Under the rules our Ahpra check applies, price cuts, add-ons at no charge and time-limited offers count as inducements to have a procedure, and the cosmetic guidelines do not allow them. A clinic can still be clear about prices and invite a booking, but it cannot attach a deal or a deadline to the invitation.
That makes cosmetic marketing different from retail marketing, and I think it is one of the most useful rules for patients. Here is how to read it, what it means for ads, emails and texts, and what you can say that is both honest and effective.
What counts as an inducement?
Anything that pushes a person to decide faster or cheaper by attaching a benefit to the decision. Our check lists three common forms: price cuts, add-ons at no charge, and time-limited offers. Wording such as 'book this week' or a timer counting down to the end of a deal is the pressure form of the same thing.
The explanation the check gives is that these count as inducements to have a procedure, which the cosmetic guidelines do not allow. A person considering a procedure should be deciding about the procedure, not about the deal.
Why is this stricter than ordinary marketing?
Because a cosmetic procedure is a health decision with risks, and the guidance is concerned with anything that nudges people to take one lightly. Retail habits such as a deal that ends on Friday are exactly what the guidelines are written to stop in this field.
I find the rule reassuring as a founder. It means I never have to compete on who shouts the biggest offer. It also means a message from a clinic that says 'you are due for your next review' reads differently from a message that says 'book now'.
Where do offers show up that clinics forget about?
- Banner bars and pop-ups on the website
- Email subject lines and footers
- Reminder and reply texts, including the first line
- Social posts and paid ads
- Gift-voucher pages
- Old pages still live from a past promotion
Messages are the one I see most. A clean website with an offer in the reminder text is still a problem. That is why Conduit's check looks for offers and deadlines in every message before it sends, and why a Conduit message never contains either.
What can you say instead?
You can say true, plain things about timing and prices. 'You are due for your next review' states a fact from the patient's file. 'Consultations are on Thursdays and Saturdays' states how you work. Listing a price plainly, without a deal attached, is a different thing from advertising a cut.
- Reason to contact: your own schedule, such as a review being due.
- How to book: one link, one number.
- What happens next: a consultation with a practitioner.
- How to stop: 'Reply STOP to opt out.'
What it does not include is a reason to rush. If a patient is not ready, they are not ready, and that is the right outcome in a regulated field.
Is a loyalty scheme or referral reward allowed?
I do not know, and I will not guess. Our check flags add-ons at no charge and payments for referrals, and a loyalty reward is close enough to that family that I would ask your adviser before using one. The honest answer is that this depends on the exact wording and the exact benefit.
If your adviser approves a scheme in writing, keep that approval on file and still keep the offer out of reminder texts.
Does this mean you cannot show prices at all?
No. Plain prices are not the same as an offer. What matters is whether anything makes the price look like a deal or ties it to a deadline. Our check's suggestion for price lists is to show a consultation fee and give treatment prices at the consultation, and to take medicine names off any price list.
Conduit itself publishes prices and no minimum term, and the pricing page says what we do not promise. That is a decent test for your own site: could you say it out loud in front of a regulator and be comfortable?
What does this change about how you run a quiet month?
It pushes you towards the work that does not need a deal. A quiet month is a prompt to look at three things: patients who are due for a review and have not heard from you, enquiries that arrived outside opening hours and went cold, and the clarity of the page that brings people in.
None of those need a price cut. The first is patient win-back, which contacts people once, when a review is due. The second is a faster first reply. The third is wording and layout. I do not promise any number of bookings from any of them, and neither does the pricing page, but they are real levers you control and none of them puts you at odds with the guidelines.
How do you audit for offers quickly?
- 1Search your site and templates for the words special, offer, deal, extra and 'today only'.
- 2Look for old campaign pages that are still live.
- 3Read every automatic message from the first word to the footer.
- 4Run the Ahpra check on the pages and read the findings marked likely first.
If you want the messages handled for you, the win-back article shows how a compliant reminder is built, and the pricing page lists what each plan includes.