You're Getting the Wrong Inquiries. Here's What's Probably Happening.
If the last post made you wonder what happens when your copy isn’t specific, this is it: your inbox fills with the wrong inquiries.
If your inbox is full of inquiries from people who clearly aren’t a fit, you’re not imagining it. And it’s not a sign that you’re bad at this. It’s a sign that your website isn’t doing enough of the work it should.
I see this from both sides. As a designer, I work with providers who are frustrated by the volume of inquiries from people who aren’t the right fit. As a patient, I've spent enough time evaluating providers online to know what makes me reach out and what makes me keep scrolling. Both perspectives point to the same gap.
The two kinds of "wrong"
Wrong inquiries usually come in two forms.
The first is obvious: people who didn’t read your website. They ask about insurance you don’t take, want services you don’t offer, or ask questions answered on your FAQ page. These take time and feel avoidable.
The second is more subtle. These are people who read your site, thought they were a fit, but aren’t. Their values don’t match how you practice. The care they want isn’t what you provide.
Sometimes they don’t realize this until they’re in front of you. Sometimes they realize it sooner and no-show. Either way, they took up a new patient slot that could have gone to someone better matched.
Both types of wrong inquiries come from the same root problem: your website isn't being specific enough about what your practice actually is… and isn't.
Why being specific feels uncomfortable
Many providers resist getting specific because they don’t want to turn people away. The instinct is to keep things broad: list every service, use general terms, avoid saying anything too specific about how you work.
The problem is broad copy doesn’t help the right patients find you—and it doesn’t filter out the wrong ones.
Hoping someone who fundamentally disagrees with how you practice will show up and change their mind is a waste of time. They’ll show up looking for what you don’t offer, leave frustrated, and you’ll be frustrated too. The mismatch was built in before the appointment was ever booked.
Here’s an example. A primary care doctor prioritizes lifestyle changes and supplements before prescribing medication. Some patients think, this is exactly what I want, and self-select in. Others think, I just want a prescription—and self-select out. Both reactions are useful. One becomes a great fit. The other doesn’t waste time.
Without that clarity, both kinds of patients book appointments, and the mismatched one is unhappy at the first visit.
What clarity actually looks like
Being specific doesn’t mean being narrow or exclusionary. It means describing what you do and how you do it clearly enough that someone who isn’t a fit can recognize it before reaching out.
If you’re a PT whose approach is exercise-forward and active rehab, say that. A patient who doesn’t want home exercises and is primarily looking for passive treatment during sessions—massage, modalities, hands-on work—will be frustrated with you.
If you’re a counselor with a specific clinical orientation, name it. The right patient will recognize it immediately. A patient looking for a different approach will keep scrolling.
The patients you’re trying to attract aren’t put off by specificity. They’re relieved by it. They’ve probably been searching for someone who actually explains how they work, not vague phrases like “personalized” or “compassionate” that could mean anything.
And clarity doesn’t mean writing an encyclopedia of a website that nobody reads. The goal isn't to be exhaustive, it’s to be clear. A few well-placed paragraphs that make your approach clear will do far more work than pages that say a lot without saying anything specific.
What patients need to self-qualify
A few things worth being explicit about on your site:
Who you do your best work with, in concrete terms
How you actually work — what an appointment looks like, what you tend to recommend, what your approach is
What you don’t do
Your business model (insurance, cash-pay, visit frequency)
The kind of patient who tends to do well with you (and, by implication, the kind who doesn't)
None of this requires turning your website into a manifesto. It just requires being a real person describing real work, in language specific enough that a stranger can tell whether you’re a match.
Why this matters more than it looks
Wrong inquiries are a tax on your time. Not just in answering them, but in the new patient slots that get filled with people who shouldn't have been booked in the first place. Every mismatched appointment is a missed opportunity for someone who’d have been a great fit.
The clearer your website is about what you do, the more you’ll get inquiries from likely good fits. The right patients arrive half-convinced. The wrong ones self-select out. You spend more time doing the work you’re good at, with people who want what you offer.
If your website isn't doing this work
This is exactly the kind of thing I help with. If the inquiries you're getting feel like they're not the right ones, and you suspect your website might be part of why, here's where to start a conversation.
