Here are all posts by the author Frank Cort: Page 2 of 7

Entries by Frank Cort

How to Increase Client Appointments with Online Scheduling

2019 marked the first year that US consumers spent more time on their mobile device than watching TV. Though many appointment-based businesses are still investing in television ads, many have not taken the time to invest in an online scheduling system that allows potential clients to schedule services 24/7, without increasing staff. If you want to increase client appointments, find an online scheduling tool that you can use across multiple digital channels. How to Add Online Scheduling to Google My Business (GMB) Google added an appointment booking link feature back in 2018 as a way for clients to schedule appointments with businesses and providers directly from the SERP (search engine results page). As younger generations become primary consumers, keeping up with their expectations will keep you ahead of your competitors. If you already have an online scheduling tool, you can simply add your unique scheduling page URL to your GMB listing using the steps outlined in this blog post. 3 Reasons Clients Prefer Using Online Scheduling Tools Clients are in front of their screens… all the time. The average US consumer spends almost 3 hours a day on their smartphone. […]

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Send Texts from A Business Landline

According to an FCC study done in 2017, only 10% of the 455 million telephone numbers in the United States are landlines. A whopping 75% of those numbers belong to mobile phones. Majority of those landlines belong to businesses, while consumers rely primarily on mobile phones for their communication. Since many businesses have had the same number for years, and it is one your clients recognize, making the switch to be able to text your clients can be a challenge. But what if you could send client text messages from a business landline? It’s easier than you think. Should you text your clients? If you’ve been living under a rock, here is a newsflash: everyone uses text messages. In fact, 93% of consumers use texting as a means of communication. But that doesn’t just mean that consumers are using text messaging to talk to their friends and family. Many industries have adopted text messaging as a means to communicate with their clients. What are businesses texting about? Great question. An overwhelming majority of clients text businesses about appointments and scheduling. Since 90% of text messages are read within 3 seconds […]

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4 Ways To Improve Client Text Appointment Reminders

Did you know 62% of no-shows occur simply because your client forgot? We get it. People are busy. Combat forgetfulness with an appointment reminder strategy that works. We have 4 easy ways for you to improve your client text appointment reminders. Send your reminders at the right time of day. Though we highly recommend incorporating text reminders into your strategy, many of our clients choose to also use email or voice messages to provide additional details (i.e. directions and instruction, documentation to bring, etc). To get the highest result, use best practices to send client reminders at the most effective time of day. For instance, SMS test reminders sent at 6 p.m. have a 41.4% higher response rate than SMS reminders sent at noon. The chart below shows response rate by time of day for SMS, email and voice calls. Include the correct information. Are you struggling with what to include in a client text reminder? Remember: this isn’t an email so only include what is necessary. You can always schedule an automated email that includes more detail if necessary. Always include the date, time and timezone of the appointment. […]

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Should I Send Text or Voice Reminders to My Clients?

Sending appointment reminders to your clients is a necessity in today’s busy world. 62% of no-shows occur simply because your client forgot. To combat forgetfulness, send timely reminders with all of the information they need to show up on-time and prepared for their appointment. But, how should you send the reminder? Let’s take a look at the difference in effectiveness of text reminders versus voice call reminders. Why Text Message Reminders are More Effective US adults check their phones 52 times a day, on average. That’s a lot of screen time you can take advantage of. But they aren’t just using their phone during their personal time. In fact, 84% of working adults use their personal phone during working hours. While it may be frowned on to answer your phone in a quiet office, it is very easy to quickly glance at an incoming text message while sitting at your desk. Because of that, many businesses are turning to SMS text reminders to get the best confirmation rate on their appointment reminders. Furthermore, 90% of text messages are read within 3 seconds of being delivered. The instant attention that text […]

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Update To Cellular Carrier Filtering

Recently Sprint and T-Mobile have increased their text filtering criteria causing some text messages to fail to send. Unfortunately, failed messages are not always able to be flagged by our service provider meaning that you might not have been alerted to a failed message. Phone numbers that are sending text messages that look similar to over 200 unique phone numbers per day are getting flag by carriers. Majority of the failed messages are due to hyperlinks. We have found that having a link present in your initial text to your clients causes many of the failures that we have seen, though it does not cause every message to fail. If you are using default message template, Apptoto automatically populates a link to the appointment page so that your clients can add the appointment to their calendar. Alternatively, if you are including a link to paperwork or a survey, that can also cause the message to fail. To avoid failed messages, here is a quick workaround: Add the hyperlink into an auto-reply, rather than the initial message. Here is how to set that up: Add Auto Reply/Action in the Auto Messages […]

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Are Appointment Reminders HIPAA Compliant?

