Sending SMS messages to your clients is a powerful communication tool for any clinic. SMS has an outstanding open rate, as opposed to email or other messaging services, and is bound to be read, understood and hopefully actioned.
With great power comes great responsibility, so be very mindful of overusing the power of SMS. As text messages are a very personal way of contacting your clients, it should be used sparingly and with restraint.
Using your clinic management or appointment software, such as Better Clinics, you can easily manage sending a wide range of positive SMS messages to your clients. Let’s make it simple with a few examples of text messages you can craft and transmit.
The benefits of keeping in touch with your clients
There are two primary reasons to maintain customer communication – it basically comes down to client care and financially hinged business aims.
Business aims
It’s well understood that existing clients are more profitable than new ones. Its up to five times cheaper to retain a client than to hunt for a new one. In this way, it’s clear that keeping in touch with clients will pay dividends in the retention of existing clientele.
Customer satisfaction and care
Another cornerstone to retaining clients is to pay personalised attention to your client’s health concerns and treatment.
By following up, reaching out, and providing pertinent patient after-care through customer service messages, you’ll hit the mark when it comes to patient care and positive contact.
1) Templates for Onboarding
The first few text messages received on your client’s phone are by far the most important. This initial communication defines what the customer experiences will be like while providing critical information.
When you onboard a new client, you have the opportunity to get communicate important information quickly. This text should be welcoming and useful with a pathway to contact.
Text message templates:
“Thank you for visiting xxx Clinic. Welcome onboard! When you need to rebook, please click here to make an appointment or visit our website at xxx. Important information about your visit has been sent to your email. If you have questions about your treatment, please don’t hesitate to contact us on xxx”
2) Text message templates for special offers
Promotional messages offer incentives for customers to return to your clinic for further treatment or for a variety of other services.
You do have to be careful, however, that you tailor these messages and don’t agitate your client with a bombardment of offers. You very easily send too many promotional offers via SMS.
First, you need to decide on your offer and keep it relevant to the client. If you’ve segmented your database well, you should have enough CRM data to pinpoint clients that are repeat visitors, or have certain issues.
You should note most text templates below also have a deadline. The strategy helps create urgency and customers must react quickly otherwise they will miss out on the deal.
Text message templates:
“Hi xxx. As a valued client, we’re offering you xxx off your next visit at xxx Clinic when you book before xxx. Click here to make an appointment”
3) Templates for transactions
Transactional texts are messages you automate to be shared following a client purchase.
This message serves a few purposes. It’s helpful for the customer to know the status of a purchase and the relevant payment information they require. In 2022, clients now want digital receipts, invoices, or payments confirmations.
Sending a transaction message to your client or patient helps to not only nurture professional client relations, it also provides necessary financial information for potential rebates or record keeping purposes.
Text message templates:
“Hi xxx thank you for your visit at xxx clinic. Please find your payment confirmation enclosed. A receipt has also been sent to your email addresss.”.
4) SMS Reminder templates
If you only send one SMS to your customers, make it an appointment reminder. Not only do appointment reminders cut sown no-shows dramatically, they also provide an opportunity to rebook.
When you create a reminder text, you should also include a link to your cancellation policy. This is exceptionally important.
If you have applied fees for no-shows or late cancellations, you need to make this abundantly clear. To not do so means you could face barriers to cancellation fees and lost business due to customer service failures.
Text message templates:
‘Hi xxx, this is a reminder that you have an xxx appointment with xxx from xxx Clinic tomorrow at xxx. If you need to re-schedule, please use the following link. See our cancellation policy here.”
Text message tips
You can easily go too hard when it comes to business text messaging and spoil the customer experience.
Be very mindful that SMS is personal and can feel invasive very quickly. This means you should limit your texting to vital information, reminder texts, and only promote sparsely and with good reason.
It’s a good rule to only automate the onboarding texts, reminder texts and financial texts. If you automate marketing messages, you can over use the power of SMS, and end up destroying client trust and generate negative associations.
Be mindful and don’t burn your base with text message bombardment.