PracSuite has several ways to automatically send an email or SMS to patients or users based on:
The results of a report.
Past or future appointments.
A fixed or recurring schedule.
Below are the different types of automatic messaging that can be utilised in PracSuite and when to use them.
Appointment Confirmations
Appointment Confirmations can be used to send patients an SMS or email to the patient immediately after their appointment is created in PracSuite. Confirmations are best used to confirm the details of an appointment, particularly if the appointment was made over the phone, and reduce any misunderstandings or miscommunications.
Examples of when to use Confirmations:
To confirm the details of an appointment made over the phone or in-person, avoiding miscommunications and other mistakes when booking.
To send specific information or instructions to a patient depending on the appointment type, giving the patient time to follow your request.
Example 1:
For an Initial Appointment, the confirmation can include additional information or an intake form for the patient to complete before the booking.
Example 2:
For a treatment that requires written consent or has terms and conditions to acknowledge, the confirmation can include a consent form or link to your privacy policy etc.
For more information Confirmations please see:
Automatic Appointment Confirmations
Appointment Reminders
Appointment Reminders are sent to the patient at a specific schedule before the appointment. This can be an exact number of hours prior to the appointment, or a number of days prior to the appointment at a specific time (e.g. 1 day before the appointment at 10:00AM). This serves as a final reminder to patients who may have forgotten their appointment and can drastically reduce missed appointments.
Appointment Reminders can be configured to use specific email or SMS templates for each Businesses, Professions, Practitioners and Appointment Type. It is also possible to schedule multiple appointment reminders to send at different intervals before an appointment.
Examples of when to use Reminders:
As a reminder to the the patient the day before their appointment, including details or when and where the appointment is taking place.
As a reminder of important information regarding their appointment.
Examples:
- A reminder to wear appropriate clothing for the treatment.- Directions to parking.
- Instructions to arrive 15 minutes prior to the appointment to complete an intake form or other documentation.
- A reminder to bring equipment, a referral or other necessary items.
For more information on Reminders please see:
Appointment Follow-ups
Appointment Follow-ups are used to schedule an email or SMS after an appointment has been completed, missed, or cancelled. Follow-ups can be used for marketing purposes, or to gather feedback from the patient regarding their visit to the clinic.
Examples of when to use Follow Ups:
Sending a 'Thank you for visiting' message.
Sending the patient a survey or requesting an online review.
Automatically contacting a patient to re-schedule a missed appointment.
For more information on Follow Ups please see:
Appointment Follow-ups
Campaigns
Campaigns are used to automatically SMS or emails patients based on the results of a saved report, typically on a recurring basis.
For example, a campaign could be configured to:
Run the Birthday List every day, to identify all patients with a birthday 'today'.
Send those patients an SMS or email to wish them a happy birthday.
It is important to understand that a campaign is based on the results of your report at the time of sending. i.e. if you create a campaign to send at 10:00AM on the last day of each month, it will be sent to patients who appear in that report at that time.
Other examples of when to use Campaigns:
General marketing and promotions (using the Patient List).
Re-engaging with Inactive patients (using the Active/Inactive Patients report).
Automating your Recalls to message patients on a schedule (using the Recalls report).
💡Note: Campaigns can only be sent to patients that are opted into SMS and email marketing.
For more information on Campaigns please see:
Creating Email & SMS Campaigns
Scheduled Reports
Scheduled Report are used to email a PracSuite report (in PDF or Excel format) to a user on a specific schedule.
Examples of when to use Scheduled Reports:
As a business owner or practice manager, reports can be scheduled to send each week, fortnight or month to monitor business performance and other metrics.
As an accountant or bookkeeper, reports for each accounting period can be scheduled to send automatically and reduce the need to manual reporting.
As a practitioner, a Day List can be sent each morning to show their upcoming appointments for the day. A Billings Report could also be scheduled each week to summarise the services provided and their expected earnings.
As a receptionist, the Appointment Activity report can be scheduled to show which patients missed an appointment this week and require a follow-up.
For more information on Scheduled Reports please see:
How to Create a Scheduled Report
Scheduled SMS or Emails
Tools > SMS > Scheduled SMS or Tools > Email > Scheduled Emails
Lastly, when manually sending an SMS or Email it is possible to set a 'Scheduled Send' at a specific date and time, which can then be managed in the Tools area as linked above. This will then automatically deliver that message at the specified time.
Examples of when to use Schedule Send:
When the message is being written for an ad-hoc purpose but needs to be delivered at a specific time.
When a message is being written ad-hoc, but it's an inappropriate time to message (such as late at night) and you'd like it to be received during polite hours.