No-shows at the clinic: how SMS reminders cut missed visits
An empty slot after a patient who never came is the most expensive half hour of the day: the vet waits, costs run, and another owner did not get the slot. The good news — most no-shows are plain forgetfulness, and reminders beat forgetfulness.
A visit booked three weeks ago stands little chance against a dog owner's daily life. A no-show is rarely malice — it is almost always forgetting, or a small obstacle the clinic learns about too late. Which is exactly why something as simple as a reminder works on it.
What is really behind missed visits
- a slot booked far in advance and written down nowhere,
- no easy way to cancel ("awkward to call, they won't pick up, I'll forget") — so the owner simply does not come,
- uncertainty: which hour, which vet, should the animal be fasting.
The mechanics that work
- A reminder the day before — SMS or push with the date, time and clinic name. This is the moment the owner can still reschedule — and you can give the slot to someone else.
- A second reminder on the day — short, a few hours ahead.
- Recurring reminders — vaccinations and tick prevention: the owner comes back because the system remembers for them.
SMS or push?
SMS reaches every phone; push is free and appears in the app next to the animal's full documentation. In practice the duo works best: push for owners with the app, SMS as the fallback for everyone else. In VetiCloud push and SMS notifications are included in every plan (SMS billed from a top-up pool), and reminders about visits, vaccinations and recommendations send themselves — reception clicks nothing.
The cheapest hour of a vet's work is the one that did not go to waste. Reminders are not a cost — they are insurance for your calendar.
See how the owner app with reminders and online booking work.