Configuring Appointment Reminders

Learn how to send appointment reminders via SMS or email in Zanda. Set up automatic or manual reminders, customize templates, and allow clients to confirm or cancel appointments via SMS.

You can send appointment reminders to your clients to notify them of their upcoming appointments. This practice is essential for increasing attendance rates and minimizing the likelihood of no-shows. Reminders can be delivered through SMS, email, or a combination of both methods. Furthermore, you have the flexibility to send these reminders either manually or automatically, depending on your needs. 

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In this article, we’ll show you how to do all this. Let’s get started.

In this article:

• Setting Up Automatic Appointment Reminders
• Setting Up Manual Appointment Reminders
• Setting Up Appointment Reminders For Specific Clients
• Adding or Editing Appointment Reminder Templates
• Setting Up Automatic Appointment Confirmation/Cancellation
• Keywords for Confirming and Cancelling
• Disabling/Enabling Appointment Reminders for Specific Appointments

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Setting Up Automatic Appointment Reminders

Automatic appointment reminders are enabled by default when you create a trial account. However, if they are disabled or if you wish to modify any settings related to automatic appointment reminders, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to Settings  > Communication > Reminders

2. Turn on the switch next to the label 'Automatically send Appointment Reminders to Clients'  on the top-left corner of your screen.

3. Click on 'Save Changes' at the bottom of the page.

• To enable a reminder, you need to do two things:

1. Select a template for that reminder. 
2. Choose how many days before the appointment you want to send the reminder. 

• If you wish to turn off a reminder, simply click on Choose Template when selecting a template from the drop-down menu. 
• Once you’ve added the settings you want, simply click on Save Changes at the bottom of the page to activate Automatic Appointment Reminders.

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Setting Up Manual Appointment Reminders

In addition to the automatic appointment reminders, you can also manually send appointment reminders whenever you want. 

By default, SMS and Email reminder templates will already be selected, but you can change these if desired. 

Here’s how:

1. Go to Settings > Communication > Reminders.

2. On the right side settings, under 'IfI manually send an appointment reminder, use these templates' section, you can choose templates for SMS and email reminders using the drop-down menu:

 4. After you set the templates, click on the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page. 

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Setting Up Appointment Reminders For Specific Clients

You also have the option to create personalized appointment reminders tailored specifically for individual clients.

Here’s how: 

1. Use the Quick Search bar located at the top of the Zanda dashboard to find the specific client for whom you wish to configure appointment reminders.

2. Once you’re in the profile of your client, go to Profile → Appointment Reminders.  

3. Configure the reminders for the client. You can send a maximum of three reminders to your clients for each appointment.

• To enable a reminder, you need to do two things:
  • Select a template for that reminder. 
  • Choose how many days before the appointment you want to send the reminder. 

• If you wish to turn off a reminder, simply click on Choose Template when selecting a template from the drop-down menu. 
• Once you’ve added the settings you want, simply click on Save Changes at the bottom of the page to activate Automatic Appointment Reminders for this client.

4. Save the changes.

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Adding or Editing Appointment Reminder Templates

Your account comes pre-configured with both an email and an SMS template for appointment reminders.

If you wish to modify an existing template or create a new one from scratch, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to Tools > Communication > Templates.

2. Here, you will see the '+ New Template' button at the top of the page. Click on it to create a new template.

3. Start by choosing the 'Message Type' i.e. is this new template an email, SMS or a letter?

4. Then, name the template and describe its purpose in the description box.

5. If you’ve chosen the 'Message Type' as 'Email', enter your business name and email address

6. Type in the email subject i.e. title of the email.

7. Once done, scroll down until you see the content text editor. Here, type in your template and click Save.

8. After saving your template, go back to Tools > Communication > Templates. Here, you’ll find your newly created template under the Template List.

9. If you’d like to edit a template, just click on its name.

10. It is possible to deactivate the template to remove it from the list of active templates. Click the Actions gear icon next to the template in the list of all templates and select Deactivate.

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Setting Up Automatic Appointment Confirmation/Cancelation

Use automatic SMS appointment reminders to automatically confirm or cancel client appointments.

1. In Settings > Communication > Reminders, enable automatic reminders and set up an SMS reminder. When clients reply to this reminder using confirmation key words, the system will automatically reset their appointment status to 'Confirmed'
2. On the same settings page, enable the 'Automatically cancel the appointment when clients reply 'No' or 'Cancel' to an appointment reminder' switch. When clients reply to an SMS reminder using cancellation keywords, the system will automatically reset their appointment status to 'Cancelled'

User Pro Tips:

• You can view client responses by accessing the Messaging Panel on the Zanda dashboard. Whenever you receive a new reply from a client, a notification bubble will appear, indicating the number of unread messages awaiting your attention.
• When clients respond to your SMS reminder with a cancellation request, and if cancellation is enabled in your account settings, any existing invoices for those appointments will not be automatically deleted. This approach ensures that you can manage cases where a cancellation fee may apply or when it is necessary to keep a record of appointments that have already been invoiced or paid prior to the cancellation.

• Here is the list of keywords Zanda looks for in a client’s reply after sending them an SMS appointment reminder. 

Key Words to Confirm and Cancel: 

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Enabling/Disabling Appointment Reminders For Specific Appointments

You can enable/disable appointment reminders for individual appointments in Zanda. 

1. To do that, go to your appointments calendar on the Zanda dashboard. Here, click on the appointment whose reminder you want to enable/disable. 

2. Once the appointment settings panel opens up on the right side of your screen, click on the 'Reminder will be sent' or the 'Reminder will not be sent' switch to toggle appointment reminders on or off for that appointment.