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Why this matters. Industry no-show rates run 10-30% in allied health, and most of those are forgetfulness, not deliberate cancellation. A well-timed reminder cuts no-shows by 30-50% according to multiple peer-reviewed studies — and the SMS cost is a tiny fraction of the lost-appointment revenue it saves.

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How it works

For every upcoming appointment in your PMS, Robyn sends reminder messages on the cadence you configure. Defaults: 7 days out (email), 24 hours out (SMS), 2 hours out (SMS). Customisable per appointment type — a 30-min massage probably doesn’t need a 7-day reminder; a 2-hour MRI prep might. If reminders are paired with appointment confirmations, patient replies are parsed automatically — confirmed bookings stay, cancellations free the slot for waitlist patients.

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How Robyn handles reminders

Templated per appointment type

Different message for initial consult vs follow-up vs assessment. Each template can include prep instructions, what to bring, parking info.

Patient-specific personalisation

{first_name}, {appointment_time}, {practitioner}, {location}, {appointment_type} — and any custom variable from your PMS.

Multi-channel cascade

SMS first; if patient hasn’t read it 4 hours later, fall back to email. Configurable per template.

Quiet hours respected

Reminders never send between 9pm and 8am local patient time (configurable). Pre-9am bookings handled with previous-evening sends.

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What your patient sees

Robyn (SMS, 24 hours before): Hi Sarah, this is Robyn from Bondi Physio. Just a reminder of your appointment tomorrow (Fri 9 May) at 2:00pm with Dr Lin. We’re at 23 Hall St. Free 2-hr parking on the street. Anything to share before your visit, just reply.

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Setup

1

Create a reminder instance

Outbound → Create Automatic Instance → Appointment Reminders.Name it (e.g. “Standard 24h SMS reminder”).
2

Configure the cadence

Add one or more “runs” — each run defines:
  • Channel — SMS / call / email / WhatsApp
  • When — N days/hours before the appointment
  • Message template — text Robyn sends, with variables
Example multi-run setup:
  • Run 1: email, 7 days before
  • Run 2: SMS, 24 hours before
  • Run 3: SMS, 2 hours before
Don’t over-do it. 3 reminders per appointment is the upper bound — beyond that, patients perceive it as spam and the marginal no-show reduction goes to zero.
3

Filter by appointment type

Choose which appointment types this instance applies to. Most clinics create separate instances for high-value appointments (initial consults, MRI, surgical follow-ups) vs low-value (maintenance massage).
4

Filter by patient (optional)

Exclude or include patients by:
  • Future appointments — only remind once per appointment, even if multi-instance overlap
  • Arrival status — don’t remind chronic-DNA patients (or use a different template)
  • Custom segment — see Patient Segmentation
5

Activate

Toggle the instance to Active. Reminders start firing for new and existing future appointments matching the filters.Track usage and cost at the bottom of the Outbound page.

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Common questions

Yes — create separate instances filtered by practitioner. Useful if Dr X wants formal “Good morning” tone and Dr Y wants casual “Hey”.
Robyn handles the reply — confirmation parsing, reschedule request, cancellation, or general question. Same logic as inbound SMS.
The frequency cap (default: 1 outbound per patient per 7 days) catches this. If you want stricter dedupe, set per-instance frequency caps.
Disable PMS reminders for the appointment types Routiq is handling — otherwise patients get duplicate texts. Most PMSes have a per-appointment-type reminder toggle.
Yes — toggle “Include .ics calendar invite” in the template. Email reminders attach a calendar file the patient can add to their phone with one tap.

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Next

Appointment confirmations

Two-way reply parsing — patients confirm, cancel, or reschedule with one word.

Waiting lists

Auto-fill cancellations the moment a reminder reply frees a slot.