IVF clinic lead follow up: private, quick and respectful

Why IVF enquiries need a different kind of call

A woman fills a Facebook lead form at 11:20 pm after reading about fertility treatment. She may not have told her in-laws. Her husband may not know she enquired. The phone number on the form may be shared with the family. Every part of the follow-up call has to respect that.

At the same time, she has probably enquired at two or three clinics that night. The clinic that calls first, kindly and privately, is the one she visits. Research on lead response (the MIT and InsideSales study) found that contacting a lead within five minutes made it far more likely to qualify than waiting thirty. Speed and discretion are both the job.

The first ten seconds: identity before anything else

The AI employee should never open with the clinic's full name and speciality. It confirms who it is talking to first, using a neutral name for the clinic that you choose in the brief.

• "Namaskaram, nenu Sunitha gaarito maatladavachaa?" (Hello, may I speak with Sunitha?)
• If the right person: "Meeru nenna raatri maa website lo oka enquiry pettaru. Ippudu maatladataniki veelu undaa?" (You sent us an enquiry last night. Is this a good time to talk?)
• If someone else answers: "Parvaledu, nenu taruvatha call chestanu. Dhanyavaadalu." (No problem, I will call later. Thank you.) Nothing else is said.

If she says it is not a good time, the employee asks when to call back and notes it. It does not push.

Book the consultation, nothing more

The call has one purpose: a first consultation with a doctor or counsellor. The AI employee should not discuss treatment options, costs, success chances, medicines or tests. Those are conversations for a qualified person, face to face. In the brief, write it plainly: any medical or cost question is answered with 'our doctor will explain everything at the consultation', and noted for the counsellor.

What it can usefully ask, gently and only if she is comfortable:

• Which branch is convenient, if you have more than one
• Preferred day and time, and whether her husband will also come
• Language she wants for the consultation
• The safest way and time to reach her later

Notice what is not on the list: age, years of trying, previous treatments. Your counsellor will ask, in person, with context. A phone form is the wrong place.

Voice and tone

Many clinics prefer a calm female voice for these calls, because many enquiries come from women and a female voice often feels easier to talk to about this. You choose the voice when you set up the employee. Keep the pace slow and the words simple. Let the caller pick the language; if she starts in Hindi, the employee continues in Hindi.

Avoid sales phrases. No 'limited offer', no 'free scan only this week'. A family deciding about fertility treatment is not shopping for a phone.

Callbacks and discretion

If she did not pick up, retry within your calling hours, but not too many times in one day. Repeated missed calls from an unknown number make family members curious. A retry pattern you set once in calling policy keeps it sensible. If she asks never to be called again, add her to the do-not-call list on the spot.

On the clinic side, restrict who can open IVF call recordings and transcripts. Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, you hold this personal data for a stated purpose, and should protect it accordingly. Do not export these lists to marketing agencies or reuse them for unrelated campaigns.

What gets written down

The summary is short and plain. Your counsellor reads it before the visit so the patient does not have to repeat herself.

A simple first-week plan for an IVF clinic

1. Write the brief with your counsellor, not your marketing agency. List the questions the call must never answer.
2. Pick the voice and a neutral clinic name for the opening line, and listen to a dozen test calls yourself.
3. Connect one lead source first, usually the Facebook lead form, and keep the others manual for a week.
4. Read every transcript in week one. Look for moments where the employee said too much or too little, and tighten the brief.
5. Only then add the website form and older enquiries who agreed to be contacted.

Reading transcripts in the first week is not optional. It is how you find the one phrase that sounds wrong to a nervous caller, and fix it before it reaches a hundred people.

When to stop calling

Some enquiries never pick up, and some say 'we are thinking about it'. Both deserve patience, not pressure. Set a limit: a few attempts over a few days, then stop. A 'thinking about it' can get one gentle call after a couple of weeks, if she agreed to it on the first call. Anyone who says they have chosen another clinic gets a polite thank you and is not called again.

Couples on this path are often dealing with family questions and money worries at the same time. A clinic that respects their pace is remembered, and recommended, long after the first call.

What the counsellor should do after the booking

The AI employee's job ends with a booked consultation. The counsellor's starts there. Read the call summary the day before the visit, note any question she raised, and greet her by name at the desk. If she mentioned a safe callback time, use only that.

If she asked about costs on the call, have a clear, written estimate ready for the consultation. Families find vague answers about money harder to forgive than a higher number given honestly.

Cost and setup

IVF clinics usually get dozens of enquiries a day from ads, not thousands, so cost is small. Say 40 leads a day, three minutes each when connected: about ₹958 a day at ₹7.98 a minute, billed by the second. Unanswered calls cost nothing. Connect your lead form using instant leads so each new enquiry is called within seconds during your hours.

Leads that arrive after hours are queued for the morning. For a private topic, that is usually better than a 10 pm call to a shared phone. See also after-hours lead calling for how to set this.