Appointment Reminder Text Messages: 4 Reasons to Send SMS Reminders to Clients

Do you run a service-based business? An appointment reminder text is one of the simplest ways to streamline client communication.

If you’re on the fence about implementing an appointment reminder text message strategy into your practice, or you’re not sure where to begin, this guide outlines the four key benefits of sending SMS appointment reminder messages. We’ll also share text messaging best practices so that you can hit the ground running.

Benefits of Sending Automated Reminders via Text

The most obvious benefit of sending clients an appointment reminder text message is to reduce the risk of them missing an appointment because they forgot about it or something came up at the last minute. But there are other benefits to text message appointment reminders, too, including making your office more efficient and boosting customer satisfaction.

1. Reduce No Shows and Missed Appointments

No-show rates vary by industry, ranging from 10% to 50%, costing billions of dollars in missed revenue opportunities.¹ This is particularly, even more, damaging for small businesses in the healthcare industry, where a missed appointment costs an average of over $200.²

So, what’s the solution? It turns out that the simple act of sending text reminders can reduce the rate of missed appointments by 41%.³

Text message open rates average 98%, with an impressive 97% of those messages being opened within 15 minutes. 4 Compare that to email marketing open rates of between 18% and 21%, and it’s plain to see that if you want your message to be seen by your clients, text messaging is the preferred method in almost every situation.5

And, while no one wants cancellations either, Small Business Trends found that only 5% of people cancel a scheduled appointment after receiving reminder texts. 6 If you send reminder text messages, you’ll be able to reduce your no-shows and missed appointments dramatically. And, in the event of a cancellation, you’ll be notified via text immediately, giving you more opportunities to fill gaps.

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2. Schedule More Appointments by Filling in Last-Minute Gaps Automatically

Last-minute cancellations are also a bummer, and they can end up creating giant gaps in your schedule. When someone does cancel at the last minute, you don’t have to miss out on that revenue. Instead, you can fill the space with someone who desperately wanted the appointment. It’s a win-win.

But how does that work, exactly? With Weave, you can have a “Quick Fill list” that serves as a waiting list. It can include clients who have a later appointment but want to see you sooner. You could also have people on your Quick Fill list who elected not to book with you but are willing to come in if there’s an opening that fits their schedule.

Now, when someone cancels their appointment without a lot of notice, you can use Weave to send a personalized text alert to people in that group so that you can fill up your schedule again!

3. Free Up Your Staff’s Time

Have you ever calculated how long phone calls take and how they can wreak havoc on your productivity? While we’re not condemning the use of the telephone by any means, we are saying that you can substitute a lot of your phone communication with text messages, especially appointment reminder texts.

Imagine, if you will, the following scenario:

You want to decrease the number of missed appointments and last-minute cancellations, so you decide to start calling everyone the day before their appointment to give them a friendly reminder. However, the chance of your client answering the phone is less than 50%.7 If you call them from a phone number that’s not recognized, then that number drops to 20%.

So, what do you do? You most likely leave a voicemail, which might not even be retrieved. If the person does listen to the voicemail and calls you back, that phone call will interrupt you in whatever task you were doing. If the person doesn’t call you back, then you’re left with the choice of attempting to call again to deliver the appointment reminder message.

This process takes up a lot of time and can be mostly eliminated. Automated text reminders can be sent to clients in seconds, which can free up your telephone lines and your staff’s time.

4. Make It Easier for Customers to Confirm Appointments

Remember the phone call reminder scenario we discussed above? Now, let’s take it from the perspective of your clients. Most likely, you’re calling them in the middle of the day while they’re at work or on the road. Even though you have good intentions, phone reminders can be an unwelcome interruption.

On the other hand, a text message can be answered without disrupting someone’s schedule. By sending reminder texts, your clients can easily confirm, cancel, or reschedule an appointment. Just make sure you include a clear call to action in your text message. Weave makes this experience a breeze for your clients by allowing them to interact with the message instead of having to set aside time to call your office.

Appointment Reminder Script Samples to Try:

Sending text appointment reminders doesn’t have to be complicated. A friendly and professional one- or two-sentence script is all you need for a text appointment reminder.

Just like texting on a personal level, you want to keep the messages concise. Many systems also set a cut-off point for the number of characters that can be included in a message (typically 160), so be aware of those limitations. Also, don’t feel like you have to use every single character just because you can. The fewer characters you use to get your message across (while still being friendly and professional), the better.

We’ve included some examples to help get you started.

1. Confirmation Reminders Before Appointments

There are a couple of different appointment reminder texts to send to increase your chance of a client showing up. One is a confirmation when the appointment is made, and the other is texting a reminder about an upcoming appointment.

