How to Write the Perfect Appointment Confirmation Text
If you want to alleviate most of the problems with booking and maintaining an appointment schedule you need to send appointment confirmation texts.
If you want to alleviate most of the problems with booking and maintaining an appointment schedule you need to send appointment confirmation texts.
Confirmations make everyone’s lives easier. Think about what happens when you don’t confirm something.
You go to a Starbucks drive-through and order a Venti, five-shot, half-full Americano. There’s a long queue of cars, so the employee waves you through before confirming what you ordered.
You collect your order and drive off and at the next traffic light reach for a sip––only to realize that your drink is a hot chocolate.
Not getting your caffeine fix is a relatively minor inconvenience. There are horror stories on travel forums about not receiving a flight confirmation email or text, and then not being able to fly.
Similarly, appointment confirmation texts can prevent minor misunderstandings and chaos if you run a business that provides appointment services.
Plus, they’re easy to send and can be a gamechanger: as one study found, once an appointment is confirmed, there is a 90% chance it will not be missed or rescheduled.
If you’re ready to send your first appointment confirmation text, we have good news. We’ve done all of the legwork for you, providing examples and guidance on what you need to write the perfect message.
An appointment confirmation text is a message sent by SMS minutes, hours, or days before an appointment. Recipients can reply or follow a link to confirm or reschedule. They’re often used by doctors’ offices, veterinarians, salons, dentists, and any business that offers appointments.
You might be thinking, “Why should I send texts and not emails?”
While 90% of text messages are opened within the first three minutes of being received, over two-thirds of emails are never opened. (Phone calls show a much lower success rate than either email or SMS.)
There are certain elements you absolutely need to include. After all, your recipient is expecting confirmation details for their appointment, like the appointment date. With that in mind, all texts must include:
If you want to take your confirmation texts to the next level, then here are five additional tips:
Your confirmation texts’ voice and tone will vary depending on your brand and the service you provide. If you’re sending appointment confirmation texts for a nail salon, you can be more informal. If you’re texting about a medical appointment, you’ll likely want to be more formal.
This text is for a dentist confirming a teeth whitening appointment. It considers the service, the time of year, and reminds the patient of the benefits of attending. It also includes all of the essential elements.
The following communicates clearly that by confirming their appointment, they will be locking in a block of time meant just for them—and that others will be counting on them to follow through on that confirmation.
It’s much easier for your customers to reschedule an appointment at a time that suits them than it is for you to go back-and-forth checking availability.
Not only that but providing a link to reschedule increases the chance that someone will pick a new time and date rather than cancel the appointment entirely.
While it’s unlikely, you’ll prevent every single cancellation or last-minute request to reschedule, using a channel with 98% open rates to confirm appointments will drastically improve your attendance rates.
Now that you have the skinny on what’s involved in sending a text reminder that people will respond to, nothing is stopping you.
If you’re looking for a platform to send these appointment reminder messages, sign up for a 14-day free trial of SimpleTexting. Every account comes with a complimentary, text-enabled number. You can even choose one with your area code!
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