Over the years, the growth of mobile use has been the biggest game-changer in the way we do
business. A whopping 79% of Americans check their phones within fifteen minutes of waking up & on average
150 times/day - that’s why it’s no surprise that businesses are focusing on how to best reach customers on
mobile.
Almost 100% of text messages are opened within the first three minutes while over two-thirds of emails are never
even opened - proving that texting is the most frequently used data service worldwide. Customer service via
phone calls also shows enormous success rates. Knowing all this, how can we best use texting to communicate with
customers? One way to achieve that is through appointment reminders.
Having missed appointments could lead to a negative impact on your business. Wasting time for a no-show could’ve
been used for more valuable appointments such as attending to another patient or getting new leads. When you
waste time, you also lose money, that’s why texting can greatly help in reducing missed appointments.
I’ll share with you some tips on reaching out to customers via text:
According to the United States healthcare system, missed appointments costs about $150
billion/year to health care centers. In Colorado, a study showed that sending appointment reminders through
text reduced the number of missed appointments by an astounding 40%.
Text messaging specialists say that for health care issues, the best practice is sending the text around 6
pm the night before their appointment - it gives ample time for customers to organize their schedule &
not miss the appointment. They also recommend that you state the importance of the schedule for the
customers’ health. Your wording is the key - use phrases like, “Don’t forget,” “Be sure to,” or “Important
reminder,” to stress the urgency of the appointment.
A property leasing and management company was having trouble with clients keeping their appointments with an average of 15 appointments/day with phone calls & voicemail. They found out that people don’t listen to their voicemail messages so they adopted a texting service to reach their clients about appointment reminders. Through voicemail, they had 25% appointment confirmation rate, but when they switched to SMS reminders, their confirmation rate increased to 85%! Automated texting reminders also saved each of the leasing agents about half an hour/day that was previously spent on leaving voicemails. They were able to better plan their days and even accommodate drop-ins.
To sum it up, text messaging is a great addition to online appointment scheduling software for businesses that keep appointments.
For health, we must remind patients of their healthcare appointments to save time, money
and improve patient care.
In automotive – oil changes, check-ups, tire rotation and other businesses would benefit
from missed appointment reduction by sending an SMS reminder.
The department of education can deal with staff meetings, while parents and students can
be scheduled through text services to promote high attendance rates or communicate in last minute
changes of the time or location.
Beauty salons and spas – cannot also afford to have high-paid professionals standing around waiting for their clients to show up. Lessen no-shows by sending your clients a text before their scheduled appointment.
Hotels – can now send booking confirmation texts to guests to avoid turning away prospective guests for rooms that will be empty.
Texting is the ideal way for airlines & travel agencies to remind passengers of check-in times and advise them of delayed or canceled flights.
Through appointment reminders, your business will be able to save a lot of time and money.
So, use these tips for efficient
appointment management via SMS. Don't forget to leave your comments below or connect with us at
Streamline to learn
more interesting things for the success of your business.
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