How to Reduce No-Shows at Your Dental Clinic: 7 Practical Steps
Practical steps to reduce missed dental appointments: timely reminders, an easy way to cancel, a waiting list, deposits and measuring what happens.
WHATSAPP
Appointment reminders on WhatsApp,
where your patients already are
Reminders that go out on their own before each appointment, sent from your clinic's own WhatsApp Business number — in the patient's language, from the system that holds the appointment.
Included in Pro.
Synora sends appointment reminders on WhatsApp from the clinic's own WhatsApp Business number, through Meta's official WhatsApp Cloud API, 24 hours before each appointment and in the patient's language. Staff can also message one patient from the Outbox. The WhatsApp channel is part of Pro; reminders by email work on every plan.
| Plan | WhatsApp channel: Pro. Reminders by email: every plan. |
|---|---|
| Channel | Your clinic's own WhatsApp Business number, on Meta's WhatsApp Cloud API |
| What you need | An appointment_reminder template approved by Meta |
| When | 24 hours before each appointment by default; you can choose 2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48 or 72 hours |
| Language | Arabic or English — each patient in their own |
| Through your clinic's own email server (SMTP) | |
| SMS | Not available |
| Last updated |
A forgotten appointment is an empty chair you still pay for. Reminding every patient by hand takes hours, and the day it doesn't happen is the day the chair stays empty.
How do Synora's WhatsApp reminders work?
The official WhatsApp Business platform
Connect your clinic's own WhatsApp Business number through Meta's WhatsApp Cloud API, from Synora's messaging settings — not a personal number, not a workaround.
Bilingual templates
Write each message in Arabic and English; every patient gets it in their own language.
A message to one patient
From the Outbox, send one patient a message from your templates — on WhatsApp or by email.
Delivery status and opt-outs
See what was delivered, and respect patients who ask not to receive messages.
Email too
Messages can also go out by email, through your clinic's own email server.
Care after treatment
On Pro, set post-op messages per procedure or category — for example day 1, 3 and 7 after a scaling at 10:00 — and they are sent on their own at the branch's local time after the procedure is completed.
Feedback after the visit
On Pro, patients who agreed to receive marketing get a short feedback link after their visit. Everyone who answers is offered your Google review page, whatever their rating, and low ratings are emailed to the owner.
What doesn't it do yet?
- No SMS: WhatsApp and email only.
- No personal WhatsApp number and no WhatsApp Web: only a WhatsApp Business number on Meta's Cloud API.
- Recall and bulk campaigns reach only patients who agreed to receive them: the agreement is recorded on the patient's file or when they book online, and every such message carries an unsubscribe link.
- Patients' replies land in the WhatsApp inbox (Pro). Free replies are possible only within 24 hours of the patient's last message; after that, WhatsApp accepts only a template Meta has approved.
- From the inbox you can send text, JPEG or PNG images up to 5 MB and PDFs up to 16 MB (such as an invoice or a treatment plan), not voice notes or video. Voice notes and videos patients send are kept as files to download, not played in Synora.
- A patient who sends STOP is opted out of the clinic's WhatsApp messages, reminders included; only the clinic can remove that opt-out.
- Post-op messages and feedback requests on WhatsApp need templates approved by Meta; without one, email still works. Feedback requests go only to patients who agreed to marketing, and there is no reminder if a patient does not answer.
QUESTIONS
Questions about this feature
Yes. The clinic connects its own WhatsApp Business number (Meta's WhatsApp Cloud API) from Synora's messaging settings and creates an approved "appointment_reminder" template. Reminders then go out on their own before each appointment — 24 hours ahead, or at the time you choose from 2 to 72 hours.
Not yet. WhatsApp and email are supported today.
Pro includes the WhatsApp channel, so appointment reminders can go out on WhatsApp. Reminders by email are on every plan.
Yes, on Pro, and only to patients who agreed to receive them — the unticked box on the patient's file or on the online booking page, recorded with the date and wording. Every such message ends with your clinic's name, says it is promotional, gives your contact details and carries a free unsubscribe link; a patient who unsubscribes gets nothing more, even from a campaign already queued.
