Consultation forms are a great way to get important information from clients and get their agreement on key policies and procedures. In this article you will learn how to add a consultation reminder to your automated SMS messages. Timely has a number of pre-made consultation templates that you can use, however, if you would like to set up your own using our Consult iOS app, follow the steps in our help guide How to create your own consultation templates.
How to add a consultation reminder to your SMS messages
Step-by-step instructions
1
Head to setup > customer messages in the main menu.
2
Click add a new message in the top right hand corner.
3
Select the customer reminder option from the list.
4
Choose the SMS option, as a consultation can NOT be attached to a reminder email.
5
Tick the box that says automatically send a Consult form with this reminder and then choose from the drop down list which of your templates you would like to send out.
Timely notes:
- You will be able to choose any of Timely's pre-made templates or if you have shared consultations with your business you can use one of your own.
- For Innovate customers, a more effective approach is to set this up under automation rules in the setup menu. For more information, see our help guide on How to manage automated consult forms in Timely Consult.
6
Setup your reminder rules by choosing when you'd like to send your Customer reminders. There are two options: x hours before or x days before at x time. We recommend using the x hours before option to create the best experience for your customers.
Timely note: If you choose the 1-day prior setting, then only bookings added at least 24 hours before the appointment start time will be sent reminders. See our help guide How to view appointment history for more information.
7
If you'd like to send reminders to clients that have pencilled in appointments, make sure to check the box. You can also use How to turn on SMS replies and confirmations (two-way SMS).
8 Once your rules are setup, enter your SMS template. See our help guide How to customise your SMS message templates
for more details.