Practice Better Review

Practice Better is a software program packed with features designed to relieve health and wellness professionals of burdensome administrative tasks. If your hard drive is a black hole of invoices, schedules, forms, and notes, Practice Better can simplify and consolidate them into one smoothly functioning system. Is this software right for you? Read our Practice Better review to find out.

What is Practice Better?

Practice Better is a cloud-based coaching management software designed to help build health and wellness coaching businesses and manage clients within an uncomplicated framework.

Practice Better provides the continuity that running a hodgepodge of software programs – appointment scheduling, records management, meal planning, and accounting – lack. With Practice Better, nothing’s left to chance.

Administrative tasks can take a big bite out of a coach’s time and adversely impact rates. Practice Better increases productively so that time is used more effectively. If you have trouble tracking clients’ activities, Practice Better systematically holds clients accountable while keeping you in the loop.

Practice Better is a versatile program that can be used at all stages of your business’s growth. It’s adaptable to any number of clients, from three to more than 100.

Who is Practice Better For?

Practice Better is for health and wellness professionals swamped with time-consuming administrative tasks (that includes health coaches!) The program is helpful for someone suffering from burnout who needs an uncomplicated way of managing clients and growing their business.

Practice Better has clear, step-by-step tutorials for people who’ve never used coaching software and need easy-to-understand instructions. It’s also an affordable option for coaches on a budget.

Overall Impressions

I wanted to find out more about this program firsthand, so I signed up for Practice Better’s Free Forever Plan. After providing general info about myself (name, title, email, name of practice), I was sent a confirmation email with a link connecting me directly to my dashboard, along with a super-simple Getting Started Checklist…

Before reviewing the checklist, I watched “Practice Better Walkthrough,” their 16-minute, step-by-step video tutorial that gives a bird’s eye view of the program. It’s a good primer for newbies who’ve never used coaching software before.

I also took a quick look at Practice Better’s blog. Besides providing information about the program, much of it is devoted to practitioner interviews and optimally running your business. Some topics include:

• How to Make Discovery Sessions Convert
• Roadmap to Meeting Business Financial Goals
• Feature Highlight: Packages

After checking out these resources, I quickly and easily set up my dashboard. This is where I listed basic details about myself, such as my bio, accreditation, mobile number, and email address. I was even able to link to my social media accounts.

My company profile was next. Here, I added my company name, location, and tagline. Next, I dove into Practice Better’s capabilities. Here’s a rundown of the program’s features:

Form Creation

With Practice Better, you can create forms for sessions, packages, on-boarding, and program registration. There are two ways to create Practice Better forms. First, you can upload existing files from your Excel, Word, and PDF programs. The client then downloads the forms, completes them electronically and uploads them to you.

The alternative is Practice Better’s impressive collection of modifiable templates you can use to create forms right in the system…

Practice Better saves you time (and aggravation) because you don’t have to follow up once you’ve sent the forms to your clients. The program’s system conveniently reminds clients to fill them out. The system also notifies you when the forms are done. Clients can complete, sign, and submit the forms right in their Client Portal. Since my memory can’t rival an elephant’s, this aspect of the program is a godsend.

Practice Better automatically adds a text block and default e-signature option when you open the form builder. You can also link the form to supporting materials. Forms can be further customized with elements such as:

• Multiple choice questions (“Choose A, B or C.”)
• Scale questions (“Select a number between 1 and 10.”)
• Numeric questions (“How many hours do you work a day?”)
• Time-related questions (“At what time do you go to bed?”)
• Yes/No questions (“Have you ever had an imaginary friend?” Just kidding 😉 )

Before sending the form, you can preview it exactly as the client will see it.

Booking

For well-established coaches, double-booking can be a problem. Not only is it embarrassing, but you can also lose clients because of it. Practice Better averts booking disasters via automated:

• Appointment reminders
• Confirmations
• Cancellations
• Rescheduling

When the system sends the client an appointment reminder, it also sends the client a map and contact information if you’ve booked an in-person session. How cool is that! These automated messages can be sent through email, SMS or Better’s Instant Alert. The system also allows clients to directly book themselves.

Practice Better has a very useful scheduling feature called Buffer Time, which gives you space for prep, between-session travel, and personal appointments. This way, no one can request sessions during your buffer periods…

Say you’ve set up a buffer of 30 minutes before and after non-coaching activities, such as a doctor’s appointment from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday. When you set up your availability on that date, your clients won’t be able to select a time slot between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. The earliest booking available would be 3:30 p.m.

Clients can book sessions directly from your website, Practice Better’s bookings page or straight from the Client Portal.

It’s important that clients accept your terms and conditions before completing their booking. They’ll be unable to proceed unless they click the box that says they’ve read and agreed to these terms. Practice Better stores a copy of the terms’ content, date of agreement, and the client’s IP address in its database.

Once the client has crossed the “T’s” and dotted the “I’s,” a welcome email is automatically generated. You can also send a customized YouTube welcome video via the Client Portal to really personalize the onboarding process (a great idea!)

Packages

Individual services and programs can be combined to create packages for your clients. When you bundle your services, clients pay for the package instead of each of the individual services. Clients have the option of paying in installments, which are fully automated.

