Treatmentsaver.com fight back after Dragons’ Den rejection

What is Treatment Saver?

TreatmentSaver.com, is an online health and beauty comparison site that helps people to find out treatment prices, evaluate different clinics, book appointments online and save money.

How did you come up with the idea?

People tend to undertake research, search for reviews and find out about prices before deciding on a particular treatment or clinic, but the problem is there’s very little transparency of prices in this sector. Every other industry has comparison sites to help people make smarter decisions when it comes to suppliers and costs, so why should it not be the same for people looking for Laser Eye Surgery or Botox? That is why we created Treatment Saver, to help people find the best clinics at the best price and have already helped thousands of visitors to compare clinics, book online and save money.

Where did you meet?

We’ve known each other since we were young, in fact, we didn’t like each other much! We ended up going to college together and we became friends. Later on after we had both graduated, we found ourselves being increasingly drawn to the idea of starting our own venture, so we decided to launch Treatment Saver.

How did you get started?

Initially we needed an idea, so we sourced some freelancers on Elance. At first, we had some pretty duff work produced and it really taught us that you do get what you pay for. We then found a really great web designer in Romania and he’s been a part of the business ever since. He’s great at understanding exactly what we are looking for and making it a reality. 40% of our bookings are taken out of hours, so it shows that people are wanting to buy these services outside of the normal working day and often, clinics can’t support this directly. In addition to helping people to find the best clinics for the best value, we also help clinics to fill the quieter times in their appointment diary.

How is the business doing?

Really well! Over the past year, Treatment Saver has continued to grow and expand. The site has doubled its traffic to 50,000 visitors per month, has more clinics and more offers listed and has saved its customers in excess of a million pounds by booking their appointments online.

What do you think has contributed to your success?

I firmly believe that Treatment Saver fills a much needed gap in the market for a comparison site for the health and beauty industry, that doesn’t just fire off enquiries left right and centre, but actively helps provide all the information someone needs when researching potential treatments.  Ultimately, it’s about helping people to have immediate access whilst they are in that important ‘search and buy’ mindset.

What’s next for Treatment Saver?

The site is growing, we’ve got more clinics on board and are taking more bookings than ever. Our desire is to really scale up the operation so that we can maximise its potential and fulfil the growing demand from clinics that at the moment, we simply can’t take on. Whether this is through external investment or some other means I am not sure. We are definitely open to offers from interested investors!

Who would be your ideal investor?

Well we’ve had a stab at the Dragon’s, but I’d love to see what Sir Alan Sugar thought of our business! In The Apprentice last year, when discussing Dr Leah Totton’s cosmetic business concept, Sir Alan Sugar said: ‘young girls and men that want [treatments] done will go first by recommendation and then by price’. That is exactly the concept that is driving the success of Treatment Saver. I think he’d really get what we do and see the potential the business has for expansion.

What’s happened since we filmed in the Den?

Well being completely impartial we would obviously say they missed a great opportunity!

They were not convinced about health and beauty being an online service and were too worried about litigation and for that reason they were never going to invest. But all we can do is go on the increasing numbers of people using our site and savings we have delivered for our customers as a genuine need for our service.

We honestly believe that people should be able to compare clinics in the same way that people can compare car insurance online so that they can find the best clinics at the best price.

We hope you find our website helpful and we always welcome any feedback so feel free to email info@treatmentsaver.com