Front-desk playbook: T-24h and T-2h reminder scripts

The front desk does not need a brand voice. It needs a sentence the patient can answer while walking. This playbook is the set of scripts we recommend for Indian clinics using WhatsApp appointment reminders: one confirmation when the slot is booked, one message about 24 hours before, one about 2 hours before, and a short phone script for the rows that stay unread. Copy them into utility templates. Take out anything that sounds like an offer.

Use the clinic’s name, the doctor’s name, the time, and the area. “Andheri” beats a pin code the patient will not read. Keep the ask to one reply: YES, or a new time. Do not ask them to rate the clinic, download a form, and confirm the slot in the same bubble. One job per message.

When the slot is booked

Send this as soon as the appointment exists, if the patient is not standing at the desk. “Hello Ananya, your skin consult with Dr. Mehta at Andheri Skin Clinic is booked for Tue 24 Sep, 4:30 PM. Reply YES to confirm. To change the time, reply with the time you can come.” If they booked in person, you can skip this and rely on T-24h. Do not send both a paper card speech and three WhatsApp messages in the same hour.

If the procedure needs preparation, add one line and stop. “Please come without cream on the area.” Do not attach a PDF essay. If preparation is long, hand them the sheet in clinic and let the template point at the visit, not at a link farm.

T-24h script

“Reminder: Ananya, your skin consult with Dr. Mehta is tomorrow, Tue 24 Sep, at 4:30 PM at Andheri Skin Clinic. Reply YES to confirm, or reply with a better time.” That is the whole template. The variables are patient name, procedure, doctor, date, time, and clinic. Staff should not rewrite it per patient. If a sentence has to change, it is a new template version, approved once.

Send it in the late afternoon or early evening the day before, when people read personal chats. A 7 AM send is easy for the server and useless for a working patient. Clinic desk queues from the appointment time in the clinic’s timezone, so a Bengaluru clinic and a Mumbai clinic do not share a clock by accident.

T-2h script

“Ananya, your visit with Dr. Mehta is today at 4:30 PM at Andheri. Reply if you are on the way or running late.” This one is for attendance, not for rebooking the week. Patients who need a different day should have said so at T-24h. If they reply “next week”, the inbox shows it and the desk moves the slot. Do not auto-book a new time from a vague reply. A person confirms the chair is free.

Skip T-2h for visits before 10 AM if the T-24h was already confirmed. Waking a patient at 7 AM to discuss a 9 AM token creates the block you are trying to avoid. The rule can be simple: T-2h only if the row is not Confirmed, or only for procedures over a set length. Write the rule down so the Saturday coordinator does the same thing as the Monday coordinator.

Replies the desk should expect

YES, haan, coming, on the way: mark Confirmed. Do not send a second thank-you template outside the window if a plain reply will do. Inside the 24-hour window, a short “Thank you, we will see you at 4:30 PM” is a normal message, not a billed template.

A new time: check the board, reply with one offered slot, and move the visit only after they accept. “We can do 6:00 PM with Dr. Mehta today. Reply YES and we will shift your token.” Two rounds of this is enough. After that, call.

STOP, unsubscribe, or “don’t message me”: opt them out, cancel further templates, and leave a note on the patient. The next reminder is a phone call or nothing. Do not argue in the chat.

The phone call that remains

Call only when the T-24h is unread an hour before close, or the T-2h is unread thirty minutes before a long procedure. The script is one question. “This is Andheri Skin Clinic. You have a 4:30 PM visit with Dr. Mehta. Will you reach?” If they do not answer, one more try, then mark the row so the doctor knows the risk. A no-show is recorded when the slot time passes and the patient is not in the room. It is not recorded at lunch because a message is still queued.

Keep a small book of reasons if the owner wants them: forgot, traffic, cost, anxiety about the procedure, booked elsewhere. The WhatsApp thread often contains the reason already. Read it before you invent a code. Reasons help the clinic change its booking rules. They are not a reason to scold the patient in writing.

What not to paste into the template

Do not add “Reply 1 for offers”. Do not add the owner’s personal mobile as a backup inside the template. Do not mention other patients. Do not include diagnosis. “Skin consult” is enough. “Review of your fungal infection” is not a template you want stored in a chat preview on a lock screen.

Do not threaten. “Your slot will be given to someone else” makes anxious patients cancel for good. If you have a real cancellation window, state it once, calmly. “Please tell us four hours ahead if you cannot come, so we can offer the chair.” That is a desk policy, not a punishment.

Run these scripts for two weeks before you edit them. The front desk will tell you which line patients misunderstand. Change that line, resubmit the template, and leave the rest alone. A stable script is how a new receptionist runs the same desk on Monday morning.