Top Appointment Reminder Software for 2024

Introduction 

In the fast-paced realm of business, where time is money and every moment counts, keeping track of appointments can be a formidable challenge. Enter the unsung hero: appointment reminder software tailored specifically for businesses. Picture a seamless symphony of efficiency where forgotten meetings become a thing of the past, and your team’s schedule flows effortlessly. This article delves into the game-changing world of appointment reminder software designed to elevate businesses. 

What is Appointment Reminder Software? 

An appointment reminder software is a tool that facilitates sending appointment reminder messages – email, or SMS to a business’s customer base. Through an appointment reminder software businesses can remind their customers of the upcoming activities (service visits, office appointments, deadlines)  they have scheduled. 

An appointment reminder software can deliver these reminders in a variety of ways such as email, SMS, or phone call. 

Top Appointment Reminder Software for Small Businesses in 2024 

• Emitrr
• Acuity Scheduling 
• SimpleTexting 
• Textemall
• Messagedesk 

Emitrr

About Emitrr

Emitrr is a complete customer interaction and engagement platform that helps businesses send 2-way messages to their customers. You can use Emitrr to send automated reminders through text, email, and voice. Emitrr also has various features specific to appointment reminders.

Features

Reviews 

“ Emitrr was a fabulous addition to our business as it sent customers appointment reminders and followed up on the service. It used traditional text messages instead of any social media service for all its task completions, which helped us penetrate even those customers who have not yet adopted the smartphone culture. ”

(Capterra)

“ I’ve been able to see an 8% lift in appointments booked (33% from new patients) because of the tool. After seeing the data, we’ve discovered the need to automate and send texts for pre-auth and lab delivery notifications which will eliminate 5-10% of my non-value add calls. We are also looking at texting solutions to write-back into the EMR when patients want to cancel, confirm, ask for directions, pay a bill, etc. So the idea is that it will reduce labor in the call center.”

(Capterra)

Support 

Emitrr is rated 5/5 for its customer service on Capterra. It provides support in the following forms: Chat, Live Support, Text, Email, Phone, Knowledge base and Forums. Here is what customers have to say about Emitrr support.

Acuity Scheduling

About Acuity Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling is an online appointment scheduling platform. It is a HIPAA-compliant, self-service scheduling solution. Apart from sending automated appointment reminders, Acuity Scheduling allows practices to perform patient intake, send branded & customized confirmations, store PHI, and let patients reschedule. 

Features

Reviews

“ It is a great budget and easy-to-launch solution for appointment booking in the fitness world but lacks full functionality to manage all aspects of the business and is better suited as part of a software stack. ”

(Capterra)

“Horrible I’m done they’re outdated. They will not listen to customers. They will not make improvements to their system. They will not take suggestions for improvements. It’s very difficult to get a hold of customer service. It’s just a company that is just going to slowly go out of business.”

(Capterra) 

Overall rating – 4.8 

Support

Acuity Scheduling is rated 4.7/5 for its customer service on Capterra. It provides support in the following forms: Email and FAQ’s. 

Here is what customers have to say about Acuity Scheduling’s support

SimpleTexting

About SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting is a text message marketing platform that also offers appointment reminder features. Small businesses use SimpleTexting to reach their audience with SMS marketing. SimpleTexting only offers automated text reminders. 

Features

Reviews

“We are able to help set appointments en-mass with our leads who are not responding to calls/voicemails or emails.”  

(Capterra)

“ it is easy to use and efficient. I like how I can mass text with hit and tell patients their appointment times.”

(Capterra) 

Overall rating – 4.7 

Support 

SimpleTexting has a support rating of 4.8 on Capterra. Support is offered in the following format: Chat, Call, Email, and Knowledge Base. 

Here is what customers have to say about SimpleTexting Supports. 

Text-Em-All

About Text-Em-All

Text-em-all is a mass texting and automated calling solution. It is used by Businesses such as Healthcare, HR & Staffing, Non-Profit, Property Management, Religious Organizations, Schools & Universities etc. This platform enables businesses to send automated text reminders, ensuring clients and customers never miss an appointment. It allows businesses to streamline their scheduling processes and enhance customer engagement. 

