An Appointment Reminder is a message sent by a business to notify a customer of an upcoming event, such as an eye test, a restaurant booking or a package delivery. While some businesses call customers to remind them of their appointments, text messaging has emerged as the preferred channel for this kind of communication.
Businesses that use text messaging can send customers a reminder a few days — or even hours — in advance of their scheduled service or order delivery date. This helps reduce the number of missed appointments and enables customers to contact the business directly if they need to make any changes. For example, Yelp, the crowd-sourced business review site, sends reminders to users who've made restaurant bookings through its app, allowing them to confirm or change their reservations via SMS.
Likewise, when Arkansas Children's Hospital schedules an appointment, they ask patients to opt into SMS or voice reminders at the time of scheduling. In that way, ACH can send reminders of appointments, which can be confirmed or changed via text. By interacting directly with customers, this two-way communication allows businesses to reduce no-shows and increase customer communications.
Appointment Reminders, like all notifications sent using text and voice messaging, receive attention more quickly than email and other channels. And best of all, businesses typically receive customer replies in real-time. This enables companies to automate customer communications and deliver a first-rate customer experience.
Try out our tutorials, which walk you through building an Appointment Reminder system, or talk to sales for help with your unique Appointment Reminder scenario.