17.7. Texting

*THE BIG WHAT
Clinic HQ offers the ability for your clinic to send automated confirmations/reminders, as well as text one on one via the e-lobby, and medical record requests. No physical phone is required. Texting occurs through Clinic HQ.

Click here to jump to the help document for the settings for this feature.

Costs for Texting

By default, texting is enabled for all clinics. Your clinic is assigned a phone number. To see what your phone number is, go to: https://clinichq.com/app#/settings/addons/twilio
Your clinic will be charged $1.00 per month, per clinic. Plus, .05 cents per segment. A segment is 160 characters. For text appointment reminders, animals are bundled by owner. You are only charged for outgoing texts, not incoming texts.

You are not required to use texting or to have texting enabled. If you’d like to disable texting, click here to view the steps to disable it.

What is texting used for?

Appointment Reminders

Send a text reminding clients of upcoming appointments. Create a sending schedule for when the reminder should go out. Such as 1 day or 3 days before the appointment date.
Bundled reminders: If you are using the text for reminders and a client is scheduled for more than one animal on the same day, the system will send one reminder for all pets. Example John has three cats scheduled for spay/neuter tomorrow. HQ will send one text message at 5 cents for all three cats.

Example reminder message: “REMINDER for your pet’s appointment tomorrow, #DATE#. Check in at 8AM. Please see your email for instructions. Call 000-000-0000 to reschedule or cancel.”
You can use the auto fill fields to populate with real client/animal details but keep in mind that this will change the length of your message. If the message exceeds 160 characters you will be charged more per message.

The automated text messages for confirmations/reminders can only be seen from the Communication Logs, HERE.

!Mobile Clinics – DO NOT USE the mobile location field in text reminders. The field is coded to produce a link to Google maps. The code is not compatible with an SMS format.

Curbside Check In

Many clinics have gone to curbside check in where clients text you from their vehicles when they arrive. We have created some new tools to allow this to happen. Here is an example of how the ASPCA Spay/Neuter Alliance’s signs look outside their building.

Curbside Check In Sign

When a client texts you to this number and they have an appointment on the same day, HQ can help you begin the check in process. It will auto-respond confirming the owner brought all the animals they were scheduled for, and also, it will confirm the services each animal is supposed to get. You enabled this in Settings > E-Lobby and here’s how it reads:

Text Auto-Responder

The text message pops up in e-Lobby.

e-Lobby text notification

Texting clients for one-off messages

You can also initiate texts with clients via the e-Lobby chat bubble. You can text back and forth with clients asking things like “Are you on your way?” Clients can also text you to cancel their appointments or provide more information as needed.

One-on-one text messages appear in the E-Lobby.

Texting when Animal is “Done”

Notify clients via text that their animal is ready to be picked up now or in a set time along with any other key dismissal instructions. This text message will be sent automatically when staff click “Done” on the Treatment Sheet of Patient Flow. Read about how to create this Automation in Patient Flow Setup. Read about creating the text message from Confirmations and Reminders.

Inclement weather or other closures

Ensure your clients are notified of short notice closure by sending a text message. Chat directly with clients from the e-Lobby. Text messaging costs are $0.05 per message.
Here is how:
Open the e-Lobby at the top of HQ.
By default, the page will open to “today.” Use the arrows in the upper right corner to view clients scheduled in the future. Each animal will have its own card. On the card is a chat bubble icon.
Click the chat bubble to start a message with the client.
You can ask the client to respond that they received the message. There is no charge for incoming messages. Only outgoing messages are billed to the clinic.
TIP: Include as much detail in one message. The character count will track your message length. Keep texts under 160 characters for the message fee of $0.05. For every 160 characters, there will be an additional 5 cents. If your message is 180 characters the cost is $0.10.

Letting clients auto-text themselves copies of their medical record and/or take home paperwork

You can put a link on your website that lets clients look up their own medical records and text it to themselves. To see how, go here.

Text clients their medical records

You can text clients copies of their medical records. To see how, go here.

Clients Opt In or Opt Out of Texting

Throughout HQ we’ve inserted a visual tag for clients who have opted out to receive text messages. This is helpful if you are texting the client throughout your day for any reason. For example, in e-Lobby you can text for pick-up (which is a bazillion times faster than calling) but if they’ve opted out of text messages, they won’t be getting that ping. So, now you can visually see who has opted out.

Flag that client opted out of texting

Your clients can opt out of text messages by simply texting the word “Stop” to your HQ number. They can start again by texting the word “Start.”

!Staff can not opt out or opt in for the client. The ability to receive texts must be managed by the client. The client MUST be the one to text the keyword from their cellphone associated with their profile.

Communication preferences can be seen from the Client Profile