Streamline your business to success with SMS notifications

From appointment no-shows to late payments, every disruption in the flow of a business is costly in both time and money. Wasted preparation time, a messed up schedule, lost revenue, and the added time it takes to reschedule appointments or deliveries - certainly a situation you want to avoid. Timely communication via SMS can help prevent disruptions in your business flow. How? Let's take a look!

Why SMS notifications?

SMS is a popular and reliable messaging channel that boasts a wide global reach and high engagement rates. Every mobile phone has a native SMS app built in, and you only need a mobile subscription to receive SMS messages. As of 2023, there are almost 8,9 mobile phone subscriptions worldwide - this exceeds even the global population!

SMS also boasts open rates as high as 98%, which means that your messages not only reach the phones of your audience, those messages will also actually be read. This is further proven by the fact that 85% of surveyed people in 2023 admitted to prefer receiving text messages over email or phone calls. The global reach and impressive engagement statistics make SMS the perfect channel for timely communication.

Reduce no-shows with SMS reminders & confirmations

Both the healthcare and service industry and the delivery, logistics and transport market suffer from no-shows, failed deliveries, cancelled appointments, and closed doors. So much so that an NCBI report states that 67,000 failed appointments can costs approximately $7 million dollars. It's estimated that the healthcare industry loses approximately $150 billion dollars every year due to patient cancellations and no-shows. No-shows in the delivery market can also drive up the costs - in 2020 the average cost per failed delivery was €14,69 in Germany, $17,2 in the US, and £11,6 in the UK.

So how can you combat these no-shows and prevent revenue loss? There is one key solution to help reduce these disruptions in business - timely communication. Send out order and appointment confirmations, delivery status updates, appointment reminders, and delay alerts via SMS to keep your customers involved and informed.

SMS confirmations

Want to make sure that your customers stay informed about their orders or appointments? Start by sending out confirmations. Not all appointments are the same. Not all orders are the same. Not all people are the same. Want to make sure that your communication is relevant and effective? Then it's time to personalise and customise.

Address the recipient by name and refer to their individual orders or appointments in the confirmation text. Include additional information such as the place of the appointment, the time of the delivery, who they'll be meeting, and what they can expect. Is it an appointment for a (healthcare) procedure that has a high flight-risk? Put your customer at ease by adding contact information or additional info and FAQs. Is it not uncommon for certain customers to reschedule deliveries? Send a link with a rescheduling flow in your SMS order confirmation message to automate the process. Segmenting your audience will help target bottlenecks in the appointment or delivery flow, effectively reducing no-shows.

Hi Peter,

Thank you for your order 1254. Your parcel is out for delivery and will arrive on your doorstep at 14:00, June 9th. Want to pick a different delivery date or time? Please follow this link: [reschedule delivery].

Thank you.

SMS reminders

It's crucial to send out SMS reminders at the right time. If you send it too close to the appointment or delivery date, the customer may not have enough time to make it. Meanwhile, sending it too far in advance may result in the customer forgetting about it. Choose times based on when the appointment or delivery is scheduled, and when these notifications can be seen and acted upon.

Hi Iris,

Just a friendly reminder that you have an upcoming appointment with your dentist tomorrow.

Date: March 10
Location: Dentist Office
Doctor: John
Time: 09:00

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. Wish to reschedule? Please follow this link: [reschedule appointment].

Thank you.

Read all about Procedure A in our [FAQs].

You can also send multiple SMS reminders to continue to remind customers about upcoming appointments or deliveries. You can, for example, send a first reminder a week before delivery, and a follow-up reminder the day before the delivery. Sending follow-up notifications will also help reduce last-minute no-shows.

Hello Peter,

Your order 1254 will be delivered next week on Wednesday. Wish to pick a new delivery date or time? Please follow this link: [reschedule delivery].

Kind regards.

Recover abandoned carts with SMS reminders

Cart abandonment rates have been climbing steadily over the past few years. In 2023 around 70% of online shopping carts is being abandoned. Why? According to an European survey in 2023, the main reason for abandoning a shopping cart is the cost of delivery. The product becoming more expensive is reason enough for most people to search elsewhere for a better deal. Payment options are also a big factor - 27% of surveyed people will abandon an online cart if their preferred payment method is not available. Does that mean that the revenue of these abandoned carts is lost? Not necessarily. The grass is not always greener on the other side.

Sending abandoned cart reminders will help reel in the customers that are still on the fence about the purchase. Perhaps they haven't found what they were looking for elsewhere - or maybe they forgot about the product altogether. Sending a reminder via SMS with a link to the purchase page will make it easy and convenient for them to buy your products after all. Want to add an extra incentive? Send out abandoned cart reminders when you have active discounts!

Hi Leo,

It looks like you forgot the blue sneakers in your online shopping cart. They are currently 10% off! Don't miss out on this deal!

[Go to your cart]

Use SMS for late payments

Payments are a touchy subject, especially when they're late. SMS offers a direct and immediate way of engaging positively with customers for overdue payments and collection while respecting their time and privacy. This allows credit control teams to remain proactive with concise communication and a clear call-to-action (CTA) which resolve outstanding payments.

Hello Leanna,

We would like to remind you of Invoice #123, which is due for payment on Sept. 4th.

You can view and pay the invoice directly through this link: [pay now]

Should you have any questions or concerns about the invoice, please feel free to reply to this message. We're here to help.

Thank you.

SMS notifications with CM.com

The use cases and added benefits of SMS notifications are almost endless. Want to start sending your own SMS reminders? Our SMS Gateway makes it easy to send bulk text messages across the globe and can be used in many different ways. Connect your website or application to our API or use our Cloud Software for reliable global messaging – and benefit from 60+ direct carrier connections to deliver your SMS appointment notifications. Read more about our SMS solution below, or start a messaging trial to experience the benefits.