It has come to our attention that not all of our users are aware that SMS Appointment Reminders can easily be sent to patients in bulk. We have prepared this article to put a spotlight on this process:
Rather than right-clicking each appointment to individually send SMS reminders to patients, Front Desk has a SMS/Email Reminders utility located on the left-hand side of the Appointment Book under Reports & Utilities that can send SMS to your chosen patients in bulk.
By default, the utility will set the date range for appointment reminders to the day you are currently viewing on the Appointment Book so be careful to adjust the date range as required. You can also filter your bulk reminders by Practice Group/Practitioner, Appointment Type and Appointment Status.
Select SMS to view the list of patients who will be sent an SMS reminder. You will need to choose your SMS Template at the bottom of this window before selecting Send.
You now have the option to send the SMS immediately or choose Delay Send to send the reminders at a specific date and time. This is particularly useful if your practice is closed over the weekend but you would like your Monday appointment reminders to be sent on a Sunday. When choosing the Delay Send feature, note that your computer does not need to be left on at the time you have chosen your reminders to be sent. They will be sent to Smartsoft to be delivered at your chosen time in the step below.
Select OK to send your reminders.
You will receive confirmation that your SMS Reminders have been sent to Smartsoft for delivery to your patients.
Information on more advanced features of the Front Desk SMS functions, including how to set up your templates, making sure your patients are flagged to receive SMS reminders and inserting smartphone “add to calendar” links, can be viewed here: http://help.smartsoft.com.au/en/articles/4193696-making-the-most-of-sms-in-front-desk
If you have never used SMS in Front Desk before and would like to start taking advantage of these tools, you are welcome to contact our helpdesk team on 1800 18 18 20 for help getting started.