Sending an appointment reminder text to clients can be a useful tool for business owners, regardless of the industry.
Since a whopping 66% of consumers prefer to reach brands or be reached by brands via messaging over any other means, it's now more important than ever to utilize a texting platform like Textedly for sending appointment reminders. As a result, using well-executed text messages can increase revenue by 20 percent for businesses based on appointments or reservations.
It all comes down to the fact that people are busy. Whether they are at work, with family, or didn't hear the phone, calling clients is not always the most efficient way to confirm an appointment. Text messaging, on the other hand, allows clients to respond at their convenience. Furthermore, their answer goes straight into your business's system which allows your employees to work on other tasks that might be more time-sensitive and need their full attention.
TRY US FREEMissed appointments and late payments are the two main reasons why a reminder text message can benefit big and small businesses alike. Not sending these reminders to your customers, can diminish your company's professionalism in the eyes of your customers and limit your revenue as you might suffer from having time slots opened because of a lack of appointment confirmations.
Regardless, this is not the only reason why sending an appointment reminder text message is essential for business owners. Other benefits include the following:
Your clients will love receiving an SMS from you. As texting becomes a more often-used way of conversation thanks to the increase in smartphone usage, unlimited messaging apps, and more, the last thing anyone wants is to receive unexpected phone calls from businesses. Normally, phone calls are reserved for more personal or urgent matters between friends and family. This does not only apply to consumers in the US. According to research by Twilio, nine out of 10 consumers globally want to use text messages rather than email or phone calls to talk to businesses.
You will improve workflow. Using text messages is a great way to reduce no-shows or late payments, hence helping your business save time and money. Furthermore, it will help improve workflow by freeing up time for your employees to take care of other business matters rather than spending hours making phone calls to customers.
Your business will look more professional. That's because you will give the impression of caring for your client on a more individual level. Nowadays, providing a more personalized experience can make a world of difference for a customer to decide what business to use for any of their needs. For example, if you have a medical emergency, as a patient, you are more likely to visit the client that you feel provides you with the best and fastest experience overall. That's where personalized text messages can make you stand out from competitors.
Texts are more likely to be read than email and less disruptive to your customers' lives than a phone call. Your customers can read the text and respond at their convenience, and when they do respond, you get an instant update on their appointment status.
Textedly's SMS appointment reminder system automates the reminder process for you. Your employees won't have to make reminder calls or leave messages that may never be heard. You can use one of our templates (or create one of your own) to send reminders to multiple customers at once, simplifying and streamlining your appointment procedures.
You can also send payment reminders a few days in advance, giving your customers a way to make payment arrangements before a bill is due. You get paid, and they know you're looking out for their best interest by helping them avoid late fees.
An SMS appointment reminder system includes a long list of benefits to help your business, including:
Reduced missed appointments
Reduced missed payments
Fewer no shows
Reduced employee time spent making reminder calls
A personalized customer experience
The appointment time
The appointment date
An opt-out
Finally, you can include keywords that customers can text in a reply to confirm or cancel the appointment. They get thoughtful reminders, and you get instant updates to your schedule.
Personalizing a confirmation text is easy even when you are using templates in Textedly. You can use dynamic fields to refer to your customers individually. For example, by using "First Name" as a dynamic field on your template, you can send out the same message to multiple individuals, but have each message refer to the person by their first name. Hence, increasing your professionalism and making each one of your customers feel special and well-taken care of.
Appointment confirmation text templates can vary depending on the industry or nature of your business. For example, you might refer to patients of medical offices differently than if you were confirming a restaurant reservation.
The options that follow a specific confirmation text might also be different depending on the nature of your business. For example, you might want to give an option to your customers for rescheduling their appointment via text or ask them to call if they would like to reschedule.
Either way, we have gathered different templates you can use when sending an appointment confirmation text and separated them by business type:
Some customers schedule their appointments weeks or even months in advance.
For this reason, it is important to send an appointment reminder text when the time is approaching. This will minimize the number of missed appointments and give your customers the opportunity to reschedule or cancel if they need to. As a result, you will be able to take advantage of the open slot and schedule it for someone else who can attend.
Just like with confirmations, using an appointment reminder template can be a great time saver for businesses sending these texts constantly.
Here are some examples of templates you can use depending on your business or industry:
Appointment confirmation text templates can vary depending on the industry or nature of your business. For example, you might refer to patients of medical offices differently than if you were confirming a restaurant reservation.
