The Complete Appointment Booking Guide

Calculate your business's no-show cost: Monthly Appointments: 200 Typical No-Show Rate: 25% = 50 no-shows Average Revenue per Appointment: $250 Monthly Lost Revenue: 50 × $250 = $12,500 Annual Lost Revenue: $150,000 If you improve no-show rate to 10% (15 no-shows): Savings: 35 appointments × $250 = $8,750/month = $105,000/year Investment: AI booking system $200/month = $2,400/year Net Gain: $102,600/year

Multi-touch reminders significantly reduce no-shows: **Reminder Schedule:** 1. **1 Week Before** - SMS: "Reminder: You have an appointment Thursday, April 18 at 2:00 PM with Dr. Smith. Reply YES to confirm." - Email: More detailed reminder with preparation instructions - Purpose: Early catch (people who forgot or need to reschedule) 2. **48 Hours Before** - SMS: "Appointment reminder: Thursday, April 18 at 2:00 PM. See you soon!" - Email: Preparation reminders - Purpose: High effectiveness window 3. **24 Hours Before** - SMS: "Final reminder: You have an appointment tomorrow, April 18 at 2:00 PM. Reply CONFIRM or call [number]." - Email: Preparation details - Purpose: Last chance confirmation 4. **2 Hours Before** - SMS: "Appointment in 2 hours: [address, location details]. Reply OK to confirm you're coming." - Purpose: Catch same-day cancellations 5. **After No-Show (if occurs)** - Call: "We had you scheduled at 2 PM. Everything okay?" - SMS: "We missed you at your 2 PM appointment. Please reschedule: [link]" - Purpose: Recover if possible, understand reason

How you structure your calendar affects no-shows: **Buffer Time Slots:** - Don't schedule back-to-back 100% of the day - Add 10-15 minute buffers between appointments - Reduces rush, improves quality, absorbs no-shows **Cluster Similar Appointments:** - Medical: All annual physicals Monday morning = efficiency - Legal: Consults on Tuesdays, follow-ups Thursdays - Benefits: Reduces context switching, better provider prep **Avoid Late Day Slots:** - No-show rate increases 30-40% for appointments after 4 PM - Schedule lower-priority appointments in late slots - High-value appointments in morning/early afternoon **Restrict Appointment Duration:** - If system allows, limit booking to optimal duration - Example: Medical practice limits consultations to 30 minutes - Prevents overbooking, ensures staff availability **Waitlist Slots:** - Keep 1-2 slots open for same-day requests - Fill from waitlist if appointment no-shows - Recovers lost revenue opportunity

Track these metrics to understand booking performance: **No-Show Metrics:** - Absolute no-show count - No-show rate (no-shows ÷ total appointments) - No-show rate by day of week - No-show rate by time of day - No-show rate by appointment type **Improvement Metrics:** - No-show rate before vs. after optimization - Cost of no-show prevention (reminders, AI) - Revenue recovered vs. cost - ROI = (appointments saved × average revenue - system cost) ÷ system cost **Confirmation Metrics:** - Confirmation rate (% of appointments confirmed) - SMS open/response rate - Email open rate - Time to confirmation **Rescheduling Metrics:** - % of canceled appointments rescheduled same day - % of no-shows recovered (rescheduled) - Revenue from recovered appointments **Example Dashboard:** - Total appointments booked this month: 200 - No-shows: 12 (6% rate) - Confirmed appointments: 188 (94% confirmation) - Revenue from confirmed: $47,000 - Revenue lost to no-shows: $3,000 at 6% rate - System cost: $200/month - Net benefit: $2,800/month or $33,600/year **Target Metrics:** - No-show rate: <10% (excellent is <5%) - Confirmation rate: >85% - Reschedule rate for no-shows: >50%