Appointment reminder SMS cut missed visits when they arrive the day before, name the place and time, and say how to reschedule. In the eSMS dashboard a clinic sets this up once: a sender ID in the facility's name, the Appointment reminder template, a daily upload of tomorrow's bookings and, if you want patients to confirm by reply, a Two-Way SMS keyword.
Last reviewed: 29 October 2026
What hospitals and clinics send by SMS
- Appointment reminders (the Appointment reminder starter template).
- Results ready notices that ask the patient to come in or call, never the result itself.
- Immunisation and follow-up recalls for children and chronic-care patients.
- Prescription refill reminders from the pharmacy.
- Health camps and outreach days, which count as promotional if they invite people who did not ask.
How to set up appointment reminder SMS
Request your facility's sender ID
Under Sender IDs > Request sender ID, enter the name patients know, up to 11 characters (for example AFYACLINIC), and describe the use, such as "appointment reminders and recalls for registered patients". The fee is charged only on approval.
Add the reminder template
In Templates, open the Starter pack and click Add to library on Appointment reminder. Edit it to your facility name and reception number, and keep the fallbacks such as
{first_name|there}so a blank name never stops a send.Set up the daily reminder routine
Each afternoon, export tomorrow's bookings, start a New campaign, upload the file and pick the phone and name columns. Choose Transactional, insert the template, check the preview, and on the Schedule step choose Send now or a time the same evening. Use Duplicate on yesterday's campaign to keep the same wording and settings.
1 Send now, 2 Schedule, 3 Repeat, 4 Delivery controls. Spread large sends
In Delivery controls, set a Throttle (messages per minute) so calls to reception to reschedule come in steadily instead of all at once.
Let patients confirm by reply (optional)
Request a keyword under Two-Way SMS. Patients can text your keyword to the short code at any time, and once a message has gone to them from the code (your developer can send it from your keyword), their plain replies such as 1, 2 or YES come back to you for the next 72 hours. Everything appears in the Inbox, where reception can answer.
Assign roles
Invite reception staff as Sender, the practice manager as Admin or Approver, and management as Viewer for reports. Turn on two-factor authentication for every login.
Review no-shows and failures
In each campaign report, export the Failed tab and update those numbers in your records. Reports shows the delivery rate by country and the spend per campaign for budgeting.
Sample messages
Examples with a made-up clinic. They name no condition or treatment.
- Appointment reminder (transactional, 127 characters):
Hi Amina, a reminder of your appointment at Afya Clinic on Tue 4 Nov at 10:00. To reschedule, please call the clinic reception. - Results ready (transactional, 112 characters):
Afya Clinic: your results are ready. Please visit the clinic or call reception to discuss them with your doctor. - Immunisation recall (transactional, 113 characters):
Afya Clinic: Baby Joy's next immunisation is due on 12 Nov. Bring the child health card. The clinic opens at 8am. - Confirm by reply (two-way keyword only) (transactional, 93 characters):
Afya Clinic: your visit is on Tue 4 Nov at 10:00. Reply 1 to confirm or 2 to change the time. - Health camp (promotional, 126 characters):
Afya Clinic: free blood pressure checks this Saturday, 9am to 1pm, at our main branch. To stop health updates, tell reception.
Consent, quiet hours and opt-outs
Consent is required for promotional SMS. Only send offers and marketing to patients who agreed to hear from you, and keep a record of when and how they agreed (a signed form, a tick box, a registration record). Service messages they expect, such as alerts and reminders about their own account, are transactional, but they still need a correct, current number.
Rules on sender IDs, content and sending hours vary by country. Before you send, open the country on the Countries page and read its compliance notes, and check our sender ID guides for Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda.
In Settings > Messaging, switch on Hold promotional messages during quiet hours and set Quiet from and Until. Promotional messages that fall inside the window wait and go out when it ends, in each recipient's local time. Transactional messages (alerts, codes, reminders) are not held unless a campaign turns quiet hours on.
The Opt-out line in the same tab is added to promotional messages that do not already mention STOP. It starts as "Reply STOP to opt out". If your sender ID cannot receive replies, change it (up to 80 characters) to something people can act on, such as "To stop offers, call our helpline", with your real contact. The promotional samples below already contain the word "stop", so the line is not added a second time. People who opt out are listed under Opt-outs and excluded from every send; you can also add a number there by hand when someone asks in person.
Common errors and how to fix them
| What you see | What it means | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|
sender_not_approved | The sender ID you chose is not approved for that country yet. | Wait for approval, or tick "Use the country default where my sender ID isn't approved" in the campaign. |
country_not_enabled | The destination country is not switched on for your account. | An Owner or Admin opens Countries and clicks Enable for that country. |
missing_merge_field | A row has no value for a merge field and the field has no fallback. Nothing is charged. | Fill the column, or add a fallback such as {first_name|there}. |
| "Paused: balance too low" | Campaigns are charged batch by batch and the balance ran out. | Top up, then click Resume. Nobody gets the message twice. |
| Patients reply but nothing reaches you | They replied to a one-way sender ID. | Send confirmation requests from your Two-Way SMS keyword; replies then appear in the Inbox. |
| Reminders arrive late at night | The campaign was scheduled for the evening or sent late. | Schedule a fixed afternoon time, or turn on quiet hours for that campaign. |
Frequently asked questions
When should an appointment reminder be sent?
Most facilities send it the afternoon or evening before the visit, with a second reminder the same morning for early slots.
Can we include the doctor's name or department?
Keep it general. A department name can reveal a condition, so the place and time are usually enough.
Can patients confirm or cancel by SMS?
Yes, with a Two-Way SMS keyword on our shared short code. Plain replies such as 1 or 2 reach your Inbox for 72 hours after you text them.
Can the reminders go out automatically from our system?
Yes. Your developers can connect your booking system to the eSMS API so each booking triggers its own reminder.
Related guides
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