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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.routiq.ai/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Why this matters. Most clinics lose 10-30% of revenue to last- minute cancellations because the slot stays empty. A working waitlist turns that recovered slot into immediate revenue — for zero extra acquisition cost. Run the numbers: a single recovered 120slotperdayata5−day−a−weekclinicis120 slot per day at a 5-day-a-week clinic is 30k/year.

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How it works

Two ways patients land on the waitlist:
  1. Auto-add — patient asks Robyn for a slot that’s unavailable. Robyn books them into the next available slot AND offers to add them to the waitlist for sooner times.
  2. Manual add — your reception team adds patients directly via the dashboard.
When a slot opens (cancellation, reschedule, no-show), Robyn checks the waitlist for matches:
  • Preferred practitioner ✓
  • Preferred location ✓
  • Preferred time window ✓
  • Service / appointment type ✓
The first matching patient gets a message offering the slot. If they reply YES → booked. If NO or no reply → next match in queue.

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How Robyn handles waitlist offers

Smart matching

Only offers slots that match the patient’s preferences. No spamming everyone with a Tuesday-2pm slot when they wanted Friday-5pm.

Time-boxed offer

Patient has 30 minutes to reply (configurable). After that, slot rolls to the next match. Prevents stale “I forgot” responses booking.

Auto-book on YES

Reply YES → instant booking. No back-and-forth. The slot is reserved for the patient the moment they reply.

Auto-remove on book

Patient who got a slot from the waitlist is removed automatically. No double-bookings, no leftover entries.

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What your patient sees

(Patient was on waitlist for Dr Lin, Tuesday afternoons.) Robyn (SMS, when slot opens): Hi Sarah — a slot just opened with Dr Lin this Tuesday 13 May at 2:00pm. You said you’d like to come sooner — want me to grab it for you? Reply YES to book or NO to pass.
Patient: Yes please Robyn: Done. You’re booked Tuesday 13 May at 2pm with Dr Lin. See you then.

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Setup

1

Create a waitlist instance

Outbound → Create Automatic Instance → Waiting List Callbacks.
2

Configure offer cadence

  • Channel — SMS (default), email, voice call, or cascade
  • Offer time-box — how long patient has to reply before slot rolls (default: 30 min)
  • Time-of-day window — when waitlist offers can fire (default: 8am-7pm local)
  • Max offers per patient per week — frequency cap (default: 3)
3

Customise the message

Default offer text is short and clear. Customise to match your clinic voice.
4

Activate auto-add

Settings → Robyn Behaviour → Auto-add to waitlist when no slot matches:
  • Always — patient gets booked into next available + waitlisted for sooner
  • Ask — Robyn asks “want me to put you on the waitlist for sooner?” before adding (recommended)
  • Never — manual-only waitlist
5

Add patients manually if needed

Outbound → Waiting List → Add to Waitlist:
  • Phone number (required)
  • Location
  • Service / appointment type
  • Preferred practitioner
  • Preferred time window (e.g. “Tuesdays 2-5pm”)
Useful for walk-ins, phone enquiries, or when reception manually triages.
6

Activate the instance

Toggle to Active. Robyn starts matching new cancellations against the waitlist immediately.

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Viewing and managing the waitlist

Outbound → Waiting List shows all waitlisted patients sorted by:
  • Time on waitlist — longest-waiting first
  • Preference specificity — broader preferences (any practitioner, any time) match more slots, less specific ones priority-matched
  • Patient value (optional) — high-LTV patients prioritised in matching
You can manually remove or edit entries any time.

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Common questions

They stay on the waitlist for the sooner slot. If a sooner slot opens, Robyn offers it. If they accept, the original booking is rescheduled, not duplicated.
Run in “ask” mode for the first month — Robyn always asks “should I add you to the waitlist?” before doing it. Once you trust the matching, switch to “always”.
Yes — Outbound → Waiting List → Prioritise flag on individual entries. Or globally prioritise by LTV / referral source / segment in Settings → Outbound → Waitlist Priority Rules.
After all matching waitlisted patients are exhausted (or the offer window closes for each), the slot stays open. You’ll see “unfilled cancellation” in analytics — useful signal for over-tightening preferences or under-stocking the waitlist.
Where the PMS supports it — Cliniko and Nookal both have native waitlist tables that Routiq writes to. PracSuite stores waitlist entries in Routiq only. All entries are visible in both places.

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Next

Appointment confirmations

Confirmations create the cancellations that the waitlist fills.

Patient segmentation

Build segments to prioritise high-value patients in waitlist matching.