Healthcare professionals spend hours each week sending reminders to their patients. Whether you or your staff are taking care of it, manually sending appointment reminders each day is a huge waste of your time. Did you know that you can send automated HIPAA compliant appointment reminders? Through automation, you can save yourself, your staff and your practice hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars each year. Why does HIPAA Compliance Matter The healthcare industry is typically known as a technology-laggard. Though medical advances are cutting-edge, the healthcare technology landscape (like EMR/EHR systems, etc) are oftentimes lacking. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliance is a scary topic for most healthcare professionals. Between malpractice lawsuits and patient data breaches, the liability risk for the healthcare industry is incredibly high. As a result, it can be difficult to choose a new technology provider that you can trust to keep both your patients, and your practice, safe. To that end, most healthcare providers we talk to choose to do things the hard way (ie the manual way) rather than invest in a technology that can save them and their staff hours every […]

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5 Holiday Campaigns to Boost Your Appointment Bookings

Christmas in October? It might have been over a month ago when department stores started displaying their Christmas wares, but if you haven’t started prepping your business for the holidays, don’t worry, you aren’t alone. Many appointment-based businesses see a slump during the final months of the year, which can lead to a stressful January attempting to recoup that revenue. Fear not. We have 5 holiday campaigns you can quickly send to existing contacts to increase appointment bookings. 3 Steps to a Successful Appointment Booking Campaign Focus Marketing is tough. Should you be paying attention to ‘likes’ or ‘shares’ or ‘opens’ or ‘clicks’? Your business is run on actual appointments, which represents the majority of your revenue. Marketing exists to drive revenue, so focus on an increase in appointment bookings. Tracking With online scheduling it’s simple to associate a booking page to a promotion and directly track the ROI from your marketing campaigns. And with online scheduling, you can include a link to a unique booking page in an email or text message that will allow your clients to schedule time with you through a single click. Another option is […]

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How CPAs Can Use Text Messages for Appointment Scheduling

Tax firms and CPAs are gearing up for their busiest time: the 2019 tax season. Don’t waste time reaching out individually to remind your clients to book their tax prep sessions. Instead, use text message appointment scheduling campaigns to send reminders and scheduling links to your contact list. Clients get a jump start on their 2019 taxes and you and your tax firm fill up your calendar with meaningful appointments. Everyone wins! Why Send Text Messages Instead of Emails 90% of text messages are read within the first 3 seconds 98% of text messages are read in their entirety. Emails sent by the finance industry have an average open rate of 40%.*, which is very high for emails, but still falls well below the text message engagement rate. How to Send Your Tax Firm Client Text Messages Create a text (or email) campaign cadence from scratch or use our Tax Prep template. Quickly send a text message to your contact list and include a booking link to schedule time with you. Once a client books time on your calendar (either via the booking link or directly through you), they are […]

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87 Email Appointment Reminder Samples to Send Your Clients

You’re a business owner, not a copy writer. Rather than waste cycles trying to craft the perfect copy for your email appointment reminders, just use these 87 industry-specific appointment reminder samples! For all client communication, you need to follow these four simple rules: Keep it Real. You know your clients. Make your reminder sound like your brand! If you’re “hip and with it”, add some spunk to your wording. If you like to keep it classy, do just that. Keep it Relevant. The main function of an appointment reminder is to get your clients the information they need. Don’t convolute the message with unnecessary details like sales and promotions. There are other messaging avenues for that. Keep it Short. Apptoto SMS text messages can support up to 300 characters, but that doesn’t mean you have to use them all. Use what you need to get the information across. Keep it Consistent. Many of your clients will be repeats and will come to rely on your reminders. If you reminded them 3 days before their appointment and then again 1 hour before, that needs to be the cadence you continue Now, […]

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New Customization Features for Apptoto Booking Pages

Apptoto’s online scheduling pages just got better! Now, you can customize the look and feel of your booking page to match your business’s brand. Another great addition that our customers asked for is the ability to customize your availability for each page. For instance, if you want to create a recurring block for lunch, or if you have a day of the week that your office closes early, you can now easily adjust those times for each booking page. We put together an easy guide to walk you through all of the new features available for your booking page appearance. Booking Page Appearance Tab After navigating to the Bookings Page via the options on the left of your Apptoto portal, click on the Appearance tab to see all of the customization options. Colors & Fonts Now, you can change color, font and layout of your booking pages. You’ve spent years establishing a brand with your clients. Show it off on your booking page! There are many options to customize both the colors and the fonts on your booking page. Be careful to not choose any colors that will be distracting […]

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