C9 Connect, Cloud 9 Software's enhanced communications package, features Automated Appointment Reminders, allowing users to automate reminder notifications. After configuring the desired routines, C9 Connect handles reminders automatically. This article covers setting up C9 Connect Appointment Campaigns, customization options, and effective usage of this powerful tool.
Employee Permissions
For employees to have access and edit Appointment Campaigns, the correct permission will need to be selected by office staff who can access Edit > Setup > Employees. Once you have navigated to Edit > Setup > Employees, add the permission: Edit Reminders Setup. This must be set up by an admin at the practice who can add employee permissions.
Appointment Campaigns
To navigate to where you will setup the rules for Appointment Reminders for C9 Connect in Cloud 9 you will click Edit > Automation Suite > Appointment Campaigns. Once you are in this screen, there are some different options you will want to be aware of.
The toggle switch in the upper left corner of the appointment reminders can be set to active (orange) or inactive (gray). An orange toggle indicates the routine is active, while a gray toggle means it is inactive and not yet enabled for appointment campaigns.
Defaults Setup
- Access the Defaults Section to set your practice defaults by clicking the tools next to "Defaults" in the screenshot above.
- The edit config screen displays key settings for appointment reminders, including the time range for sending notifications, which defaults to 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM but can be adjusted to suit your practice.
- This setting is time zone-specific, triggering reminders based on the local time of the scheduled appointment.
- For 'Day Of' reminders to be sent two hours before an appointment, ensure the 'Send Reminders From' start time is set to two hours before your practice opens.
- In the Edit Config screen, you can also set specialty or appointment type overrides at the practice level.
- Specialty Overrides: If there's a pediatric dentist, you can enable a pediatric specialty override by checking a box, which will create a separate routine for editing to manage appointment reminders.
- You can also establish Appointment type overrides. These are specific rules for appointment types like Deband or New Patient Exams to manage reminders differently and override the practice level routines.
Routines/Rules Setup
- Routines are set up like timelines for appointments. There are five types of reminders/follow-ups that can be set: Save the Date, Pre-Appointment, Day of, Follow up or No Show.
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- Save the Date: This is meant to send when appointment is scheduled or shortly after, the time can be customized.
- Pre-Appointment: This is customizable and you can have multiple. It can be one week before, two days before, one day before, etc. to fit the needs of your practice. c
- Day of: This sends day of Appointment. Kindly remember if you have it set to send 2 hours before the appointment, your defaults in Edit Config, (in previous Default Setup section just above), needs to be set two hours before your appointments begin.
- Follow up: This is meant to send after appointment completes. It can be set to send immediately or after a customized amount of time has passed.
- No Show: This will be triggered to send only if appointment is missed and marked as a No Show.
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- You can have unlimited email reminders in a routine, but only four unique text reminders per routine.
- Practice Level routines are setup first, but Location level routines override the practice level.
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- Specialty Exceptions or Appointment Type Exceptions override practice and location level routines.
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All Reminders follow the same format:
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Message Type: Email or Text
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Template: Pick the email or text template. There are Defaults, but you can create your own in Edit > Automation Suite > Recurring Campaigns > Templates tab. There is an article here for review: Creating Text Templates for Appointment Campaigns.
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- If you cannot access Edit > Automation Suite > Recurring Campaigns > Templates tab, please see this article about Recurring Campaigns Employee Permissions.
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When to Send: Sets the frequency/timing of when the reminder sends.
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Is Confirmable: If this box is checked will make reminder confirmable.
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- For Text Reminders this displays as Send C to Confirm, and they can respond via text.
- For Email Reminders, this displays a link press here to confirm.
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Ignore if Confirmed: If this box is checked it will not send the reminder if the appointment has already been confirmed.
Create a new Routine/Rule -
Select the Blue Circle above the Appointment Reminder you wish to work with.
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Fill out all fields in the Creation Window.
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Save and Close when done.
View Existing Rules:
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To quickly View your existing rules for each Appointment Reminder, hover your mouse over the appropriate Text or Email icon.
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To quickly View your existing rules for each Appointment Reminder, hover your mouse over the appropriate Text or Email icon.
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Hovering on the icon will show reminder type, name of template selected, when reminder will send, if it is confirmable, and if it is ignore if confirmed.
Edit/Delete Existing Rule
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Selecting the appropriate Text or Email icon on the Appointment Timeline will allow you to Edit/Delete and existing rule.
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Save and Close when done.
Create Location Based Routines/Rules: -
Select the 'Add Schedule' button in the upper left Appointment Campaigns screen to open the Schedule Configuration Window.
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Schedules will be listed in a drop down menu. Select the location you wish to add a routine for and click save.
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On main Appointments Campaign screen, existing locations are listed. To access one, click on the location name to expand those routines.
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The Location Based Setup will appear similar to the Practice Level Setup.
Delete Location Based Routine, Specialty or Appointment Exceptions -
To delete a location based routine or Specialty or Appointment Exception, click on the red x on the right hand side of the routine.
Once you have all of your Appointment Campaigns set up the the manner that best suits the practice, and the toggle is active and orange, the routines will go live and the reminders will send automatically based on the Setup. Within this setup screen it also shows who last made the edits to a routine and the date the changes were made. In order to see the reminders sending, you would next want to access the C9 Connect Reminders dashboard. To learn how to use the dashboard please see this article: C9 Connect Reminders Dashboard. You can also view two way messaging threads for more information please see this article: C9 Connect Two Way Messaging.
As always, if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to reach out to Cloud 9 Support by emailing us at cloud9support@planetdds.com, or chatting us online using the chat bubble on the lower right at https://cloud9support.planetdds.com/hc/en-us, or giving us a call during our business hours of 8:00 AM EST to 8:00 PM EST at the 1.800.394.6050 option 2.
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