Why Your Cosmetic Clinic Needs Patient Text Messaging

Imagine your office phone ringing endlessly and having to answer simple questions such as “can you squeeze me in for an appointment today?” or “do you use juvederm?”. As a cosmetic clinic, inefficient customer communication can be a huge barrier.

Now imagine being able to quickly and quietly respond to clients text messages right from your mobile phone. When you enable cosmetic clinic texting, you can treat their request like a silent phone call.

While there might be some questions about why your clinic needs text messaging, this article will answer your burning questions so you can start caring for your clients more effectively and efficiently.

Is it illegal for cosmetic clinics to text their clients or patients?

No, it is not illegal for cosmetic businesses to use cell phone solutions to send text reminders, a survey for feedback, or answer inquiries, just so long as your clinic uses texting best practices.

While using mobile numbers to communicate with patients is a great idea to further personalize care, there are a few rules in the cosmetic industry that you must follow.

It's always a good idea to double-check with your legal counsel, but there is also existing software built for health systems that are HIPPA compliant, to allow you to reach customers the easy way - through texting.

Why should you text your customers?

Texting is the #1 preferred communication method for your clients.

When you look at the numbers, it doesn’t make sense to keep relying on phone calls and emails. The reason why is customers only open about 20% of emails and answer 45% of phone calls, but text messages have a 99% open rate.

With such a strong emphasis on technology in today’s day and age, it’s not a surprise that texting is a favorite communication channel.

In fact, 85% of customers prefer receiving a text message as opposed to a phone call or email.

That means that your beauty services must adapt to clients' needs in real-time to establish better customer relationships.

Texting is also cost-efficient

Text messaging is not only preferred by your customers, but it's more efficient and cost-effective for your business.

A Forrester research report states that a phone conversation costs about $15.50 per interaction on average, whereas two-way text messaging costs between $1-5.

A text-first communication strategy can enable your cosmetic clinic to reach clients more effectively.

Not only is it cheaper per interaction but it's also a great way to reduce no-shows. An example of improving this process is to send appointment reminders.

Reduce No-Shows.

Let's be real, appointment no-shows are frustrating as it means your clinic loses out on revenue from that customer. Beyond revenue, when someone doesn't show up, it deprives another customer in need of an appointment.

Although patient no-shows are an unfortunate reality, patient text messaging can help minimize the amount of lost opportunity your practice experiences.

It’s been proven that clinics can see a 50% decrease in no-shows when text message reminders are scheduled and sent out to patients.

The good news with using SMS technology means that you won’t ever catch your clients at a “bad time”. Sending SMS appointment reminders allows you to reach your customer's mobile devices easily without fear of being sent to voicemail.

Get New Patients in your Waiting Rooms.

Setting up new appointments is no small task for your staff. It can be time-consuming and frustrating.SMS can be used to help assist with automated outreach and it has higher conversion rates than calling new prospects.

Facilitate Better Patient-Provider Relationships.

Enabling text messaging allows for direct communication between a patient and their health care provider. It helps build a deeper connection as patients are invited to have a deeper conversation about their health which can facilitate better health care management.

With texting, your patients can get answers to their questions that may not require an appointment.

Texting can also help your patients easily schedule appointments, receive appointment reminders and updates, and check in to a virtual waiting room prior to their appointment to help ease administrative processes.

Although patient text messaging can help your practice, there are some guidelines your practice needs to make.

Keeping your client's privacy in mind is good practice when communicating with your customers. You want to ensure that you are using secure text messaging to keep both your staff members, and client information safe.

Not everyone loves texting, especially older clients. So be sure to give your customers a choice to indicate what their preferred method of communication is (text, email, phone calls, etc.).

Providing options to your clients can help guarantee a positive and seamless patient experience during more intensive services such as surgery.

There are risks associated with texting, so make sure that your office has a standard written policy in place that will protect your customers and your office. You and your medical staff want to ensure that you are using secure communication platforms that ensure confidentiality.

If communicating Protected Health Information (PHI) is important, make sure your healthcare texting service meets the HIPAA minimum requirements.

And remember to ask your clients for consent. Failing to receive consent can put you in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and will carry serious fines. Primary care physicians must receive written consent before messaging begins; verbal consent is not enough.

Ready to Grow Your Business?

With business text messaging you can quickly respond, transfer their request to the right person, schedule time, send SMS reminders for upcoming appointments, and much more. You’ll make your practice better and keep your customers happy.

Our mission is to help local businesses and clinics grow by making it easier to communicate with customers. With modern messaging technology, your business can implement text messaging, Web Chat, and Team Chat, all on one platform. We want to help you build relationships, take control of your online reputation, and grow your practice today.

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