The reminder ladder
A booking confirmation, a T-24h reminder, and a T-2h nudge with directions each catch a different forgetfulness. The third message, the one most clinics skip, catches the patient who remembered yesterday and lost track today.
Make cancelling easy, deliberately
A patient who cannot cancel in one tap simply doesn’t come. The cancellation you make easy returns a sellable slot; the no-show you make inevitable returns nothing. Friction here costs money.
| Item | Standard | Consequence / owner |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmation | At booking, with date and doctor | Sets the commitment |
| T-24h reminder | With one-tap cancel/reschedule | Recovers tomorrow’s slots |
| T-2h nudge | With directions / parking line | Catches same-day drift |
| Cancellation | One tap, no phone call | Slot returns to inventory |
| Waitlist offer | Auto-message to next in line | Empty slot resold |
The waitlist turns cancellations into revenue
A cancelled 11 am slot with a same-day waitlist becomes another patient’s 11 am. Without the waitlist it becomes the doctor’s dead half-hour. The mechanism is a list and a message template, nothing more.
What to do on Monday
- Turn on the T-2h nudge; it is the rung clinics skip.
- Make cancellation one tap from every reminder.
- Start a same-day waitlist for your two busiest doctors.
Worked examples on this page are illustrative arithmetic on stated assumptions, not measured market statistics.