Pull up your schedule from the first week of May. Is there a name on it you haven’t seen since? One name? A dozen names?
They didn’t cancel anything. They just never rebooked.
So let me ask you straight. When does reactivation actually happen in your practice? Sometime this fall, when things slow down? Whenever the front desk finally gets a quiet afternoon? Right after the schedule has a week that scares you?
I get it. Nobody ever told you the patient has a calendar too.
Reactivation isn’t a project you get to when things slow down. It’s a window that opens the day a patient stops coming according to schedule, and it closes whether you moved or not.
Are patients who stopped coming to the chiropractor gone for good?
No. A patient who went quiet 60 to 90 days ago is the easiest reach you’ll ever have.
Life got busy. School let out, the trip happened, the pain stayed quiet. They’re 60 to 90 days out right now, which means the pause still feels temporary to them and coming back still feels easy. They think of you warmly. One warm note is all it takes. Wait, and that changes.
Try this: Pull the names whose last visit landed in May or June. Count them. That number is this month’s list.
This is the sweet spot we build every reactivation campaign around. If you’d rather we run it for you, that’s exactly what our patient reactivation service does.
When should you reach out to inactive patients?
The day the window opens, not the day your schedule slows down.
Most offices reach out when the schedule slows, so the office calendar picks the timing. But the clock that matters started the day the patient stopped coming. Reach that same person in October and it’s a harder conversation, because now they’re wondering if they’d have to start all over. Same patient, different window, different odds.
Try this: Put the outreach on this week’s schedule like an appointment. Not “when we get to it.” A day and a time, with a name next to it.
What kind of message gets inactive patients to respond?
One that sounds like the doctor, not the office.
Not a promotion. Not a “we miss you.” A plain note with their name and their thing in it, the kind that reads like you typed it between patients. A generic reminder performs about the same as sending nothing at all. The three sentences about their low back, from you, get answered.
Try this: Write three sentences to the May and June names. Their name, a question about what first brought them in, and two open times. Send it plain.
What This Means for You
- ✅The people most likely to come back this year are the ones who left eight weeks ago
- ✅Waiting for a slow week hands the timing to the wrong calendar
- ✅Nobody in this window needs a deal, they need a note that sounds human
- ✅Three sentences sent this week beat a perfect campaign sent in October
Pro Tip: Don’t wait for a clean afternoon to work the whole list. Pull just the May names today and send those three sentences before you leave. June’s names can have tomorrow.
See What’s in Your List → Book a quick call
Inside CC with Nerissa: Not Every Warning Brings the Tornado
The alert hit at 7:16 on a Tuesday. Tornado warning. Take shelter now.
So Greg, Jeremiah and I walked out into the front yard and looked up. Kentucky shelter protocol. 🌪️
We’ve done this before. Last May a tornado came through my hometown and killed seventeen people in my neighborhood.
We stood in the yard and watched it tear apart an electrical grid in the distance, under a lightning storm like I’d never seen in my life. We couldn’t look away.
Time stopped for over a week after that. No power. No cell service. No internet.
We sat in the car most days because the car had air conditioning, and that was the entire list of things that worked. I could barely make myself leave the house.
So this time, standing under another warning, I said the thing out loud.
Last year was a once in a lifetime event. I’ve had mine. I can stop being afraid.
That’s probably not how weather works. I said it anyway. It’s what I hope Jeremiah takes with him.
Not every warning brings the tornado.
Two nights before the sirens there wasn’t a cloud anywhere.
The magic of our 70s rock playlist was running, because it’s pretty much always running. That music makes me feel safe. 🎸
Bourbon poured. Greg at the grill. Kabobs, shrimp, vegetables that look like actual vegetables. The man is a master chef in our home and he’s on a mission to get us healthy.
Morning sunlight. Movement. Real food. He didn’t grow up living that way. It’s new to him but he’s building it for us anyway.
I’m his worst student. I refuse to learn, refuse to change, and still expect results. He keeps teaching me anyway. 🍢
The other thing running in our house right now is House of the Dragon, and yes, Ser Criston Cole is finally dead, and no, I’ve never celebrated a fictional death harder. Bruhhh could not have been any more annoying. 🐉
But here’s my confession. I love that we have to wait a week between episodes. Like the good ole days. I don’t have the attention span to binge anymore, and it turns out I don’t miss it. One episode. One week. You sit with it. You come back.
Everything real in my life runs on that same schedule. Greg feeding me vegetables one dinner at a time. Connie back at the office, growing a little every week, the first AI employee serving chiropractic as far as I know. She didn’t get smart in a weekend either.
None of it binges. All of it compounds.
So that was the week. Sirens one night, skewers another, a dragon show in between. The storm gets one loud night.
Most of what you brace for never comes. Most of what you love gets built one ordinary week at a time.
Docs, your practice runs on the same schedule. It’s never the finale that decides it. It’s whether there’s a next episode.
If the sky has one planned, we’ll watch that too. Probably from the yard. 📺
Your Week of Wellness
We include this wellness calendar in every Chiro Connect newsletter. It gives patients something to check and use through the week, and a reason to open the email. Want it going out for your clinic?
FAQ
When is the best time to reactivate inactive chiropractic patients?
60 to 90 days after their last visit. The pause still feels temporary, coming back feels easy, and they still think of the practice warmly. Response rates drop as the window closes and patients start believing they’d have to start over.
What counts as an inactive chiropractic patient?
A patient who has stopped coming according to their schedule, typically 60 or more days since their last visit. They usually haven’t cancelled anything. They just never rebooked.
Why do chiropractic patients stop coming in without cancelling?
Most don’t decide to leave. Life gets busy, school lets out, the pain quiets down, and they simply never rebook. The visit pause feels temporary to them even when it isn’t.
Do discounts work for reactivating chiropractic patients?
No. Patients in the 60 to 90 day window don’t need a deal, they need a note that sounds human. A generic promotional reminder performs about the same as sending nothing at all.