Features 

Reviews 

“Helps us communicate quickly and easily to send updates, reminders, and more in an easy-to-use fashion.”

(Capterra) 

“ I think this is an affordable way to contact people quickly.”

(Capterra) 

Overall rating – 4.8 

Support 

Text-em-all has a support rating of 4.6 on Capterra. Support is offered in the following format: Chat, Call, Email, Forums and Knowledge Base. 

Here is what customers have to say about Text-em-all’s Support:

MessageDesk

About Messagedesk

Messagedesk is a text messaging platform that also offers appointment features to mitigate no-shows and missed appointments that cost time and money. Features include reminders, alerts, confirmations, and follow-ups. 

Features 

Reviews

“  All in all it’s great software, quick accurate messaging, organizes documents, but needs to have a link to sales support.”

(Capterra)

Overall rating – 4.8 (only 13 reviews)

Support 

MessageDesk has a support rating of 5 on Capterra. Support is offered in the following format: Chat, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Email/Help Desk, Phone Support

Here is what customers have to say about MessageDesk’s Support:

Top 3 Free Appointment Reminder software 

• Fresha
• SimplyBook.me
• Marketing 360 

Fresha

About Fresha

Fresha is an appointment booking software for the beauty and wellness industry. It is a software compatible with all devices for seamless appointment scheduling and management. Businesses get unlimited bookings, locations, team members, and notifications. Most of its features are free, appointment reminder texts however will come under their paid features. In-app appointment reminders and email reminders are free. 

Features 

Reviews 

“As a business owner, be aware. Bad customer service, no phone to contact, only email, and they take forever to reply. They tell you they charge you only 2.9% per transaction but actually it’s not true. They charge 20% of every new client, let’s say someone booked a package for $625, Fresha rudely takes $125. For what? Not a monthly fee for the service or nothing. PER CLIENT!”

(Capterra) 

“Fresha is a good software for a sole proprietor. they have weird hidden fees.. It feels sometimes shady when I would’ve paid a monthly amount. it allowed staff to cash out packages and not cash out the appointment but the appointment would show closed. this caused a lot of lost money.”

(Capterra)

Fresha has an overall rating of 4.9 on Capterra 

Support

Fresha offers support in the form of Email and Help desk. It is rated 4.9/5 on Capterra for its customer service. 

SimplyBook.me

About Simplybook.me

Simplybook.me is a free appointment scheduling software for all service-based industries. SimplyBook.me suits all small & medium-sized companies accepting bookings like beauty salons, schools, consultants, etc. One of the features offered is Notifications via Email and SMS. Through this feature, you can send reminders to staff and clients whenever appointments are booked, canceled, or rescheduled. SimplyBook.me has a 4 tier pricing plan, and the first plan is free. In this plan, you can access the email appointment reminder features. 

Features 

Reviews 

“Very confusing! Because the majority of the major features that anyone would need count as custom features, it so difficult to find what you need. There are settings under Welcome, Manage, Custom features, and Settings. Honestly, been using this site for 6months or more and still don’t know where all settings and features are, so just click click click away til you find it. Sometimes, you would have to look deeper. For example, for time schedules. OMG, good luck! The good thing is they have the best customer service on chat 24/7 so you would just have to chat with them and they’ll give you a link. God bless them! Another con would be the reports! REPORTS are key guys! Reports are our roadmap! Can we get a report for all the deposits? or just add a deposit column to the booking details. Lastly, marketing, you’re limited if you want to get on Google’s 1st page without ads.”

(Capterra)

“ The service has a powerful API that has documentation that is good enough to get you up and going with an implementation. It has some bugs and has poor technical support. The pricing model is very scalable if you have lots of people who need to have calendars/schedules that don’t necessarily use the scheduling capacity (provided by the API) in your application (they charge per booking not per calendar). The nail in the coffin for us is the lack of HIPAA compliance for the API. Their sales page touts HIPAA compliance but this is not possible if you are using the API and this is not stated anywhere. Your team could spend time and money encrypting all your data yourself before it gets to Simplybook.me’s servers but it just makes it painful to use compared to other services out there that offer this out of the box.”