Appointment Confirmation Example:

“Hi, {Name}! This is Ashley from Dirty Dogs, confirming your grooming appointment on Mon., 10/16, at 10:00 a.m. Please reply C to confirm.”

Friendly Reminder About an Upcoming Appointment:

“Hi {Name}, you have an appointment on Monday at 10:00 a.m. Does that still work for you?”

Notice that there are countless ways you can craft these SMS appointment reminders, depending on your brand voice and communication style. There’s no one-size-fits-all model for an appointment reminder text message, but if you exercise common sense and talk and text with your clients in a way that you would want to receive communication, you’ll probably be on the right track.

The idea of setting up text reminders can be daunting, but Weave makes it easy. In fact, our SMS reminder system even gives you the option to automate these messages based on rules that you set, so that you don’t have to take up valuable staff hours during busy times.

2. Review Requests and Thank You Texts After Appointments

Having a collection of positive reviews can dramatically increase new client inquiries and make you more visible online. The trick is finding a way to ask for reviews that feels organic (not pushy) while ensuring that the reviews you get are positive.

One of the best ways to get reviews is to take control of the process. Instead of hoping that a happy customer will rave about your business, you can ask them to write a review. These requests can be sent via Weave’s system, and you can schedule them to occur after an appointment.

By taking control of how and when a customer leaves a review, you can also drastically reduce the risk of having a negative review published. For example, here’s an example of a text message you can send:

“Hi, {Name}! We’d love to hear about your experience with us! If you are happy, please review us at {link}. If we can improve, please let us know at {phone/link}.”

3. Reschedule Upcoming Appointment If Appointment Is Unconfirmed

Asking a client to confirm their appointment makes it more likely that they’ll show up. Often, people miss appointments because they forgot or something came up, and it didn’t occur to them to reach out to your office to reschedule.

If someone does not confirm their appointment, you may decide to give the space to someone else. Even if you elect to allow the client to keep their slot, you can light a gentle fire under them to encourage them to take two seconds to confirm their appointment. Here’s a gentle but firm example:

“Hi, {Name}. We kindly ask that you confirm your appointment on 3/31 at 2:00 pm to hold the time slot. If you need to reschedule, contact us at {phone/link}.”

Reminder Text Software Features to Look For

During the past few years, various text message reminder systems and scheduling software packages have been introduced, and we understand that it can be a challenge to know what to look for. Further, these systems have evolved, and not every company has kept pace. We’ve put together a list of features that should be on your list of requirements.

These text message appointment reminder features ensure that your clients have a positive experience when scheduling appointments while giving your staff the tools they need to be effective in their roles.

Bonus Appointment Reminder Email Capabilities

Despite the prevalence of text messaging, email is still a viable communication platform for scheduling and confirming appointments. After all, most adults have at least one email address, and the average person checks their email 15 times per day.8

Weave gives you the option to send an email reminder in addition to or as a substitute for text appointment reminders. Here’s a pro tip: ask your clients how they prefer to receive communication about scheduling appointments. If they choose email, then opt for this method over text!

Two-Way Text Capabilities

Weave also provides two-way text communication technology on your computer and mobile devices. This allows both businesses and clients to text to ask questions or discuss any concerns without making a phone call.

Sentiment Analysis to Automatically Interpret and Reply to Clients’ Texts

Artificial intelligence has come a long way, and one of our favorite innovations is sentiment analysis, which is now available with the Weave appointment reminder software platform. The way it works is that when a client answers a text about their scheduled appointment, our system will automatically detect whether the response was affirmative or negative and respond accordingly.

For example, if you sent a text reminder about an appointment and the client responds with something like, “sure,” or “I’ll be there,” the scheduling system will mark the appointment as confirmed. We even recognize emojis!

Customizable Templates to Personalize Text Message Reminders

It is often said that people’s favorite word is their own name. By having a way to personalize text messages, you can create texting templates that include a client’s name, their appointment time, and other information that’s unique to their client record.

We have barely scratched the surface of how you can use automated appointment reminders, and specifically text messages, to improve your business’s bottom line. To learn more, schedule a free Weave software demo.

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Resources:

1. Data Analytics and Modeling for Appointment No-show in Community Health Centers
2. Missed Appointments Cost Hospitals
3. The Effect of Patient Reminders in Reducing Missed Appointments in Medical Settings: A Systematic Review
4. What’s Old Is New Again: SMS Marketing
5. Email Marketing Benchmarks and Statistics by Industry
6. Thinking About SMS Appointment Reminders? Here are 8 Reasons Your Business Needs Them
7. Americans Now Answer Less Than Half of All Calls They Receive on Their Mobile Phones
8. The Way You Check Email Is Making You Less Productive