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πŸ•’ Send an automated recurring SMS
πŸ•’ Send an automated recurring SMS

How so set up SMS that send them selves when certain conditions are met.

Monique Clark avatar
Written by Monique Clark
Updated over a week ago

Our step-by-step SMS builder makes it so easy. You'll be guided through the process and there are handy explanations at the bottom of each screen to answer any questions you might have.

To get started, head to the Send SMS tab.

Step by step guide:

Click the plus button to enter the guided SMS builder:

Step One: Name & Kind

Give your SMS a descriptive name and select Automated Recurring:

Step Two: Marketing or non-marketing

Now select whether your SMS is marketing or non-marketing:

Step Three: When should it send?

Now you can select which triggering event sets the wheels in motion:

Your guide to triggering events:

Each event corresponds to something that is happening in Cliniko. Use this table for a guide as to when you might use each:

Trigger name

Description

Good for

Before appointment

Sends before an appointment commences.

  • Reminders

  • Sending intake forms

After appointment (incl. recalls)

Sends after an appointment ends.

  • Requesting feedback

  • Reactivations/recalls

  • Follow ups

  • Post-appointment care/education

Appointment created

Sends after an appointment is created.

  • Confirmations

  • New patient welcome packs

  • Sending intake forms

Appointment cancelled (incl. recalls)

Sends after an appointment is marked cancelled.

  • Cancellation recalls

  • Cancellation confirmations

Appointment marked DNA (incl. recalls)

Sends after an appointment is marked DNA.

  • DNA recalls

  • DNA notices

Invoice created

Sends after an invoice is created.

  • Confirmation of purchase (not a receipt - just details/instructions relating to their purchase)

Invoice paid

Sends after an invoice is marked paid.

  • Post-appointment care/education in relation to a specific invoice item

Medical alert added to a patient

Sends after a medical alert is added to the patient file.

  • On the fly information sent from within Cliniko

After a certain number of appointments

Sends 1 hour after a patient reaches a certain total number of appointments.

  • Requesting feedback

  • Asking for a Google review


Step Four: Filters to apply

Use filters to narrow down exactly who should receive this message. You can include or exclude your selections. Just click the include button to change it to an exclude filter.

Choose from:

  • Businesses to target (if you have multiple businesses in your Cliniko account)

  • Cancellation reason (*only available for cancellation triggers)

  • Products (*only available for invoice triggers)

  • Billable items (*only available for invoice triggers)

  • Appointment categories

  • Appointment types

  • Practitioner seen/scheduled to see

  • Appointment count

  • Gender

How applying multiple filters works

Each filter selection you make within a category is treated with an 'OR' rule whereas the selections you make across filter categories is treated with an 'AND' rule. Learn more about this here:​
​

Step Five: Frequency

Select whether a patient should receive a fresh copy of this SMS if the triggering event occurs again.

Step Six: Write your message

Write your SMS and use the personalisation dropdown to insert data specific to the recipient or your business.

Stuck for ideas?

We've got an article for that with copy-paste text ideas to get you going sooner (and yes, these ideas really work. We've got 5 years of experience sending hundreds of thousands of SMS (probably millions by the time you are reading this) and we know what works 😊

Step Seven: Summary

Review your settings. If everything looks good, hit the finish button to save your trigger. You can then choose to turn it on if you’re ready, or come back later to make more edits.

πŸŽ‰ Guess what? You did it! Go ahead and send yourself a test then turn it on (once you have topped up with some SMS credits).


βœ… Tutorials for days

Did you know we have tutorials for just about every popular type of SMS? Check 'em out here - just scroll down to 'Step 2' to skip the email part - as these tutorials are for both email and SMS.

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