TL;DR
Keep a person's relationship with the practice separate from the source of the current inquiry. Define new, existing and unknown status before reviewing campaign results. Report consultation requests, attendance, purchases and repeat purchases as different events. A returning client's transaction may matter commercially without proving that a campaign acquired a new client.
Ask what “new” means in this report
New to the website, new to a service and new to the medspa describe different events. An established injectable client asking about a device-based service may represent service expansion. A retail customer requesting a consultation may fall into another category under your definitions. Neither should silently become a newly acquired client because a booking system created a fresh contact record.
Agree the relationship rule with operations before the reporting period is assessed. Use the practice's existing records and approved identity process; do not ask an agency to reconcile clinical histories. If historical records are incomplete, preserve unknown status rather than treating the absence of a match as proof of a new relationship.
For Google Analytics, first-user traffic dimensions describe initial acquisition of measured users, while session dimensions describe sources for new sessions by new and returning users. These are website measurement scopes, not medspa client-status definitions. Google's traffic-source scope documentation.
Freeze relationship status at a defined event
Choose an anchor such as the inquiry receipt date. Determine status using the records available under the approved rule at that point. Preserve the recorded status when the person later purchases; otherwise the same inquiry can migrate between categories as the report is refreshed.
Define what the practice counts as a prior relationship. A previous consultation without a purchase, an existing membership, an unused package and an old retail purchase should not receive ad hoc treatment depending on which campaign is being evaluated. The right definitions depend on the business question, but the report should state them.
Keep the classification rule short enough that operations can apply it consistently. Document the inclusion rule, exclusions, historical coverage and handling of duplicate records. If the rule changes, show where comparisons break instead of silently restating the past.
Build a source-and-relationship report
The following is an original report design. Fill counts only from actual approved records. Leave unavailable fields unavailable.
| Relationship at inquiry | Definition to approve | Current source to retain separately | Events to report separately |
|---|---|---|---|
| New to practice | No prior relationship under the documented rule and available record coverage | Campaign, referral, self-report or unknown | Request, scheduled consultation, attendance, purchase |
| Existing relationship | Prior relationship under that rule | Source of this inquiry or return visit | New-service consultation, repeat service purchase, retail transaction |
| Prior inquiry only | Earlier contact without the relationship event used by the practice | Current and earlier source where appropriately available | Renewed inquiry and subsequent operational events |
| Unknown | Evidence insufficient to apply the rule | Whatever current source evidence exists | Same event labels, with unknown relationship retained |
Do not count a prepaid package redemption as a fresh sale unless the accounting definition supports that label. Keep cash collected, service delivery and package use separate where they differ. Ask the finance owner which commercial measure the report uses; a marketing dashboard should not decide revenue recognition.
A useful row also records the promoted service, office, reporting window and source method. The service field matters because an existing client's new interest is different from a repeat purchase of the same offering. Do not publish person-level records in the marketing report.
Keep the medspa relationship and purchase states separate
Before using the table, have operations and finance resolve the ambiguous transactions your service mix actually contains:
| Situation to classify | Relationship question | Separate purchase question |
|---|---|---|
| Existing retail customer requests an injectable consultation | Does the approved rule treat prior retail purchase as an established practice relationship? | Did a consultation or later purchase occur? |
| Existing service client asks about a different device-based offering | Is this service expansion within an established relationship? | Was this an inquiry, a paid consultation or a delivered service? |
| Member redeems an included service | Was the relationship already established at inquiry? | Was new cash collected or an existing obligation redeemed? |
| Package buyer returns for an included appointment | Does this remain the original relationship cohort? | Is this delivery against the earlier package rather than another sale? |
These are conditional categories, not invented transactions or recommended accounting policies. The definitions let an owner distinguish acquisition work from selling a new service to an existing client and from fulfilling something already purchased.
Choose the unit the purchase is meant to produce. For new practice relationships, report people under the approved relationship rule. For expansion into a service, report established clients reaching the defined new-service event. For a membership promotion, report actual enrollments separately from included visits. For package activity, report the package purchase separately from delivery against it. Retail orders remain transactions even when the same customer places another order.
Put the chosen unit beside the agency's acceptance measure: purchased task ___; acquisition unit ___; qualifying event ___; prior relationship rule ___; excluded fulfillment activity ___. Do not add people, memberships, packages and redemptions into a total called new clients. This makes the buying decision explicit: acquiring a relationship, selling an additional offering and fulfilling an earlier commitment are different jobs.
Compare cohorts at the same maturity
An inquiry cohort is the set of requests entering under a documented selection rule and period. A transaction-period report counts transactions in that period. They answer different questions. A purchase this period may relate to an older consultation, while a recent inquiry may still await its next step.
Choose a review point that gives the compared cohorts a consistent observation window, using your actual reporting needs. Record unresolved requests rather than treating them as permanent failures. Keep late purchases attached to their original inquiry cohort where the approved system can support that connection, and disclose the method.
Use the measurement dictionary to prevent event labels from drifting. A consultation request is not attendance, and attendance is not a purchase. Do not calculate an acquisition result from returning-client transactions merely because the same campaign tag appears somewhere in their journey.
Turn the distinction into a buying decision
If the agency's strength is reconnecting existing clients with an offering, evaluate that as a defined retention or service-expansion task. If you need new local consultation demand, request evidence restricted to that question. Both kinds of work may have value, but they need different acceptance criteria.
GetPatients has a commercial interest in healthcare visibility services. Ask any proposed partner to show the relationship definitions behind its claims, the operational events it can verify and the fields it cannot connect. A report can remain useful while plainly stating uncertainty.
Frequently asked questions
Is a new booking-system contact always a new client?
No. It may be a duplicate or an established person entering through a new system. Apply the approved relationship rule and preserve uncertainty when the records cannot resolve it.
Should returning-client purchases disappear from the report?
Keep them visible in their own category. They are relevant to the business, but they should not inflate a claim about acquiring new clients.
What if we only have transaction totals?
Report transaction totals with that limitation. Establish the inquiry and relationship definitions prospectively before presenting a new-client acquisition conclusion.