(Capterra)

SimplyBook.me has an overall rating of 4.6/5 on Capterra

Support

SimplyBook.me offers the following support options: 24/7 (Live rep), FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Email/Help Desk, and Chat. It has a customer service rating of 4.6/5 on Capterra. 

YouCanBookMe

About YouCanBookMe

YouCanBookMe is an appointment scheduling software for the following: Technology, Startups & Education. Customer-facing teams – Customer Success, Sales, Recruitment, and UX. You can send text reminders to your customers through YouCanBookMe. However, you will have to bear the additional costs to send text reminders even in the free plan. 

Features 

Reviews 

YouCanBookMe has an overall rating of 4.6/5 on Capterra. 

“ Easy to use. The free version can satisfy most basic needs for creating a booking platform. The paid version has more functions, such as sending automatic reminders or allowing for multiple bookings.”

(Capterra) 

“It was so easy to integrate with my existing Google business calendar. I also like that I can integrate my Zoom account, so I don’t have to worry about setting up meetings. I also like the way it sends out reminders to confirm the appointments so I don’t have to.”

(Capterra)

Support

YouCanBook.me offers the following support options, Email/Help Desk, Chat, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base. It has a customer service rating of 4.5 on Capterra. 

Top appointment reminder software for healthcare 

• Emitrr
• Luma Health
• Klara
• ClinicSense
• Doctible

Emitrr

About Emitrr

Emitrr is a patient engagement and interaction platform that provides robust appointment reminder features. Over 1000+ healthcare practices use Emitrr to reduce no-shows through appointment reminders, effective recall, and improved patient engagement.

Features

Reviews

” I’ve been able to see an 8% lift in appointments booked (33% from new patients) because of the tool. After seeing the data, we’ve discovered the need to automate and send texts for pre-auth and lab delivery notifications which will eliminate 5-10% of my non-value add calls. We are also looking at texting solutions to write-back into the EMR when patients want to cancel, confirm, ask for directions, pay a bill, etc. So the idea is that it will reduce labor in the call center.”

(Capterra)

“Patient engagement is top tier and I love working using Emitrr.”

(Capterra)

Support

Emitrr is rated 5/5 for its customer service on Capterra. It provides support in the following forms: Chat, Live Support, Text, Email, Phone, Knowledge base and Forums. Here is what customers have to say about Emitrr support.

LumaHealth

About Luma Health

Luma Health is a healthcare-specific communication platform that is HIPAA compliant. Luma Health’s patient Success Platform enables providers and patients to seamlessly connect through texting. Appointment reminder features are 2-way which means that the practice and patient can engage in communication with each other. 

Features 

Reviews 

“There have been times we have sent a luma text to a patient and they did not receive it. This meant valuable information was not given to the patient prior to their visit.”

(Capterra)

“We have one type of appointment (infusion) that we don’t want patients to cancel via text message. Even if we phrase the reminder in a way that doesn’t provide the option, some of our patients are tech-savvy and still respond with “No/Cancel” and the appointment will cancel due to the way the system is engineered. I have spoken with other reminder systems similar to Luma to see if this is just a Luma issue, and it seems that it’s an across-the-board issue. I’m confident that if Luma was capable of changing this for us, they would.”

(Capterra)

LumaHealth as an overall rating of 4.7/5 on Capterra

Support

Luma Health offers the following support options: Knowledge Base, Chat, Email/Help Desk, Phone Support, FAQs/Forum. It has a rating of 4.7 for Customer Service on Capterra.

“ Luma’s customer service is absolutely top notch, to be clear I have ZERO complaints about that. But it’s hard that the main way to get a hold of Luma for support is by email/ticketing. We are located on the east coast and because of the time difference sometimes the answers to my questions come after I leave for the day and I don’t get to address them until the next morning.” (Capterra) 

Klara

About Klara

Klara is a patient engagement platform that also offers appointment reminder features. It helps medical practices consolidate multiple patient outreach tools into one platform while automating key touch points throughout the patient journey.

Features 

Reviews 

“ My experience has been strictly functional. I rarely use the product myself but from an optimization resource perspective it falls well short of what I need for my organization.”

