18,000 |
| No-Show Recovery | ~78 | 25% | 20 | $3,600 |
| Total — First Pass | 87 | $35,280 |
And review clients don't come once — they return every 3–6 months. Those 18 recovered review clients generate $3,240 every cycle in recurring revenue.
Modelled on Australian dietetics rates. Conservative reengagement assumptions.These numbers aren't optimistic. They're conservative.
“Can't I just email my clients a reminder?”
Generic email gets ~20% open rates. SMS is read 97–99% of the time. But reach isn't the only difference — a generic “book now” message doesn't acknowledge where they are in their nutrition journey.
82 principles. 20 that work for dietetics.
Routiq's messaging engine is built on behavioral science frameworks from seminal works in psychology and economics — not marketing copywriting.
Commitment & Consistency + Goal Gradient
Review Lapsed
No-Show Recovery
The 3-touch behavioural escalation sequence.
Every campaign follows the same evidence-based structure. Three messages. Three psychological mechanisms. Automated and personalised.
Commitment & Consistency
“You're 3 sessions into your plan and were making real progress with the elimination phase. We'd love to help you finish what you started.”
Default Effect
“Your dietitian has a session ready for you on Thursday. Reply YES to lock it in — we'll pick up right where you left off.”
Social Proof
“Most of our clients who complete the full plan report lasting changes in energy, digestion, and confidence with food. We'd love to get you there too.”
Three layers no one else has.
Routiq doesn't just know a client is “overdue.” It tracks their nutrition plan progress — how many sessions completed, what phase they're in, what condition they're managing, and when their next review is due. Nutrition-plan-aware from day one.
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.
Daily monitoring against each client's nutrition plan and review schedule. Messages sent from your own practice number at the exact overdue moment. Replies handled instantly with AI-powered clinical context. Works nights, weekends, holidays.
Where Routiq sits.
| Capability | Front Desk / PMS | Routiq |
|---|---|---|
| Nutrition plan tracking | Stores data, doesn't act on it | Yes — plan-aware recall |
| Review cycle monitoring | Manual / ad hoc | Yes — automated monitoring |
| Behavioral science messaging | No | 82 principles, systematic |
| White-label sending | Generic sender ID | Yes — your practice number |
| AI-powered reply handling | During business hours only | Instant, 24/7 |
| Multi-practitioner scaling | Manual / expensive | Yes — automatically |
| At-risk client identification | No | Yes — predictive flagging |
Your PMS holds the data. Routiq turns that data into revenue.
10 review clients recovered per month at $180/visit.
Review clients don't come once — they return every 3–6 months. Each reactivated client becomes recurring revenue.
By month 6: cumulative recovered revenue of $16,200 from review clients alone — plus plan completion revenue from dropouts and initial-contact recoveries.
What this means for your practice.
The pattern is universal. The opportunity scales with your database size.
| Your Database Size | Conservative Recovery | Moderate Recovery |
|---|---|---|
| 500 clients | $6,500 | $13,000 |
| 1,000 clients | $13,000 | $26,000 |
| 2,000 clients | $26,000 | $52,000 |
| 3,000 clients | $39,000 | $78,000 |
| 5,000 clients | $65,000 | $130,000 |
Based on blended average session values and industry-standard lapse rates across dietetics practices. Excludes recurring revenue multiplier from review cycles.
Without Routiq
No visibility into nutrition plan progress
Generic “book now” emails with 20% open rates
Revenue dependent on new client acquisition
No follow-up on plan dropouts or missed reviews
Front desk manually chasing clients
With Routiq
Plan-aware recall for every segment
Behavioural science messaging at 97–99% read rates
Revenue from clients you've already acquired
Automated campaigns for dropouts, reviews & no-shows
Fraction of the cost, 10x the ROI
You already did the hard part — building a client base, earning their trust, helping them take the first step toward better nutrition.
Those clients didn't leave because your advice wasn't working. They left because life got busy and nobody followed up.
Their nutrition goals haven't changed. They just need the right nudge.
How many clients are you losing to silence?
routiq.
Clinical Intelligence Meets Behavioral Science
routiq.ai
Dietitians Australia
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
Medicare Benefits Schedule Data
Jobs and Skills Australia
Nutrition & Dietetics Journal
Bain & Company / Harvard Business Review
WebPT
Dialog Health
PMC Systematic Reviews
JMIR
BMC Health Services Research
Practice analysis data from Routiq platform analysis. All data anonymised and presented as industry patterns. February 2026.