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Appointment reminders

Three reminders.
Nobody forgets.

Seven days out. One day out. One hour out. Each one fires exactly that far ahead of the appointment, each is sent exactly once, and a patient who replies STOP is off the list before the next one goes.

  • 30 minutes to 30 days
  • Email, SMS, or both
  • Never sent twice

Tue 12 Nov · 10:15 M. Delgado · Dr A. Chen

  1. 7 days before Email · SMS Tue 5 Nov · 10:15
  2. 1 day before Email · SMS Mon 11 Nov · 10:15
  3. 1 hour before Email · SMS Tue 12 Nov · 09:15

One appointment · three messages

The message

One hundred and sixty characters.

Past that, a text bills as two. So the message measures itself and shortens rather than quietly costing you twice.

Text message Bow Valley Clinic

Hi Marco, Bow Valley Clinic appt 11-12 10:15 with Dr A. Chen. Reply CANCEL to cancel, RESCHEDULE to change, STOP to opt out.

124 characters 1 segment In full it would have run 163, so it sent the short one
  • CANCELcancels the appointment
  • RESCHEDULEopens the booking to change
  • STOPends every text from the clinic
And by email
  • The subject carries the date and time
  • Provider, when, and the time zone spelled out
  • One button to manage, reschedule or cancel
  • Unsubscribe on every message
  • They can answer it.

    A reminder nobody can reply to is a leaflet. This one takes one word back, and the booking changes.

  • Opting out actually works.

    One STOP, or one click in an email, and the reminders end. The job checks that list before every send.

  • Sent once. Ever.

    Each reminder is written to a log as it goes. A retry or an overlapping run finds it there and sends nothing.

The whole point

Nobody phones round on Monday.

That morning is back. The reminders went out at the hour you chose, and the replies came in on their own.

  1. 7 daysEmail
  2. 1 dayEmail · SMS
  3. 1 hourSMS

Set once · sent for every appointment after that

  • 30 minutes to 30 days
  • STOP honoured before every send
  • Never sent twice

Questions

What clinics ask about reminders.

How many appointment reminders can a clinic send?

As many as you want. Each reminder is set by how far ahead it goes out, anywhere from thirty minutes to thirty days before the appointment, and two reminders cannot share the same offset. A common set is seven days, one day and one hour.

Can reminders be sent by SMS as well as email?

Yes. Email and SMS are separate switches for the clinic, and a reminder goes out on every channel that is switched on and has a contact detail to use — so a patient with both a mobile and an email on file gets both. Replies come back on the SMS side only; the email is one-way.

Will a reminder wake a patient in the middle of the night?

That is decided by the offset you set, and only by that. A reminder fires exactly so long before the appointment: a 24-hour reminder for a nine o’clock appointment goes out at nine the morning before, and a one-hour reminder for an eight o’clock appointment goes out at seven. If your clinic books late slots, set the short reminders in hours rather than minutes and check where they land. Any patient can reply STOP, and the number is suppressed before the next send.

Can the same reminder be sent twice by mistake?

No. Every reminder is written to a log as it goes out and checked against that log before sending, so a retry or an overlapping run cannot produce a second message.