Simple Doctor Appointment Reminder Template

Whether you’re using a sms appointment reminder service like Reminderly, or some other method, we’re going to give you a couple of easy appointment reminder templates that you can plug into a text message or email so that you can send automated appointment reminders by just filling in your practice name, a patient name, and pressing run.

Essential Elements of A Reminder Message

A subject line/opening statement that works. People are inundated with messages and emails from their friends, shopping offers, work correspondence, and any number of other alerts we’re apt to get throughout the day. That’s why your subject line needs to be clear about who you are and why you’re messaging. We suggest you put the term “appointment reminder” front and center in the subject, and it’s probably a good idea to include your business name or provider name as well. When it comes to Reminderly, you’ll be able to message your customers from the same number each time, making subsequent messages immediately recognizable, as long as your customer saves your information.

Customer name. With Reminderly, you can automatically insert a customer’s name into the email or message. This allows the message to seem a bit more personalized and assures your customer that the message is actually meant for them and not just a form that you’ve sent to everyone. This will help grab their attention and make sure they actually get the message you intended them to receive.

Appointment date and time. This is what you’re really messaging them about, so make sure it’s one of the first things you get to. There’s no need for a bunch of filler words. An ideal message is just a quick reminder of their scheduled appointment, and perhaps the ability for them to cancel or reschedule.

Cancel, reschedule, or unsubscribe. Make sure your message contains clear information on how to cancel or reschedule their appointments. With Reminderly, customers can reply directly to the SMS and you can directly correspond from your dashboard. If you’d rather them you call, include an XXX-XXX-XXXX formatted phone number for customers to call and work out scheduling concerns with you over the phone. Feel free to adjust this to reflect whatever your cancellation policy might be.

Additional Options

While most reminder messages will be just fine with those essential elements above, there are a couple of other potential add-ons that you may consider when formatting an SMS or Email reminder message.

Confirmation request. While some small businesses or healthcare providers are content with sending the reminder message and assuming that their customer is coming as long as they don’t outright cancel or reschedule, some others prefer that their customer confirms their time slot within the reminder interaction. Generally, some customers won’t confirm and will still plan to keep their spot, but the confirmation request might help remind a customer to cancel or reschedule if necessary.

Contact info. You can use the space of your message to remind people about what address they should fulfill their appointment at, and you can also provide relevant phone numbers or email addresses should they have any concerns about their scheduled appointment.

Pre-appointment instructions. Some appointments, especially for certain doctor’s visits or tests, may require instructions reminding patients about pre-appointment procedures, such as forms to fill out, dietary restrictions, arrival information, etc. The reminder message is an excellent time to reinforce this, especially to a new patient who might not be familiar.

Additional languages. Depending on your clientele, it’s possible you’ll need multi-language support to make sure your instructions come through clearly to whoever is on the other side of your message. At Reminderly, our support team offers multi-language support, with Spanish and English automatically available, and additional languages available by request. If you know that your customer or patient needs a certain language, you can customize that when you set the appointment, or you can choose to send your message in multiple languages from the outset to be more inclusive.

Dos and Don’ts

Links. Sometimes it may be relevant for you to include links to forms or other aspects of your small business or healthcare practice. One problem with links is how long they can be, and if you use a public link shortener like bit.ly, the spam filter on many Androids and iPhones may not allow your message to reach its destination. Luckily, Reminderly has a tool that can shorten links without them being filtered out by cell phone providers.

Message length. One thing to consider when sending a text message is that your customer isn’t going to want to read a long message to get the details they need. Generally, SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, and though you can split them into more than one message, it’s best to be as concise as possible. Abbreviations are okay, but make sure they are standard and easy to understand.

Privacy. Remember that some people leave their phones unlocked, or have messages that can show up on the front of their screen. This is why it’s important to save any sensitive information for non-automated phone calls and in-person interactions.

Template #1, Reminder Message Essentials

We hope we’ve given you enough information to create your own upcoming appointment reminder messages, but we’ll do you one better and give you a couple of templates to make your workflow even easier. This first one is just a basic appointment reminder that you can easily automate for most customers that don’t need any additional information or appointment confirmations.

Email Template:

Subject: Doctor Group Name: Upcoming Appointment reminder

Hi John,

You have an appointment with Doctor Group Name tomorrow at 8:00 AM. Please call 123-456-7889 if you need to reschedule or cancel.  

Our address is 1234 Main Street, Oak Grove, FL 00009.

We’re looking forward to your upcoming visit!

Doctor Group Name

Text Message Template:

Hi John,

This is Doctor Group Name reminding you of your appointment tomorrow at 8:00 AM. Please call 123-456-7889 ASAP if you need to reschedule or cancel, otherwise, we’re looking forward to seeing you tomorrow! Address: 1234 Main Street, Oak Grove, FL 00009

Template #2, A Few Frills

This next template is where you might add some of the business-specific information or other personal preferences that are most fitting to your needs. It’s unlikely you’ll need to include everything we are about to include, but we wanted to give you plenty of flexibility to pull what you needed from the email and leave the rest behind.

Email template:

Subject: Doctor Group Name: Upcoming Appointment reminder

Hi Jane,

You have an appointment tomorrow at 11:00 AM. Please Confirm or Cancel by replying to this message with: CONFIRM or CANCEL, or Please call 123-456-7889 if you need to reschedule.

Remember, you’ll be visiting our Oak Grove office at 1234 Main Street, Oak Grove, FL 00009, and if you’re getting any testing done tomorrow you’ll need to fast for at least 8-12 hours from everything besides water.

We’re looking forward to your upcoming visit!

-Doctor Group Name

Spanish Translation:

Hola Jane,

Tienes una cita mañana a las 11:00 AM. Confirme o cancele respondiendo a este mensaje con: CONFIRMAR o CANCELAR, o llame al 123-456-7889 si necesita reprogramar.

Recuerde, visitará nuestra oficina de Oak Grove en 1234 Main Street, Oak Grove, FL 00009, y si se realizará alguna prueba mañana, deberá ayunar durante al menos 8-12 horas de todo, además del agua.

¡Esperamos su próxima visita!

-Doctor Group Name

Text message template:

Hi Jane,

You have an appointment tomorrow at 11:00 AM. Please Confirm or Cancel by replying to this message with: CONFIRM or CANCEL, or Please call 123-456-7889 if you need to reschedule. Address: 1234 Main Street, Oak Grove, FL 00009

Note we didn’t include the Spanish translation here because you’d already be able to translate from your Reminderly dashboard to send SMS messages to your customer base. If you sign up today you can get a 14-day free trial of Reminderly with no credit card required.

If you’d like even more insight on how to write an effective appointment reminder text message, visit our blog for more useful information about how appointment reminders can work for you and your business or healthcare practice.

If you have any questions, please reach out, we are here to help.