(Capterra)

“Our experience has been good so far. Our issues stem from having used it a while and finding things could be better based on our direct experience.”

(Capterra) 

Klara has an overall rating of 4.6/5 on Capterra

Support

Klara offers the following support options: Email, phone, live chat, forums and knowledge base. Klara has a rating of 4.3 on Capterra for its Customer Service. 

ClinicSense

About ClinicSense

ClinicSense is a practice management solution designed to help health and wellness businesses automate and manage appointment scheduling, email reminders, invoicing, and other administrative tasks on a unified interface. 

Features 

Reviews 

“The automatic reminders are also wonderful because it is surprising the number of people who might otherwise forget they had a massage! And it’s wonderful that they can get more than one reminder since many people schedule appointments a month out.”

(Capterra)

“My clients love the text/email reminders and ease of the online scheduling.”

(Capterra)

ClinicSense has an overall rating of 4.9/5 on Capterra. 

Support

ClinicSense offers the following support options, Phone Support, Email/Help Desk, Knowledge Base, and FAQs/Forum. It has a customer service rating of 4.9/5 on Capterra. 

Doctible

About Doctible

Doctible is a reputation and patient management platform that helps healthcare practices retain patients and reduce no-shows. It helps practices automate reminders, recalls, & review requests with text messages.

Features 

Reviews 

“Not much I can say that I dislike; other than if a patient cancels or we cancel an appointment and it is the day of patients sometimes still get reminders about the appointment but that is the only thing that comes to mind. We have adapted and told them to disregard any future reminders for the specific appointment.”

(Capterra)

“Appointment reminders can be customized by appointment type, but only if you choose from our pre-loaded list of appointment types. If you free-type an appointment type for an odd situation, Doctible loses that customization and won’t do the specific reminders you had set up.”

(Capterra)

Doctible has an overall rating of 4.8/5 on Capterra. 

Support

Doctible offers the following support options, Email, Help Desk, Phone Support, Knowledge Base, Chat, and FAQs/Forum. It has a support rating of 4.8/5 on Capterra. 

Check out the top dental appointment software here.

Features to look for in an appointment reminder software 

Capability to customize reminders based on the type of visit

Through this feature, you will be able to send different reminders based on the type of customer visit. For example, a reminder for a first-time visitor would be different from a reminder for a returning customer. In case of a healthcare appointment, a first-time patient would be required to submit insurance documents, patient registration forms, etc. A returning patient would not require these formalities, and hence the reminder does not need to reflect these.

Reminders can also differ based on the type of service. Therefore appointment reminder software should be able to automatically set appropriate reminders based on the type of appointment.

Capability to send reminders from your own Email and SMS number 

This feature will help you ensure that the reminder message goes out from your official business email or your registered business phone number. It helps create a sense of authenticity and credibility when the messages originate from the official business contact information.

Capability for the customers to reply back

This feature allows to establish a 2-way conversation medium between the business and the customer. This way if the customer wants to reschedule the appointment, or has any questions regarding the appointment they can easily ask them through the relevant channel.

Capability to follow up on No-Shows

This feature would allow businesses to identify customers who couldn’t turn up to the appointment and automatically send them a follow-up message. The follow-up message could prompt them to reschedule their appointment.

Capability to write back confirmation into the CRM

This feature will help you to keep track of the appointment status directly in your CRM. Whenever a customer confirms their appointment, the status will be updated in the CRM.

Show a list of unconfirmed appointments

By being able to see a list of unconfirmed appointments, you can take appropriate actions to mitigate the unconfirmed appointments. You may also be able to filter the list according to the appointment dates to see which ones require urgent action and cater to them first.

Reminder templates

Pre-built reminder templates enable practitioners to customize and schedule reminders efficiently.

Automate reminders

Automation features allow practices to schedule and send reminders, reducing manual tasks and improving efficiency in appointment management.

Appointment Scheduling

Appointment scheduling capabilities, allow clients to book appointments online and practitioners to manage their schedules effectively.

Why use appointment reminder software over any CRM email or postcard reminders?

