Once an appointment is made, follow up reminder should be sent on regular intervals. Reminders reduce no show rate by 40%. So, it is necessary to send reminders.
How often I should remind?
You should remind about upcoming appointment for seven times.
Remind through confirmation message
Friendly reminder of upcoming appointment
On the time of appointment
By asking feedback
Follow up message for missed appointments
For rescheduling purposes
In general, these seven steps are followed to remind appointments. You can also send one more reminder just before 1 hour of appointment. This pattern works the best to remind appointments effectively.
Ways of reminding
Email reminders
81% of people check their mails for a day. Nearly, 19% of people check their mails several times a day. Email reminders can be powerful in communicating appointment reminders.
Email reminders are nothing but sending an email on upcoming appointments. You can also send email reminders to ask for rescheduling when clients miss appointments. These two purposes serve email reminders in general.
How your email reminders should be?
Use a clear subject line telling the purpose
Greet first
Be nice with them for choosing you
Directly remind the appointment
Request them not to miss it
Wind up with regards
Email reminder templates
Hello Gorgeous! Waiting for a stylish transformation. Then don’t miss your appointment on (appointment date) and (time). Click “yes” if you turn up without fail.
Hi handsome! What about having a nice hair cut. Do come to visit us on your fixed appointment date on (appointment Date) at (time). Catch you soon.
Greetings! We are excited to give a makeover for you. Make sure you come on (appointment date and time) to have a stunning transformation. Reply “confirm” to ensure your arrival.
Hey, this is LookBook spa reminding your appointment. Please turn up for your appointment on (date) at (time). We can’t wait to give you a beautiful makeover. Reply “Yes, I confirm” to show your readiness.
SMS
95% of text messages are read within 3 minutes. More than 50% people check their text messages for 5 times in an hour. Text messages are viewed earlier and faster than others. So, you can send SMS reminders to clients for upcoming appointments.
How often SMS reminders can be sent?
You can send SMS reminders by the following order and number times.
On booking appointments
On confirming appointments
On the day of appointment
1 hour before appointment
At the time of booked appointment
If the appointment is missed, then you should send two more reminders. They are,
Follow up SMS reminders
Rescheduling SMS reminders
How your SMS reminder should be?
Start with greetings
Tell where you are from
Address the name of the client
Mention the date and time of appointment
Give information to reschedule
SMS reminder templates
SMS reminder templates should contain 160 characters only. Don’t send automated messages to everyone. Send customized message for each and everyone. For your regular and royal customers, make some specification.
Include offers and discounts inside your template. Start with your customers’ name and greetings.
Examples
Hi, (customer name)! We are waiting to style your hair on Date (appointment date) at time (appointment time). Please reply yes to confirm your appointment. Call us on (contact no) for rescheduling.
Hello, (customer name)! Are you excited to see your hair transformation? Then don’t miss your pre-scheduled appointment with us on (appointment date) at (appointment time). Call us on (contact no) if you have any query.
Hi, this is (stylist name) here! Please visit us on (appointment date) at (appointment time) as you have booked for appointments. If you think of rescheduling, then contact us on (contact no).
Good morning (client name)! Hope you visit us on (appointment date) at (appointment time) to have a hair treatment at out spa. Please reply “Yes” if you decide to come. Otherwise call us on (contact no) to reschedule.
Voice message
Voice messages can be sent to remind about upcoming spa and salon appointments. But sadly, 18% of voice messages are only read. It is difficult reach clients through voice messages.
Still you can use auto recorded voice messages indicating appointment time and date to the client. It will also disappear after two minutes once the client listened to it. How often you send those voice messages, it is a doubt on reaching customers though.
Phone call reminder
Phone call reminders work effectively. You can make up to 3 reminder calls per week. This is like directly contacting the client about his arrival. It is easy to reschedule if they don’t find time to visit you at spa or salon.
But there is one drawback. At times, you may not reach the client through phone calls. Purposely or by mistake, he may not take your calls. There you fail to remind them about appointments.
Call script
Call scripting is getting prompt information about particular client. Basically it is gathered to contact clients and to provide information about upcoming appointments. You can do this by hiring a call script company to do with your clients.
How long we need to wait to remind them?
You can start sending reminders three weeks before the date of appointments. From there, you can send one message on daily basis till the date of appointment.
