A real-time view of appointments
Speed is of the essence with appointment reminders. You need to get in front of customers immediately and prompt them into action. No comms channel makes a bigger impact than SMS. It’s direct, intimate and couldn’t be easier to use. The upshot? You build an accurate, real-time picture of no shows and confirmed appointments.
Reduce the impact of no shows
Missed appointments create a number of headaches for business – missed opportunities, unexpected costs and time-consuming admin are just the tip of the iceberg. Get in front of customers early, with a timely SMS, and you can reduce this impact.
A better customer experience
Most of your customers don’t want to miss appointments. They forget about them or double-book themselves. A helpful, timely SMS reminder will help them stay on top of their diary. And they’ll thank you for it.
Getting started
Step one is getting customers onboard. You’re probably already capturing phone numbers as part of your on-boarding process but be sure to prompt customers to sign up for SMS alerts.
Act early
Don’t wait until five minutes before the appointment to reach out with a reminder. Chase the day before and then several hours before the appointment itself.
Give customers options
Give customers the option to reschedule appointments with a couple of texts. This is more convenient for them – they don’t have to jump between different apps – and means you don’t miss out on revenue.
Send. Track. Adapt.
No one creates the perfect SMS workflow first time around. You’ll need to track the performance of your messages and make changes accordingly. Consider experimenting with message length, short codes, message tone, timings and number of messages you send.
Fewer missed appointments
SMS appointment reminders have been proven time and again to dramatically reduce no-shows, by 40% – or even more).
Reduce costs
Missed appointments are expensive – preparing for, and rescheduling, appointments costs money, and then there’s the opportunity cost to consider. And those costs add up: in Britain, missed appointments cost the NHS £216 million a year. Automated SMS messages can help you dramatically reduce this painful expenditure.
Improve customer experience
SMS is the most popular channel for brand interactions, and customers generally prefer businesses that send reminders, alerts and confirmations via text. In fact, 80% of people use SMS for business communications, finding it fast, convenient, reliable and unobtrusive.
Don’t gamble on deliverability
Make sure all of your appointment-related messages reach their destination on time, every time. Check your SMS provider has strong carrier relationships around the world (like we do).
Communicate clearly and concisely
Your customers don’t want to wade through long messages just to find out how to cancel or reschedule an appointment. Make sure your messages are short, precise and focused on key information.
Check your tone
Some businesses treat appointment-related messages as perfunctory and abandon their typical tone of voice. This is a bad idea and means you risk alienating customers. Stick to the conversational, breezy tone you use for all other customer service messages.
How we can help
A low-code drag-and-drop campaign builder
Automatic mobile channel orchestration
Flexible APIs