Some businesses use SMS messages to remind or nudge customers to reduce no-shows for appointments and reduce costs as they can better plan their business.
I recently received two versions that were of equal importance to the business and customer; however, when you look past the reminder, one stood out by enabling the customer to give feedback quickly.
Parcel collection reminder
Hospital appointment reminder 
Both appointments were inconvenient, but the hospital reminder gave me a phone number to ring to rearrange rather than offering or maintaining the same contact channel to respond.
Why the parcel collection reminder was more effective
the parcel collection reminder offered me the ability to respond via SMS message and confirm whether or not this time was convenient. The hospital reminder asked me to call a number.
SMS messages aren’t always received at a convenient time to talk. I was not able to action my response immediately after receiving it, so there was an inevitable delay in my trying to ring them. When it was convenient for me to ring them, their offices were already closed. So I reminded myself to try again at another time – an unnecessary cognitive load.
When I tried again, their number was busy. So I had to remind myself again to try again. This happened one more time then it completely slipped my mind. So I missed the appointment and didn’t get a chance to let them know.
This undoubtedly cost them money, as they couldn’t schedule another person in my slot. But, unfortunately, this also cost me, as no doubt they will pass the record that I failed to attend to my doctor, which could negatively impact future referrals.
On the other hand, the delivery company reminder allowed me to respond easily with one of three coded options. One for rescheduling for the following day, 2 for rescheduling to two days, and 3 for cancelling.
The options are straightforward and can easily be understood by an automated process without human involvement.
They also acknowledged my response. This enables me to be confident that they ‘heard me’.
If I were to make recommendations for improving the hospital appointment reminder system, I would suggest they use a tactic similar to the delivery firm.
If they need to give customers an option to phone, then by all means, do, but first, they should enable customers to respond via SMS.