Newsletters

Customer Support:   (972) 395-3225

Home

Articles, News, Announcements - click Main News Page
Previous Story       Next Story
    
Appointment Reminders Made Easy With Business Texting

by Dean Garfinkel, Quality Voice and Data - March 20, 2018

 Appointment Reminders Made Easy with Business Texting

Dean Garfinkel, Quality Voice and Data
 
TextBetter™ customers are finding out how easy it is to send appointment reminders to their customers. While sending appointment reminders is not a new concept, many businesses have found that the no-show rate for appointments is decreased substantially when a reminder is sent via a text message.
 
Why? Because 95% of text messages are read and responded to within 15 minutes or less. And according to Pew Foundation, 91% of Americans have their mobile phone within arm’s reach 24 hours a day. I’d venture to say that I’m one of the 9%, but I’m not the norm – especially at night. During the day, my phone is always within arm’s reach.
 
Getting your customer or prospect to read a text message and to respond to your text message is clearly a positive. Getting your customer or prospect to actually keep the appointment and not miss it is the real win. The good news is that a study conducted by Health Services Research found that text message reminders increased appointment attendance by about 50%.
 
Decreasing appointment no-shows by using business texting will have a significant positive impact on your entire organization.
·         More revenue: Kept appointments will increase your company’s revenue. Some appointments end up never getting re-booked.
·         Lower expenses: Re-booking missed appointments takes up valuable time and resources from your team members.
 
Text Messages for Reminders is Better Than Phone Calls, Email and Snail Mail
Another reason to embrace business texting for sending appointment reminders (vs other methods of communication) is that it is easy for the consumer or business-person to quickly respond and confirm they will attend the appointment. For example, in the appointment message, we recommend putting the following information:
 
1.Who you are
2.Type of appointment
3.Date and time of appointment
4. Response requested – for example, press 1 to confirm or press 2 to contact our office to make a change to your appointment
 
You can also put an option like, “Press 3 to request a call from our office to discuss any questions you have”.
 
Email is Used as the Tool for Sending the Text Message
Because TextBetter™ is sent and received using your business email client (but looks just like a text message on your customer’s phone device), you can save the messages in your CRM or print them to put into a file.
 
We even have customers that use popular CRMs like Salesforce, SugarCRM, NetSuite and Microsoft Dynamics and they can easily set up the text messages to be sent automatically based on appointment scheduling rules. We call it automated text reminders. No integration or additional app is required. We just text enable your landline and pair it with your email address.
 
Here are a few industries that we see using TextBetter™ for appointment reminders:
 
·         Accountants
·         Lawyers
·         Real Estate Agents
·         Personal Trainers
·         Dentist Offices
·         Physician Offices
·         Service Departments at Car Dealerships
·         Auto Body Shops
·         Recruiters
·         Moving Companies
·         Telecom Installation Professionals
·         Sales Reps
·         Cleaning Companies
·         Beauty Salons
·         Nail Salons
 
But don’t let the list limit your imagination. If you schedule appointments and need a less cumbersome and more effective way to confirm appointments with your customers or prospects, then TextBetter™ is your ideal solution to decrease your appointment no-show rate today.
 

 
Return to main news page