How to Send Appointment Reminders via Text Message

Texting is the second most common mode of communication, according to our 2020 Global Messaging Engagement Report. However, the pervasiveness of email is also its Achilles' heel: customers' inboxes are being inundated with more emails than ever before, and they are unable to keep up with the volume of correspondence.

Despite the fact that you don't want to miss an appointment (and your contacts surely don't too), it can be easy to forget with so much going on.

Unfortunately, whether you're a SaaS sales representative or a local barber, no-shows may be extremely detrimental to your company's bottom line and reputation.

Some businesses (such as healthcare) have reported no-show rates as high as 27% on average, with the average rate ranging from 10% to 50%. Business owners with more than $120,000 in revenue per year lose more than $26,000 per year as a result of missing appointments, according to recent research. That is a significant quantity of money!

There is, fortunately, a remedy in the form of appointment reminder SMS.

As a result of the high open rates for text messages, you can be confident that sending a reminder SMS to a client will not be overlooked. Furthermore, clients cancel fewer than 5% of all planned meetings after getting an SMS reminder, according to the research.

Take a moment to absorb those numbers

To send out appointment reminder texts, follow the steps listed below: 1. Sending SMS reminders and avoiding no-shows are topics that will be covered in detail in the sections that follow.

What is a text message that reminds you of a booked appointment, and how does it work?

Please allow me to take a step back and explain "What is an appointment reminder SMS" before we proceed any further.

Appointment reminder texts are text messages that are sent to contacts in order to remind them of an upcoming scheduled appointment. These could include something as easy as the following:

"Have a nice day, there." "This is just a friendly reminder that your massage appointment is at 3:30 p.m. today."

It could even be as challenging as the following:

"Hello, Julie," says the narrator. A friendly reminder that your auto detailing appointment is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. tomorrow at the location you specified. Visit https://xyz.com if you need to change your appointment time."

In any circumstance, your SMS message serves only one purpose: to notify the person who received it of an approaching scheduled appointment. Don't get too caught up in the process of trying to upsell or cross-sell something. The primary goal is to persuade individuals to arrive on time or to reschedule ahead of time so that your calendar is completely booked. So, what is the format for these messages to be written? We appreciate you contacting us.

Throughout the remainder of this section, we'll go over the most significant aspects of reminder messages, along with how to properly construct them.

What is the best way to compose a text message appointment reminder?

SMS appointment reminders may be delivered successfully or unsuccessfully. If you do everything correctly, the vast majority of your clients will be on time for their appointments. If you make a mistake, you'll wind up wasting money on messages that aren't read by the intended audience.

Here are some guidelines for writing appointment reminder SMS that you should keep in mind:

Automatically schedule and automate nice appointment reminders: By automating and scheduling your pleasant reminders in advance, you may cross another item off your daily to-do list. The use of automation can assist you in optimising your procedures while saving time and making things easier for your customers.

Remember to keep it short: Although SMS messages can contain up to 160 characters, you are not forced to utilise all of them. If you can get your appointment reminder through in fewer characters, go for it.

Constantly maintain focus: Your clients don't need to be distracted by unrelated material. Maintain your focus! To do this, simply remind them of the appointment time and any other pertinent information (Zoom link, address, rescheduling phone number, etc.).

Continue to uphold your brand's integrity by having some fun with your transactional messaging, being smart, and allowing the personality of your organisation to shine through.

Provide two-way communication: When sending appointment reminder messages, include a phone number for recipients to contact if they want to follow up. If you want to continue the dialogue, don't make the recipients visit your website or contact customer care via an email address.

Is that what you're getting at? Please don't be concerned; we've put up a collection of appointment reminder text examples and samples that you may use as templates.

It is necessary for my organisation to set up SMS appointment reminders, or is it optional?

For clients, text messaging (SMS) is a popular method of communicating with businesses. Why? We do this because it is easy for messages to become buried in your phone's push notifications or email inbox, especially when 78 percent of businesses admit to playing phone tag with consumers on an "occasional" to "very often" basis.

Text messages are virtually always read because they cut through the clutter of the inbox. As a matter of fact, SMS messages have a 98 percent open rate, which ensures that they are received by your clients. Furthermore, according to the respondents, appointment reminder texts are the most important texts they receive from businesses, accounting for 64 percent of all texts received.

While it is possible that your company does not require SMS appointment reminders, the great majority of your customers do. In light of the fact that 73 percent of customers want firms to send them more text messages, this is a straightforward approach to meet their needs.

Examples of appointment reminder text messages

1. Confirmation of appointment through SMS

"Good morning, [name]." Dr Lewandowski has planned a meeting with you for 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 31. Please arrive on time. If you need to postpone your appointment, visit https://robotalker.com/hipaa-compliant-phone-service ."

2. A kindly reminder of an upcoming appointment was received

"Good morning, [name]." This is Car Dealz telling you that your oil change is planned for 1 p.m. tomorrow, April 7th, at the location of your choosing. If you need to reschedule, please call or text us as soon as possible. "I'll see you then!" says the author.

3. Your consultation has officially begun

"Good morning, [name]." This is just a friendly reminder that the workshop you registered for has already begun. Visit https://robotalker.com/faq to register from your computer or phone. "I'm looking forward to seeing you during the Q&A!"

4. Seek feedback from others

"Good morning, [name]." If you had a positive experience with Dr Jamie during your eye exam, please let us know. We would want to hear from you right away. Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey and provide feedback: https://robotalker.com/blog ."

5. Make an appointment for a second time.

"Good morning, [name]." Please make sure that everything on your bike is in proper functioning order. Make an appointment for the recommended 8-week tuning at https://robotalker.com/text-to-speech-phone-call to schedule your next session."

6. Follow-up on appointments that have been cancelled.

"Good morning, [name]." We didn't see you for your dental checkup today, so please forgive us. Rescheduling your appointment is easy; just call us at 954-320-6484.

7. Request a rescheduling of your booked appointment.

"Good morning, [name]." Our receptionist has acknowledged receipt of your request to postpone your appointment. Please click https://robotalker.com/text-to-speech-phone-call

What is the best way to send appointment SMS reminders?

Sending appointment reminder messages is simple and quick when you have the correct software on your computer. Send automatic confirmations, reminders, reschedule SMS, and more with Robotalker Studio and the Robotalker APIs, which are accessible through either a drag-and-drop editor or programmatic interfaces.

Interested in adding appointment reminders to your website through a programmed approach? In order to download the source code for an appointment reminder app in your native language, choose one of the programming languages and frameworks listed below: