Confirmations, reminders, cancellations and follow-ups go out on their own once a template is linked to an appointment type. When one doesn't, the cause is almost always one of four switches, listed here.
- Which messages ClinyPal sends on its own and when
- How a template gets linked to an appointment type
- The rules that decide whether a patient receives a message
What is sent, and when
| Message | When | Template pages |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmation | When an appointment is booked or its time changes | Confirmation Email Templates and Confirmation SMS Templates |
| Reminder | A set number of days before the visit, in a sending window | Reminder Email Templates and Reminder SMS Templates |
| Cancellation | When the appointment is canceled, by staff or by the patient's link | Cancellation Email Templates and Cancellation SMS Templates |
| Follow-up | A set time after the visit, to patients matching its filter | Follow-up Email Templates and Follow-up SMS Templates |
Other automatic messages use fixed wording rather than a template: recall reminders, waitlist offers, telehealth links, the money sentence added to a cancellation, invoice and receipt emails after an online payment, and broadcasts you write yourself. The eight template pages are under Settings, in the communications group.
Templates and appointment types
Each page holds a list of templates with a Template name and last update, and you can keep several, for example a gentler reminder for first visits and a shorter one for classes. A template does nothing until an appointment type names it: on the appointment type, under Communications, each event has an Email and an SMS choice, and the list of types shows each one's state as Email + SMS, Email only, SMS only or Not set. The starter types come linked to the starter templates; a type you add needs them chosen. See Set up appointment types.
Templates are one list for the whole clinic; every location uses the same ones, and the Business placeholders fill in with the location of the appointment. A clinic that had the same template name at two locations sees the newer copy renamed Name (Location name), to tidy or archive.
The rules that decide whether a patient gets it
- The appointment type has a template for that event and channel.
- The patient's Automatic messages setting allows the channel: SMS, Email or SMS & Email. A patient on None gets nothing automatic. A cancellation notice is the one exception: it's sent by email, or SMS if there's no email, even then.
- The confirmation and cancellation emails are also subject to the patient's two email switches.
- For SMS, the patient has a mobile number and the clinic has credit for the message's segments; a reminder that can't be texted isn't emailed instead.
- For email, the patient has an email address. An invoice-related email goes to Email invoice to if that's set on their Billing section.
- A follow-up marked as a Marketing message skips patients without marketing consent on that channel.
- The clinic's subscription is active; a lapsed clinic sends nothing.
Every attempt, sent or not, is in the patient's communication log, which is where to start when someone says a message didn't arrive; see A patient isn't receiving messages.
Timing
Reminders and follow-ups are sent by an hourly job in each location's own time zone. A reminder set to 1 day before with a sending window of 09:00 to 10:00 goes out in that hour the day before. Changing a template or a reminder setting during the day catches up within a few hours. Confirmations and cancellations go at once.