You can make only 3 calls before the appointment date. You can also make reminders before 3 hours and an hour before appointment time. Sending reminders before one hour of scheduled time works effectively.
Top appointment reminder software for medical spa and salons
Appointment reminder software is generally used by medical spa and salon professionals to notify scheduled appointments. Following softwares can send reminders to clients through text messages, emails, phone calls and all the other means.
ReminderCall.com
ReminderCall is an automated appointment reminder platform for medical professionals. It can be used for medical spa and salons. It helps in reducing no show rates. It has exclusive reminder features like,
sending reminder calls
2 way text reminders and
Email reminders.
You can give voice messages using your voice. Pricing of this software starts from $14.50 per month. It offers free trials to try. But it has no free version to avail.
Doctible
Doctible is appointment reminder software for medical professionals. It can send customized flexible reminders. It helps largely to reduce no shows and rescheduling.
It is HIPAA compliant appointment reminders. It saves 2 to 3 hours per day that is spent on reminders. It has specific reminder features like
2 way messaging
Mass texting
Message personalization
Messaging
MMS and
Confirmation/reminders.
This software provides free trials to try. No free version is available for this software.
Mend
Mend is medical practice management software solution. It also does scheduling. It has features like
Appointment scheduling
Automated scheduling
Calendar sync
Billing & invoicing
online payments
patients records managements
No show tracking and SMS reminders.
Acuity Scheduling
Acuity scheduling is online appointment scheduling software. It can send automatic reminders to clients on upcoming appointments. This also sends reminders through all means like texts, emails and other social media platforms. It can organize schedules by auto adjusting to your working hours. Acuity Scheduling can manage multiple locations and staff. You can also store patients’ details and reports with this scheduling software. It has integration with Google calendar, iCloud, outlook.com, Exchange, Office 365 and 500+ other apps.
You can embed scheduler on website. Making payments, showing analysis of appointments, mobile optimization help you to have better scheduling. It gives 7 days of free trial. Basic subscription starts from $14.
Vagaro
Vagaro is cloud based appointment scheduling software. It gives easy access comparing other medical scheduling software. It does auto drafting, session tracking and billing. It sends automatic text and email notifications on booked appointments.
You can list available appointment slots that can be viewed by patients. It supports in devices like androids, ios and smart phones. It allows you to have customized features for specific needs.
You can stay connected through email and all social media platforms. It allows you to have patients’ details. It also shows reports and graphs on booked appointments and increasing show up rate.
SimplePractice
SimplePractice is cloud based appointment management solution. It also offers practice management system. This software is easy to use that anyone can access it without having any prior knowledge. It does automated scheduling.
It does scheduling, payment processing, documentation and other such process. It has key features like free unlimited appointment reminders, insurance claim management, online appointment request and patients portal.
Scheduled appointments are controlled, tracked and managed through this software.
SimplyBook.me
SimplyBook.me is online booking system. It has two differing serving systems: clients and admin app. This can be used for patients and doctors in medical field. It allows you to have customized scheduling features.
This software reminds clients on booked appointments through texts, emails, and social media platforms. Payment option helps you to have increasing show up rate of patients. It uses API interface. This scheduling system has free version to use.
Timify
Timify is online scheduling solution and management software. It suits small clinics to large hospitals. It is cloud based software. You can view and access appointments with your hospital staff. Timify has free basic version to avail.
Features like API integration, alerts/notifications on booked appointments, calendar management, contact management, reporting/analytics, booking management, calendar sync, and website integration help easy scheduling. Basic subscription plan starts from 25 Euro.
10 to 8
10 to 8 is all in one appointment scheduling software. It sends SMS and email reminders. It allows you to have customized scheduling. It offers online booking page, online payment, calendar sync, group bookings. It has integration with 1,500+ apps.
It can be accessed on any device. You can also view appointment history and track patients’ appointments. It does appointment scheduling, automated scheduling, collecting patient database, and communication management. It has free version to use. Basic subscription starts from $12.
Appointy
Appointy is automated scheduling software. It gives appointment management, payments, staff and patient management options in scheduling. It offers simple and functional appointment scheduling to your clinic or hospital.
It has features like online scheduling, scheduling management, automated bookings, website integration and automated reminders. Appointy has integration with Zapier, Square, and Point of sale.
This software supports all mobile apps. No free version to use. But you have free trials to know features. It costs $19.99 per feature.
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