Appointment reminder software offers several advantages over CRM (Customer Relationship Management) email/postcard reminders in terms of efficiency, automation, and user engagement. Here are some reasons why businesses might prefer appointment reminder software:

1. Real-time communication
   
   Appointment reminder software often provides real-time communication through various channels like SMS, email, and even push notifications. This immediacy helps ensure that the message reaches the recipient promptly, increasing the chances of confirmation or rescheduling.
   
2. Automation
   
   Appointment reminder software automates the entire reminder process, reducing the need for manual intervention. This saves time and minimizes the risk of human error associated with manual reminders, ensuring that reminders are sent consistently and on time.
   
3. Multichannel options
   
   Appointment reminder software typically supports multiple communication channels, such as SMS, email, and in-app notifications. This flexibility allows businesses to reach customers through their preferred communication method, increasing the likelihood of successful reminders.
   
4. Personalization
   
   Many appointment reminder tools enable businesses to personalize messages based on customer preferences and past interactions. This personal touch can enhance customer engagement and satisfaction, leading to a more positive experience.
   
5. Conversation management 
   
   Appointment reminder systems have built-in conversation management features. Emails and SMS you receive can be easily tracked on the system’s dashboard and will also allow you to reply to the inbound messages right from the dashboard.  It also has the ability to assign conversations to different team members, set dispositions, add notes, translate messages, and more! 
   
6. Integration with scheduling systems
   
   Appointment reminder software often integrates seamlessly with scheduling systems and calendars. This ensures that the reminders are based on the most up-to-date information, reducing the risk of sending inaccurate or outdated reminders.
   
7. Analytics and Reporting
   
   Many appointment reminder tools offer analytics and reporting features that allow businesses to track the effectiveness of their reminders. This data can be valuable for refining communication strategies and improving overall customer engagement.

While CRM systems may serve a broader purpose in managing customer relationships, appointment reminder software excels in automating and optimizing the appointment scheduling and reminder process specifically. Businesses often choose the solution that best fits their needs and integrates seamlessly into their existing workflows.

Why is Emitrr the best appointment reminder software?

As you can see from the sections above, Emitrr is the only software that offers all the necessary appointment reminder features and score the highest on overall review (4.9) and Support (5). Emitrr’s appointment reminder features can be used by both healthcare and small businesses alike. Aside from these features Emitrr also boasts advanced conversation management features that make customer communication and operations much easier. These include:

• Notes: This feature allows team members to add notes to a customer conversation that is only visible to them.
• Conversation assignment: This feature allows the administrator to assign conversations to team members. The assigned team members can then take over the conversation. 
• Read and Unread Conversations: This feature allows a clear distinction between read and unread messages so that the team members know which conversations to focus on.
• Dispositions: This feature allows you to characterize conversations based on certain criteria.
• Folders: This feature allows you to add conversations into different folders. It’s a great method to organize your conversations.
• Open and Closed Conversations: Once you have dealt with a particular conversation you can simply mark it as closed. You can also access conversations based on whether they are open or closed.
• Filters: You can filter conversations by various parameters such as who it is assigned to, its disposition, campaigns, tags, etc. 
• Missed call to text: As discussed in a section above, the missed call to text feature allows businesses to engage callers, by following up immediately with a text message. This way no customer coming your way will be left unattended. Whenever a customer call is missed, a text will be sent that says: “Sorry we missed your call. Can we help you with something today?’. This text can be customized as you wish.
• Email campaigns: You can also send Emails to your customer base right from the Emitrr dashboard. You will have email templates at your disposal to make it easier for you to curate emails. All your communications be it text or email can be easily streamlined on Emitrr.
• VoIP: VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol, allows you to make and receive calls over the Internet. VoIP features such as call forwarding, call routing, transcripts, call recording, voice notes, etc make it super efficient and easier for businesses to effectively handle all customer calls.
• Secure Texting: Emitrr’s texting capabilities are end-to-end encrypted and adhere to HIPAA guidelines. This way customer data and privacy are protected at all times. 

FAQs

Conclusion

Appointment reminder software’s are a great way to reduce no-shows at your business. They help automate the process of customer communication and make business operations seamless. If you are ready to reduce no-shows in your office by 90% schedule a demo with Emitrr today!