Make sure you read our important information about how Peptalkr SMS work.
Peptalkr SMS cannot be replied to. As there is no actual phone number attached to the SMS, replies are not possible. They behave more like a notification service, than as a two-way channel of communication.
Our SMS look like this on most smart phones:
The 'Peptalkr' at the top is replace by your custom SMS sender ID. Learn how to set one here.
👉 The benefit of this is:
That they can send both transactional (non-marketing) and marketing SMS.
They reduce confusion if the recipient already receives reminder SMS from your Cliniko account (Cliniko has their own sending number).
They stop mass amounts of admin work for you by having to respond to replies.
They keep each SMS focused on prompting the recipient to take some kind of action (filling in an intake form, scheduling an appointment, cancelling an appointment, providing feedback, leaving a Google review etc).
🔐 But there's a security benefit too:
Handling SMS replies is sensitive business. Peptalkr does not handle ANY information that is not imperative to the functioning of our automation tools.
We'd rather not handle potentially sensitive patient responses. This is part of our multi-layered approach to privacy and security.
So what about patients replying to appointment reminders?
Luckily - Cliniko does handle replies. So if you really like receiving replies to reminders, keep using Cliniko for your reminder SMS.
Use Peptalkr for all the other stuff that Cliniko can't do 😊
Our recommendations
Always include a contact method in your SMS - e.g. a phone number, email address or link.
Add a "Do not reply" to the end of the SMS to make it really clear - it's a non-reply SMS (optional but some people like doing this).
Always include links where possible - booking links, cancellation links, intake form links - let your recipients take action.
Opting out of SMS
Marketing SMS always include an opt-out link for all marketing SMS by default - which syncs back to Cliniko.
Non-marketing SMS can be opted out of in a few ways.
All other types of SMS (these instructions are relevant to both non-marketing email and SMS)