The ability to send appointment confirmation and reminder texts to your customers is a massive leap forward in business efficiency.
Text messages have a 98% read rate, which means the struggle of reminder phone calls and emails can finally end.
If you send the reminder text, the customer is going to see it. (well, 98% of the time… which is not too shabby)
This leads to a decrease in dropped appointments, quicker reschedules, and ultimately a calendar full of quality appointments.
When you set an appointment, you want to send something that the customer can easily refer to with the date, time, and location of the appointment.
The easiest way to do this is to send an appointment confirmation text immediately after setting the appointment.
If the appointment is set over the phone, ask if they’d like to opt-in to text reminders.
If the appointment is set in person, ask for permission to text reminders.
Don’t be afraid of the ask. Remember, 87% of consumers prefer businesses text them rather than call.
In the confirmation text, don’t forget to include some sort of Call to Action.
This could mean the customer needs to reply “CONFIRM” to them message, or it could simply be an invitation to reply to the message with any questions or rescheduling requests.
The customer confirmed the appointment a while back, but will they remember?
This is where the appointment reminder text comes into play. This might come the day before the appointment, a few hours before, or maybe 30 minutes before.
The timing may depend on what kind of appointment you have set. Is it a video call? Or an in-person appointment?
For video calls, a reminder 30 minutes before the call is a good amount of time for the customer to prepare.
For in-person appointments, a reminder the day before or at least a few hours before will be necessary.
Like the confirmation text, be sure the reminder text has the date, time, and location of the appointment. Invite them to reply to the text if a reschedule is needed. This will cut down on no-shows and turn them into reschedules.
Below are a few examples of confirmation texts:
“Hi Jessica, we have scheduled an appointment for you on Tuesday, December 11th at 11:00 AM with Dave Anderson. The address is 1122 Station St. Reply to this message with any questions.”
“You scheduled a video call with Elizabeth on Monday, July 18th at 3pm. Please reply “CONFIRM”
“Richard, your condo walkthrough at Bellington is scheduled for 01/06/21 at 1pm. Please reply to this message if you need to reschedule. Thanks, Don”
Below are a few examples of reminder texts:
“REMINDER: Your appointment with Dave is tomorrow at 11:00 AM. The address is 1122 Station St. Please reply to this message with any questions”
“This is to remind you of your video call with Zane Law starting in 1 hour at 3pm. Elizabeth will call you at that time.”
“Richard, just a reminder about your appointment at 1pm this afternoon. Below is a link to driving directions. Let me know if you have any questions, Don.”
Kenect allows businesses to communicate with customers via text message on an easy-to-use platform. This allows you and your staff to easily schedule text reminders, communicate better with your customers, and bring in more quality leads. Reach out to our staff to get a free quote for your business!