There are countless possibilities when it comes to automated recurring SMS. We've compiled a list of ideas and the settings you'd need to use to get them going.
Remember - you can SMS your patients for both marketing and non-marketing purposes. When sending non-marketing SMS, patients do not need to be subscribed to SMS marketing to receive it.
Non-marketing SMS warning: Be sure that you're adhering to local privacy and health compliance laws when using this feature.
Personalised practitioner recalls
This one's our most popular use of promotional SMS! Get patients booking by sending friendly, personalised recalls from their treating practitioner.
Here's our text if you want to do something similar:
Hey [patientfirstname],
It’s [practitionerfirstname] here from [business]. It’s been a few months since I last saw you - it would be great to schedule you in :)
You can book with me using this link:
[bookinglink]
Feel free to email us if you need anything.
[business]
[businessreplyemail]
Don't forget to:
Replace the [bookinglink] variable with a practitioner-specific link generated from your Cliniko account if you want to take the personalisation a step further.
Customise the variables to your liking - the ones in our example work well, but you have more options available to you.
Carefully select whether this is 'marketing' or 'non-marketing' - if you select marketing an opt-out link will be automatically added to the end of your SMS.
Add your phone number at the end - there's not variable for this (Cliniko doesn't have a reception number field unfortunately).
To create the SMS:
Check out this tutorial:
In terms of timing, here's some examples:
Send a recall to patients who do not book a follow up appointment within 7 days of their first appointment.
Send a recall to patients to who do not book another appointment in the same treatment category (or just any type of appointment!) within 30, 60, 90, 180 or even 365 days of their last appointment.
Post-appointment booking link
This one is a really good one if you want to capture patients in their 'on' mode by sending them a convenient booking link right after they attend an appointment, to prompt them to book their next one (if they didn't do it on their way at at reception!)
I know that I personally would love this as someone who often forgets to book in or gets flustered on the spot and can't pick a date. This allows your patients to get it done once they walk out the door when it's more convenient for them to check their calendar or with their family.
Here's our text if you want to do something similar:
Great seeing you today [patientfirstname],
You can book your follow-up appointment right here:
[bookinglink]
Please let us know if you need anything.
[business]
[businessreplyemail]
Don't forget to:
Replace the [bookinglink] variable with an appointment type specific link generated from your Cliniko account if you want to take the personalisation a step further and ensure they book the right thing.
Customise the variables to your liking - the ones in our example work well, but you have more options available to you.
Carefully select whether this is 'marketing' or 'non-marketing' - if you select marketing an opt-out link will be automatically added to the end of your SMS.
Add your phone number at the end - there's not variable for this (Cliniko doesn't have a reception number field unfortunately).
To create the SMS:
Check out this tutorial:
In terms of configuration, here's some recommendations:
Set it to send 5 minutes up to an hour after the appointment (or even a full day) - make sure you tick the recall box so that it only sends if they don't already have an appointment schedule.
You could even create another one to send a week later - just saying that you notice they still haven't booked their follow-up and they can do it now.
You could filter this SMS to only send after appointment types that require a follow-up - such as after initial appointments, or appointments where they need to receive results in another session.
Personalised requests for feedback or reviews
There's several ways you can go about this - but I know I'd be leaving a review if I got this SMS!
You could either:
Use a medical alert to trigger an SMS on the fly like the example above to a client after a positive appointment - where you know the client is totally satisified. Send them straight to Google (ensure you adhere to local laws around review collection).
Send a post-appointment feedback request automatically to all patients who attend a specific number of appointments. For example - after their 5th or 10th appointment.
Here's our text if you want to do something similar:
Hey [patientfirstname]!
It was a pleasure seeing you today. I have a tiny favour to ask - would you be happy to leave us a Google review?
It would mean a lot to us :)
**INSERT YOUR GOOGLE REVIEW LINK**
See you next time!
[practitionerfirstname] @ [business]
**INSERT YOUR PHONE #**
Don't forget to:
Add in your Google review link (not sure where to get it? Click here).
Add in your phone number (or email - whatever you prefer)
Or you could replace the Google review link with your feedback form link.
Send a day-of reminder to new patients
You probably use Cliniko to send your usual appointment reminders - but how about making your new client's life all the more convenient and touching base with them the day of to send anything important.
Just create a Peptalkr SMS that sends '1 hour' before the appointment and insert anything necessary - you could even use a link shortening service to send them a link to your Google maps directions 🗺️
Or remind them about the form once more so they can fill it in before they arrive, or when in the waiting room to keep things running smoothly. But don't use a link shortener on this - here's why.
Like these ideas? We have plenty more where they came from. Check out this comprehensive article full of automation ideas.