Fixed date programs and evergreen programs are also nice options for people with different learning styles. Everyone enrolled in a fixed-date program receives their content on the same day and learns it at the same pace. Evergreen programs (only available through the Plus Plan) allow clients to access your program at any time of the year and at any pace via a registration link.

Invoicing and Payments

In Practice Better, you can create an empty invoice, as well as invoices for existing bookings. It’s extremely easy to create an invoice with Practice Better, and clients can directly pay their bill through Stripe or Square.

Bills are unlikely to fall through the cracks. They can be filtered through as “paid,” “partially paid” or “unpaid.” Mandatory payments can be set up which require clients to pay or provide credit card info upfront at the time of booking. This is excellent for discouraging no-shows.

Automation is at work here too. When you create an invoice from your client’s booking, it will autofill their details.

Conducting Sessions

In Practice Better, you have the option of conducting the session in person, over the phone or via telehealth/video chat. Note that Telehealth is only available with the Professional and Plus Plan. Telehealth clients get the same face-to-face attention they’d get in person, via video conferencing. Telehealth isn’t a separate program. Instead, you run it right in Practice Better.

Logo and Branding

If you sign up for the Professional or Plus Plan, you’ll be able to get a PDF logo and branding. Besides these features, the Plus Plan also comes with a personalized URL (e.g., mycompany.practicebetter.io). I like this tool because it makes forms, protocols, and invoices look polished and professional…

Your logo and brand colors will display when you or your clients log into the Portal. (Branding isn’t displayed on Practice Better’s primary domain, my.practicebetter.io, or on their mobile app.) Emails sent to clients also redirect to your personalized Client Portal URL…

Client Hub

The Client Hub is a handy feature that permits quick access to information in your client’s file. It’s accessible when you’re conducting a video session or working on your notes and protocols. (Note: This feature isn’t available in the mobile app.) In the Client Hub, you can review:

• Basic information
• Session notes
• Protocols
• Diet and lifestyle
• Medical history
• Completed forms

Availability

Practice Better has an availability tool that helps you set boundaries for session requests. Availability can be put in place for one-off days or repeating ones. If this availability recurs, you can indicate that it’s happening daily, weekly or monthly. If it has an end date, you can specify that too…

Drill farther down by offering specific services in this time slot. For example, on Mondays and Fridays between 9 p.m. and noon, you only provide discovery calls and initial consultations.

You can also limit how and where you’ll offer these services. For example, on Wednesdays, your initial consultation sessions will only be held in person at the Green Street Clinic…

Protocols

Find yourself repeatedly making the same recommendations? The answer is Practice Better’s protocol templates. Recommendations are divided into three categories:

• Food recommendations
• Supplement recommendations
• Lifestyle recommendations

Templates can be modified, indicating whether the food listed should be included in the client’s diet, reduced or completely excluded. For example, below is a Food Recommendation for leafy greens. Below that are examples of the recommended leafy green foods, along with an explanation of why your client should include more of them in their diet…

I love this feature because it provides clarity about why you’re suggesting what you’re suggesting. It also helps if you’re unsure of whether a food is healthy. For example, rice cakes are probably a healthy choice, right? Turns out they’re not. [source]

If you also recommend supplements for your clients, you can conveniently do so within the Practice Better system, which provides you with a list of frequently searched brands…

Narrow the list by choosing a brand name, and it shows all the supplements made by that company. After you choose one, you can enter the recommended dosages and amounts.

If you’ve forgotten the ingredients in a specific supplement or how to take it, that info is listed too…

Lifestyle recommendations, such as “Don’t eat for two to three hours before bed,” can also be added. The system will add a detailed explanation about why you should follow this advice.

Automation

Have you ever wondered whether you’ve sent a form, confirmed a booking or worse, collected a payment? If so, then Practice Better’s automation features solves your dilemma…

Note, however, that the ‘Schedules installment payments’ option isn’t available with the Free Forever Plan.

Pricing

If you’re on a budget or unsure whether you want to commit to Practice Better, they offer a Free Forever Sprout Plan. You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any point. There are no contracts, so you can cancel whenever you choose. Here are the three plans that Practice Better offers:

Sprout Plan – Free forever. Up to 3 clients and 100 MB of storage. Its core features include:

• Client portal
• Scheduling and billing
• Android and iPhone apps
• HIPAA/PIPEDA/GDPR compliance

Professional Plan – $45 CAD ($35 USD) per month, up to 100 clients and 1 GB of storage. It includes all the features of the Sprout Plan plus:

• Telehealth video chat
• Online programs and payment plans
• Enhanced food database with over 600,000 foods
• PDF logo and branding
• Setting up and accepting recurring payments

Plus Plan – $65 CAD ($55 USD) per month, unlimited clients and 5 GB of storage. It includes all the features of the Professional Plan plus:

• Portal customization
• Evergreen programs
• SMS reminders
• Personalized URL
• Customized portal and email branding
• Run programs and courses, and drip contents to clients
• Send and receive faxes with a dedicated number

Interested in checking out other software options for health coaches? Read our dedicated guide here.

Pros

Cons

Conclusion

Practice Better is an extremely effective program for meticulously organizing your coaching business. It consolidates and automates all the administrative tasks that drain your time and money. I think Practice Better would be an asset to any coach who’s overwhelmed by the burdens of clerical work.

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Do you have any questions or concerns about Practice Better? Leave your comments below!