Appointment Reminders: The Best Way to Reach Your Customers in 2019 appointment reminders

Updated Oct 3rd, 2023 by Nicolas Zenker

There’s no doubt that we all get a lot of notifications every day. Whether it be an advertisement, text message, appointment reminder, or Facebook comment, we know about it as soon as it happens via email, text, or push notification. In fact, sending push notifications can increase an app’s engagement rate by a whopping 88%, making it clear that, while users may grumble about how many times their phones ding every day, notifications are effective at increasinging customer engagement.

Appointment reminders hold a special place in the notification space in that customers actually want to receive them. This means that, out of all of the notifications that customers receive every day, appointment reminders get mentally pushed to the top of the priority list. No one wants to miss an important doctor’s appointment or their monthly trip to the hair salon.

In a day and age where holding someone’s attention is increasingly challenging, appointment reminders stand out as an effective way to engage with customers that actually want to hear from you. Let’s dive into the benefits of appointment reminders and why they are such a great tool for reaching your customers.

Appointment Reminders Increase Customer Attendance Rates

Whether you’re a doctor who relies on clients to show up for their appointments, or a dance teacher who wants to fill a Friday afternoon class, if customers don’t take action, business suffers. Appointment reminders are becoming an important factor in turning customers that don’t act into those that do. In the medical field, statistics show that SMS reminders are not only increasing appointment attendance, but even medication adherence as well.

If you’re a business owner that has yet to implement appointment reminders, you’re missing out on a simple strategy for increasing customer engagement. Given that appointment reminders can motivate people to do unpleasant tasks like taking medication, imagine the power they can have in increasing participation in appointments that are pleasurable. Implementing QR code-based appointment reminders can further enhance customer engagement and attendance rates. By simply scanning the QR code, customers can instantly access details about their appointments, making it convenient and effortless to remember and attend scheduled events.

For social events, appointment reminders can create an attendance domino effect. Imagine that you’re a fitness instructor teaching a group bootcamp class. Your customer receives a notice about your class while out to dinner with friends and invites them to come along. Suddenly, you’re overflowing with new sign ups. While your class could have been forgotten altogether, that one reminder increased attendance and expanded your customer base.

Appointment Reminders Validate Customer Interest

It’s rare that customers say, “yes, please send me even more notifications.” Yet, appointment reminders are just that. If your customers are asking for appointment reminders, you better believe they have more than a passing interest in what you’re offering. In fact, those that have used your appointment reminders may actually be the most engaged segment of your customer base.

Not only has this segment shown strong interest in your company, they have also given you an open invitation to interact with them. Remember that people who use appointment reminders actually expect to receive notifications from you.

Maybe you’re a CPA and your clients like to receive income tax reminders as April approaches. Use this as a chance to stay top of mind while also providing value to your customers. While it’s not good to abuse this invitation, you can more freely contact this segment of your audience and know that they’ll have a positive reaction to it.

Appointment Reminders Tell You What Your Customers Want

Studying your appointment reminder analytics can tell you a lot about your customers, which can then go a long way in streamlining your future marketing efforts. Which types of appointments get the most reminder requests? Which don’t? How are customers engaging with your reminders once they’re sent?

As we talked about in the previous section, having a customer add an event and reminder to their calendar is a strong sign of interest. Giving up valuable real estate on an already full calendar and adding another notification to an already noisy day means that your customer really wants what you’re offering. Take notice. Use this information to continue optimizing your services, which will then inspire future engagement.

Appointment Reminders Make Your Customers’ Lives Easier

Given how many demands for our time and attention there are these days, we love to “set it and forget it.” We do this with credit card bills, monthly subscriptions, and now, appointments. When you implement appointment reminders, your customers no longer have to associate you with the burden of remembering every little thing they have to do on a daily basis.

Is it time for another 6 month teeth cleaning? Send out a reminder! Your customers that care about their dental hygiene will actually thank you for contacting them and relieving them the stress of remembering that it’s time to schedule another dental visit. Not only will your customers be grateful for the reminder, they will remember how easy it was working with your company.

Who doesn’t like it when companies make it easy to interact with them? Appointment reminders are the epitome of ease, as they don’t even require your customer to remember you exist until they need to. And, when they need to, you can make sure they are interacting with a perfectly crafted appointment reminder that tells them the exact information they need to know. Being mindful of this easy customer experience will go a long way in maintaining high customer retention rates.

Final Thoughts about Appointment Reminders

Advancements in technology will only make it harder for companies to reach their customers in the future. Calendars will get more crowded, notifications will pop up more frequently, and new services will vie for attention. Appointment reminders are proving to be a great way to stand out from the technology noise. A win-win for customers and companies, appointment reminders remove customer frustration in keeping track of their schedules, while letting companies interject their messaging at the appropriate moments.