A confirmation email is a transactional newsletter that is sent to confirm the action: registration on a website, booking, or confirmation of an appointment. This is an automatic message that is of a service nature. To ensure that the action is completed successfully, the user wants it to happen quickly. And you, as a business owner, want to make sure that there will be no no-shows.
What Email Marketing Tasks Does the Confirmation Letter Solve?
The main purpose of the confirmation letter is to quickly convey significant information. Also, such letters help to solve the following marketing tasks:
#1. Check the quality of the database opinion
The confirmation letter helps to maintain the hygiene of the contact database. Marketing departments spend a lot of resources to convert new customers and motivate them to leave data. If the database is replenished with invalid and irrelevant data, marketing indicators fall and the conversion rate decreases. Sending confirmation emails helps to ensure that only active users remain in the database.
Medesk is an assistant for clinic managers, collects and presents complex statistics about the work of the clinic in a simple and understandable way, that makes it easier for the manager to make both operational and strategic decisions.
Learn more >>#2. Get feedback
According to the data of Flowmailer, transactional mailings have more importance of open rate and click rate than marketing:
The user is more likely to read the confirmation letter, which means that the company can also request information in it: add a survey to personalize communications, ask for feedback or clarify how to improve the quality of service.
You can track openings by day of the week, clicks, conversion, and reading time. You can also use such type of emails to collect additional information about the client. The data obtained will help optimize the sending time and improve segmentation so that you can send the right messages to the right people at the right time. In addition, such service letters can be used to collect feedback about the purchase process.
#3. Increase loyalty
The mandatory information in the message can be supplemented with tips on the operation of the product — this will increase trust, and loyal customers often return for repeat purchases. For example, a private practice, when making a booking confirmation, can add recommendations for the next appointment, analyses needed, or even a diet plan.
If a user has subscribed to your newsletter, he has already shown interest. We are not even talking about the moment when the client decided to spend his hard-earned money and made an order. These stages are ideal for strengthening the relationship with a personal touch. For example, you can tell the customer how to get the maximum benefit from the product. Satisfied customers often write positive reviews and come back for a repeat purchase.
#4. Ensure data security
When a user changes some data in his personal account, for example, an account password, or logs in from a new device to book an upcoming appointment, the security of the performed action is rechecked in the confirmation letter. This is how the company protects data from fraudsters.
#5. Stimulate additional sales
Confirmation letters can become a source of sales growth, since at this moment the audience is maximally involved in interaction with the company. Transactional email examples are sent in response to the user's actions exactly at the moment when he is waiting for them. Therefore, confirmation letters are often used to sell additional products. Of course, all additional sales are possible only after you give the client all the information he expects to receive.
Individually customized reports at Medesk make it clear where to advertise and what services to offer. You can plan special offers, use color-coded tags that will help segment and analyze specific data for pre-selected positions.
Learn more >>If the user has agreed to receive promotional mailings, you can supplement the appointment information with a small block with recommendations and related products. For example, in the confirmation message a customer is offered related services - check-ups, a discount for analyses, or a family discount. Sending such email notifications is initiated by the user — he is maximally involved in reading the mailing list and will pay attention to additional offers.
The Components of the Appointment Reminder Email
Subject of the letter
This is the first line that the client sees.
According to HubSpot statistics, 35% of people rate the importance of a letter on the subject line. Therefore, it should be clear and reflect the content of the text message.
For example:
- "Your booking (the name) has been successfully confirmed"
- "Thank you for your booking! Your order is paid. Booking Number — GTX23"
Greetings and thanks
A personalization element that works for loyalty. Using the name of the company and a greeting before the main portion of the letter builds trust and makes the relationship stronger.
The main part
The main part is the reason why subscribers expect a message: confirmation of booking or payment, order details and appointment date.
Additions and explanations
In addition to the main part of the letter, provide information that may be helpful to the client.
For example, if in the main part the user is informed that his appointment is scheduled, or he is asked for a rescheduling, then in this section he is informed about the time of the appointment, the date (with a “calendar” button preferably) and any other important details of the appointment, such as cancellation policy.
Don’t forget about “regards”!
Someone may think that such small and general phrases as “kind regards“, “best regards“ and “best wishes“ are old-fashioned and people get tired of them. Do not listen to this nonsense! It will never change that we like to be greeted by our names and shown courtesy.
The simplest and most elementary rules of business correspondence must be observed. Period.
Contact information, useful links
In the confirmation email template, you can include information about the company:
- Address
- Link to social media
- Feedback form
- Application and the benefits of using it.
For example, in order for customers to download the application, it’s a good idea to add clickable buttons at the end of the letter. These buttons will take them to the AppStore, AppGallery and Google Play. It is best to add a QR code to the letter to help the reader access the application.
Details Matter: How to Improve your Appointment Confirmation Email Template
Specify the sender
One glance at the message should be enough to understand who it is from and what information it contains. For example, the name of the company should be indicated in the "From whom" field.
Adapt the template for the company
Although all confirmation letters are similar to each other in structure, you can create your own design for them and adapt them to the corporate style - so the message will stand out among the letters of other companies.
Form the right expectations
Tell your customers about their next steps, explain what will happen next, and why they received this message.
Add a photo of the product/service
This way the customer will double-check their order and be able to quickly report an error if it has occurred.
Make a gift
This can be a pleasant bonus for a subscription, for example, a promo code for the next purchase or a gift from the company's partners.
Add recommendations
Let the confirmation letters are not advertising, but they can be supplemented with links to sections of the site or personal offers that will interest customers.
Layout emails according to the mobile-first principle
According to Campaign Monitor, 60% of email messages are viewed via mobile devices, so you should optimize the layout of messages for them.
Use additional mechanics
For example, if a user has made an online booking, but hasn't paid yet, a countdown timer can be added to the email.
Automated Appointment Confirmation Email Sample
Now you have discovered the magic of friendly reminders. Of course, if you run a small business you can type and send all the texts manually. But ask yourself, is it really a necessity?
Or is it worth the money spent on a staff member who does it for you?
We suggest you to have a closer look at the possibility of an automated system for sending confirmation letters and many other options.
By using scheduling software, you and your clients are on the same team.
What does it mean?
- First, the possibility for your current and potential customers to make changes during the scheduling process. Sending automated reminders via emails or SMS gives them a chance to make timely changes and thus, reduce last-minute cancellations.
Read more about no-shows and how to deal with them
Find out more >>- Once you’ve filled out a confirmation email template, you don’t need to do it manually. The simple setup process saves you money, time and nerves. Do not forget to add your logo and links, and it’s a wrap.
- For your current customers and patients you can implement a user-friendly feature for an automated SMS. You can even use a unique sender name for your text messages instead of a phone number. Communication with patients before an appointment is an easy way to increase loyalty to your services.
You can send notifications to patients about appointments, various promotions and events directly from Medesk. The registrar can easily set up automatic notifications, for example, a day or 2 hours before the visit. This option significantly unloads the work of the registry and increases patient loyalty.
Learn more >>- Integrations. In order to simplify the booking process, you can use a simple calendar that allows you to create new patient records directly at the time of booking. Moreover, you are able to integrate it with Google Calendar and iCal.
If you plan to create confirmation emails yourself, use our simple templates. We hope that these examples will inspire you to experiment. As a result, your emails will become more personal and, at the same time, will push users to take the right action.
Convenience at its finest
Confirmation letters are needed to inform customers of pertinent information. If you put a little effort into them, they will become a tool that will help you build trust with customers, collect additional information about them, and sell more. All you need to do is think about and use our tools for several letters once, based on the tips and examples in this article.
Best regards, the Medesk team.
