How to Send Appointment Reminders that Work?

Missed appointments are truly a nightmare for any salesperson. All the hard work, use of resources, and thought go in vain as soon as a confirmed appointment is turned down. Cancelled appointments hurt because they put a prominent hole in your daily schedule and spoil your plans. Even when clients are reminded regularly about the meeting, they tend to forget due to various unacceptable reasons.

Miscommunication has been observed as one of the major reasons behind the cancellation of meetings. Not only are these cancellations frustrating but the effort and money put behind them are also wasted. However, it has been seen that if you are proactive in sending effective reminders to your clients, they tend to forget less and hence the no-show situation is eliminated.

Revenue Loss for Missed Appointments:

Apart from dismantling your schedule and efficiency, missed or cancelled appointments put a huge dent in the revenue flow. Since a lot of money goes into arranging a meeting, the cancellation hampers the revenue generated from a particular meeting. This revenue loss can be calculated as follows:

100 clients per month x $100 per client x .10 no-show rate= $1000 loss per month (all number in average)

Reason for People Missing Appointments:

As per the survey conducted across various industries regarding the reason behind missing appointments, nearly 53% of the people reported the reason as they forgot or directly cancelled their appointments, 28% of the people reported the reason being wrong date or time recorded while other 24% reported the reason to be traffic or other work.

While the reasons for traffic and work cannot be controlled, reasons like wrong date and time and forgetting are purely due to miscommunication and forgetfulness respectively. This mistake can be easily eliminated with proper methods of work.

According to another survey on the same issue, the reports from 38% of the people suggested that a text message reminder was helpful to them, 19% of the people reported that an email would help them, and 24% of the people said that a voice note would have helped them. These stats clearly show that following up through various channels is an effective option. The choice of channel should be made depending on the situation.

Here’s a complete guide explaining various tricks that will prevent your clients from forgetting about the appointment reminders:

If you are tired of your clients cancelling and missing appointments, here we have listed some tricks that would significantly reduce the no-show rate. These tricks are tried and tested and you can use them as per your situation and convenience.

Define a Cancellation Policy:

When you book an appointment for your client, also mention your no-show/cancellation policy along with it. List all the benefits they would be missing out on if the meeting does not take place. If you are an established organization, you can also levy a certain charge for their cancellation within a specific timeframe. It would help you still have some part of the revenue if not all even if the meeting is cancelled or missed due to any chance. Make sure people are well-aware of your policies and how they work.

Carry Out A Two-way Communication:

Two-way communication is crucial when it comes to cancelling meetings since it is better to cancel than no-show at all. When you let your clients communicate with you beforehand regarding their cancellation, it allows you to quickly fill that gap with other tasks or even another appointment, though it does leave a hole in your schedule.

Keeping the communication lines open is beneficial for both parties and also helps in retaining certain profit margins.

Automate the Reminders:

According to the recent survey, if you keep on reminding your clients about the appointment to a point that it is not spamming, the chances of a no-show is reduced by 41%. Instead of employing a dedicated person for reminders and wasting their effort and your money, it is better to automate the whole system. This is a one-time investment that would help you throughout.

Since the whole system is automated, there is no room for an error and all required reminders would be sent out at necessary times.

Give Enough Time To Reschedule The Appointment:

If you have a cancellation or no-show policy in place, you should also give your clients enough time to reschedule the meeting so that everything is in sync for both parties.

Ask What Works Best For Your Clients:

If your appointments are getting missed by the clients, take the opportunity to inquire what’s not working for them and try to solve the problem accordingly. Maybe there is some technology issue or they prefer a different contact format.

Efficient appointment reminders are the need of the hour. So use these tricks to reduce the no-show rate and focus on supporting your clients.