With all the things people have to juggle in this world, isn’t getting a reminder lovely? We think so. That’s why Jane lets you send your patients or clients automatic email and text message (SMS) reminders before each appointment. You can offer multiple reminder options, such as:
- an email reminder 48 hours before the appointment
- a second email reminder 12 hours before the appointment
- a text message reminder 3 hours before the appointment
💡Heads up — while email reminders are available on all of our plans, SMS reminders are available only on Legacy, Practice, or Thrive plans.
You can decide and configure whatever options you’d like to offer in the Settings, under Reminder Types.
Looking for information on Intake Form Reminder Emails? Check out our guide Intake Form Reminder Email FAQ.
Adding a Reminder
SMS Reminders
When choosing the SMS delivery method, you’ll see the following options:
- Send Reminder - How many hours or days before the appointment to send the reminder
- Subscribed by default - New patients will be subscribed to this reminder after they consent to receive SMS messages. * They can consent to receive SMS messages after booking online for the first time, or you can opt them into SMS reminders from their profile after receiving consent from them.
- Enabled - If you ever need to temporarily disable reminders of this type, you can uncheck this setting.
Email and Phone Reminders
For email and phone reminder types, you’ll see the following options:
- Delivery Method - Email or Phone
- Send Reminder - How many hours or days before the appointment to send the reminder
- Subscribed by Default - New patients will be automatically subscribed to this reminder when their profile is created.
- Enabled - If you ever need to temporarily disable reminders of this type, you can uncheck this setting.
- Patient selectable - Allow patients to opt into this reminder. If unchecked only staff can opt a patient in or out.
Tips for Reminder Types
It’s nice to offer your patients a few options, but not too many. We recommend an email reminder before your late cancellation period. That way, patient’s have a chance to cancel without a penalty. This reminder could be enabled by default. And then offer a second email reminder 12 hours before, and maybe a text message a few hours before. You can click the “View Preview” button to see what the reminder will look like.
Phone Reminders
If a patient doesn’t have an email address or the patient has opted into Phone Reminders, they will be added to the Phone Reminders list for your staff to call. Read about the phone reminders list here.
Additional Notes
Subscribed by Default
If your clinic has the Subscribed by Default setting enabled in the Reminders and Notifications settings, patients must first opt-in to receive SMS reminders before they will begin to receive any SMS reminders. Once the patient has consented to receiving SMS Reminders, any notifications set up as Subscribed by Default, will then automatically be sent.
Online Reminder Pop-Up
When patients book an appointment online, they’ll see a pop-up window as part of the booking process where they can opt-in to the reminders they would like to receive. The way the pop-up appears may vary depending on your clinic’s settings and use of Subscribe by Default. For existing patients of a clinic, they’ll receive the pop-up as well where they can confirm or change their reminder preferences.
Note 📍: This pop-up will appear if there is a reminder delivery type the patient is not opted-in to.
Here’s what the pop-up looks like when reminders are set to Subscribe by Default:
And here’s what the pop-up looks like when reminders are not set to Subscribe by Default:
FAQ
Can I customize the language for my email and text reminders?
You sure can! Language for both reminder types can be customized by a Full Access user in Settings > Language. Check out our Customizing Language in Jane guide for tips and tricks on this topic.
When a new patient profile is created, will they be automatically opted into SMS reminders that are “subscribed by default”?
Great question. We want to make sure patients are consenting to receive SMS reminders, so new profiles are not automatically opted into SMS reminders. However, you can opt a new patient profile into SMS reminders if you’ve received consent, or the patient can opt themselves in when they book online, as well as on their intake forms, and in their My Account area.
When my patient opts in to get SMS reminders when they book online, will they get all of the SMS reminders set as ‘subscribed by default’?
Yes — if your patient opts in to receive SMS reminders while booking online, they’ll automatically receive all the SMS reminders that you’ve set as ‘subscribed by default’.
What phone number will my patients receive SMS notifications from?
It depends on where they’re located. Patients in Canada will receive SMS notifications from a toll-free number, and patients in other locations will receive notifications from a local number.
Can I manually resend an appointment reminder?
Absolutely! To start, you’ll want to head over to the Patient’s Profile and scroll to the Reminders widget. Next, click on the Email button.
From there, you’ll have the option of adding in a message custom to that specific patient, or just sending the notification off. At the moment, Jane does not have the ability to resend SMS notifications.
Can I send an SMS notification to two phone numbers?**
No - at the moment only one mobile number can be added to a patient’s profile for SMS notifications. There isn’t a way to add another field for a secondary number. Additionally, our Relationships is currently only available for sending copies of email notifications.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on why this feature would be helpful to you. You can [share your thoughts and vote on the existing request here]. Check out this guide on Feature Requests that walks through how our team uses this page in more detail.
Still have questions about Reminders and Notifications? Feel free to contact our support team and we’d be happy to help!