SMS reminders
Patients who want a text reminder check a box when they book. The day before, they get a short SMS with the time and a link to manage their booking.
Demo Clinic
Text message
Fri 11:30 AM
Email reminders work for many patients. For others, a text is the only message they'll open before tomorrow morning.
Your reminder email lands next to ten sales. The patient doesn't see it, and doesn't come.
Manual reminder lists fall out of date the moment someone reschedules. Patients get texts for times that no longer exist.
Reminders sent from a front-desk phone depend on one person remembering, and put your patients' numbers on a personal device.
How it works
SMS reminders use Twilio, a widely used messaging provider, connected to your clinic during setup.
SMS reminders are off until your clinic turns them on in settings. You choose how many hours before an appointment reminders go out.
On the booking form, patients choose whether they also want a text message reminder. Nobody gets texts they didn't ask for.
Reminders only go to confirmed appointments. A request still waiting for your team doesn't trigger one.
At the time you set, the patient receives a short text with the appointment time and a link to their private manage page.
Demo Clinic
Text message
Fri 11:30 AM
A reminder is only useful if it's right. When an appointment is canceled, moved or has already started, the old reminder is dropped automatically, so a patient never gets a text for a time that no longer exists.
If a patient reschedules, the reminder follows the new time. Your team doesn't maintain a separate reminder list.
Every text includes a link to the patient's private manage page. From there they can add the appointment to their calendar, get directions, pay a deposit that's still due, or cancel within your cancellation window.
A patient who can't come and cancels through the link frees the slot for someone else. That's better for everyone than a patient who simply doesn't show up.
A reminder can only arrive if the number is right. When patients book, their mobile number is checked against your clinic's country format, such as a US number like (212) 555-0123, before the booking goes through.
The reminder time is worked out from the appointment in your clinic's own time zone, including daylight saving time changes in the USA, so a text that says 11:30 AM means 11:30 AM at your clinic.
SMS is one of three reminder channels. Every confirmed booking can get an email reminder, patients who opt in to WhatsApp get WhatsApp messages, and patients who ask for texts get an SMS reminder too.
See how the channels fit together on the appointment reminders page, or read about WhatsApp reminders and email notifications.
Failed sends are retried automatically. If something keeps failing, or the SMS channel isn't connected properly, the Velvet Lead team is alerted, often before your clinic notices.
Your clinic can also pause all automatic messages with one switch. Messages queue up and go out when you switch them back on.
Text messages are sent through Twilio, which charges per message. Those costs are paid by your clinic, directly to Twilio. Because only patients who ask for texts receive them, you only pay for reminders people wanted.
Honest limits
SMS in Velvet Lead is intentionally limited to one job.
FAQ
No. Patients choose on the booking form whether they want a text message reminder, and your clinic has to switch SMS on in settings.
Your clinic sets how many hours before the appointment reminders go out. Reminders only go to confirmed appointments.
The old reminder is dropped automatically. If the appointment moves, the reminder follows the new time.
No. SMS is reminders only, with no two-way texting. The text includes a link to the patient's manage page, where they can cancel within your window.
No. Velvet Lead doesn't send SMS marketing campaigns. Text messages are used for appointment reminders only.
Your clinic pays Twilio's per-message costs directly. Only patients who asked for texts receive them.
Book a 15-minute demo and see how email, text and WhatsApp reminders work together on our demo clinic.