Emailing appointment reminders can be one of the best ways to communicate with your patients, and sending email reminders might be the key to reducing no-show rates. The “three Es” of sending automated email reminders will help you remember the basic benefits of using email to communicate with your patients.
Effective
The content of your email is customizable to each specific patient, making each reminder more effective than a stock message. Plus, many people keep important emails, so the reminder is made every time your patient opens his inbox. The patient may see the message multiple times and refer back to it, which increases the likelihood of remembering his appointment. A good email reminder will allow the patient to confirm or cancel the appointment. A better email reminder system will track those responses automatically.
Efficient
Emailing appointment reminders frees up hours of time for your receptionist. If you spend about $0.75 for each call your receptionist makes, it will cost a fraction of that amount to send email reminders instead. The savings add up quickly.
Exact
Email is one of the most direct, personal ways to receive notifications. With email, it is easy to test the system to be certain the end user is receiving your messages. If the patient has not received their test email within a certain amount of time, have them call your office to be sure you have the right address. Once they have successfully received the test email, you can be confident that they will receive all future messages. Plus, if a message does bounce, you will know right away if something went wrong. You will then have time to get the reminder to your patient in another format.
Even though only 25% of physicians use email to communicate with their patients, practically every patient has an email address. Many would even prefer to be contacted by email, for all the reasons stated above. Decrease your phone call costs and increase your efficacy and efficiency by switching to emailed reminders.
You can obviously send email reminders without using an automated reminder system but it will take more time and effort to compose, send and track the reminders, and you're more likely to send the wrong reminder.
Effective
The content of your email is customizable to each specific patient, making each reminder more effective than a stock message. Plus, many people keep important emails, so the reminder is made every time your patient opens his inbox. The patient may see the message multiple times and refer back to it, which increases the likelihood of remembering his appointment. A good email reminder will allow the patient to confirm or cancel the appointment. A better email reminder system will track those responses automatically.
Efficient
Emailing appointment reminders frees up hours of time for your receptionist. If you spend about $0.75 for each call your receptionist makes, it will cost a fraction of that amount to send email reminders instead. The savings add up quickly.
Exact
Email is one of the most direct, personal ways to receive notifications. With email, it is easy to test the system to be certain the end user is receiving your messages. If the patient has not received their test email within a certain amount of time, have them call your office to be sure you have the right address. Once they have successfully received the test email, you can be confident that they will receive all future messages. Plus, if a message does bounce, you will know right away if something went wrong. You will then have time to get the reminder to your patient in another format.
Even though only 25% of physicians use email to communicate with their patients, practically every patient has an email address. Many would even prefer to be contacted by email, for all the reasons stated above. Decrease your phone call costs and increase your efficacy and efficiency by switching to emailed reminders.
You can obviously send email reminders without using an automated reminder system but it will take more time and effort to compose, send and track the reminders, and you're more likely to send the wrong reminder.
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