Create, customize, and filter automated texts and emails to remind your patients of upcoming appointments.
The availability of this feature is dependent on your practice management software.
Video overview
Setting Up Appointment Reminders
Note: Before setting up your Automated Appointment Reminders, you should first complete your Data Sync Settings.
1. Select the Menu icon in the upper right corner
2. Click on Settings
3. Select Auto Reminders
4. Click on Appointment Reminders
5. Hover over a reminder and select the Edit icon to edit an existing reminder or click Add Reminder to start a reminder from scratch
6. Fill out reminder details
- Reminder name
- When the reminder will send
- Verify the Reminder Send Type
- Select the audience from the Send Reminder To
- Apply any advanced filters
- Attach any forms if needed
Note: Messages may take up to one hour to send
7. Click Next to advance through the screens
8. Edit your individual message by typing or dragging and dropping variables to the message including:
- First Name: Patient's first name
- Last Name: Patient's last name
- Preferred Name: Patient's preferred name
- Practice Name: Your office's name
- Practice Phone: Your office's phone number
- Date & Time: Date and time of the appointment
- Day: Just the day of the appointment
- Day of the Month: Day written out as ordinal number i.e. 17th, 3rd, 1st
- Month: Just the month of the appointment
- Time: Just the time of the appointment
- Time Early: Time 15 minutes before the appointment i.e. We'll need you to arrive at [appointment time] to fill out paperwork.
- Location: Office name (Good if you have multiple locations)
- Wellness Form
- Service Provider: Doctor or provider in your office
- Time + Timezone: Time of the appointment in the patient's timezone
- Pet Name: Name of the pet with a vet appointment
Tip: Make sure the message is correct in the preview at the bottom of the page before you continue.
9. Click Next
10. Edit your Family message. Use the First Names tag above rather than the First Name if you would like to list each family member that has an appointment
11. Click Next
12. Edit your Spanish individual and family messages
Note: You have to have at least one patient with Spanish as their language preference in Weave in order for Spanish templates to appear.
13. Click Save to finish
Note: In Message Settings, toggle on confirmation writebacks so that when a patient responds affirmatively, it will mark it as "confirmed" automatically in Weave and your PMS
If you have set the "DO NOT SEND BEFORE" setting to make sure messages are not sent too early in the morning and still have reminders set to be sent hours before an appointment, even the earliest appointments will still get a reminder. It will be sent after the time set for "DO NOT SEND BEFORE."
All patients will get a reminder on the day of their appointment if you have same-day reminders set.
Disable Appointment Reminders
Appointment reminders can be turned off at any time without making changes to the previous settings you've created.
-
Select the
Menu icon in the upper right corner
-
Click on
Settings
-
Select
Auto Reminders
-
Click on Appointment Reminders
-
Toggle off
the appointment reminder you would like to disable
This can be toggled back on and the reminder will resume as it was before.
- Select
Settings from the main page
- Select Auto Text
- Tap the toggle next to any appointment reminders you would like to disable
This automatically saves. The reminders can be toggled on and will resume as it was before.
FAQ
Will a customer still get an Appointment Reminder if they cancel?
Our system checks for the appointment right before it sends one last time. If an appointment was canceled 15 to 20 minutes before the appointment reminder send time (not the appointment time) it will not send out for that reminder.
How can a patient/customer confirm an appointment?
Weave messaging can read all positive responses to confirm a customer's appointment, including in other languages. Examples include yes, 👍 , si, etc.
What if a new appointment is created on the same day it occurs?
Because Appointment Reminders are queued up the night before they are supposed to send, an appointment created the same day it occurs will miss the nightly batch to be included in the schedule for the day, so any same-day reminders would not send.
Can I edit email templates for auto reminders?
At this time, you will have to contact support to edit email templates for any auto reminder.
What is the difference between an appointment reminder and a recall reminder?
An appointment reminder helps your patients remember an upcoming appointment with the office. A recall reminder helps patients remember to schedule an appointment when they are overdue.