Reminders

Reminders are the main reason most services use Diarybook. They go out automatically, by SMS, email, voice call or letter, following rules you set once. Staff don’t have to remember to send them.

The rules live in a Reminder Setting (Settings area → Reminder Settings). Each appointment is linked to one reminder setting, and an account can hold as many as it needs, for example one per clinic. A reminder setting turns on the channels it needs, gives each channel a schedule, and can add Additional Messaging for messages sent after the appointment or aimed at particular confirmation or attendance statuses.

The pages

Start with How Reminders Work. It explains the model the other pages rely on: reminder settings, channels, schedule triggers, and which appointments a message actually reaches.

• SMS Reminders: writing the message, deciding whether clients can reply, and which numbers are used.
• Voice Reminders: automated calls to a client’s landline, and letting them confirm or cancel with the keypad.
• Email Reminders: what the client receives, and why the content is fixed.
• Letter Reminders: appointment letters generated from a Word template, and the Letter By SMS variant.
• Additional Messaging: messaging after the appointment, and filtering by confirmation or attendance status.
• Merge Fields: personalising messages with appointment, client, user and location details.
• Email to SMS: sending a one-off text by email, outside the reminder schedule.
• DiaryPage: a single link that shows the client their appointment details and letter, or asks whether they still need their place on a waiting list.

For the full list of merge fields and the rules on SMS length and cost, see Reference.