Building your automated appointment reminder strategy

Posted: July 6, 2020 - By Cris Rivera

As you reopen your small business, it’s not uncommon to deal with decreased attendance and an increased number of no-shows. Whether clients are wary about visiting your office due to COVID-19 concerns, or simply have not gotten around to scheduling an appointment, it’s important that you take proactive steps to help reduce no-shows and bring back more clients to your business.  

You can prevent no-shows and bring back more of your clients with a customized automated reminders strategy. Reminders Plus is our all-in-one comprehensive reminders solution for businesses. One of the great benefits of marketing automation is the ability to schedule multiple reminders at once. With Reminders Plus, businesses have the ability to customize multiple email and/or text reminders at specific dates and times which ensures that your clients will keep their appointment.  

Here are the four default reminder types included with Reminders Plus and our recommendations for how you can implement them into your reopening strategy.   

Save the Date

Sent immediately after an appointment is scheduled in your practice management system. This lets clients easily add appointments to their calendar which will decrease the chance of no-shows. 

Pre Appointment

Can be sent days or hours before an appointment via email, voice, and/or text. Each email or text reminder has the option to include a confirmation call to action and can include special COVID-19 related instructions or protocols that your clients should be aware of. 

Day Of

Sent via text a few hours before the appointment as a last-minute reminder and ensures that your clients show up on time and are reminded of any special instructions before they head into your office. 

Follow Up

This reminder is usually sent a few days after the appointment. It gives you an opportunity to thank the client for coming in and ask for feedback through email or text. Clients can also be prompted to leave a review about your business on popular review sites like Google, Yelp, and Demandforce Local. This will increase your businesses’ online presence and help you stand out from your competitors. 

Don’t forget, along with fully customizable text you can create custom tags that allow you to add image buttons, referral links and even an email navigation bar!

Reminders Plus, along with fully customizable email campaigns in Campaign Studio, will put your business in the best position to increase the amount of customers coming into your office and reduce the amount of no-shows, leading to a successful reopening. Please watch the video below if you would like to see how you can add COVID-19 specific instructions to your reminders

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