The primary purpose of Product Reminders is to notify clients when their patients are due in for a treatment. This has the added benefit of being an easy avenue for repeat business for your practice—all while ensuring consistent care for patients.
To access reminders and your reminder email template, navigate to the Client Communications tab of your Shepherd Admin menu and select Reminders.
Take a Look
Reminder Email Template
The Reminder Email Template will be the format in which each of your reminder notification emails will be sent to your clients.
Basic Template
The basic template will be the default when you first visit your reminder email template. This includes a subject line, greeting, text to indicate which reminders the notification is for, and your clinic information at the bottom of the email. You're able to add body text and a custom signature.
Advanced Template
The advanced template allows you to build your reminder email from scratch entirely, with no pre-loaded text or variables. If you're using this template, be sure to include the Reminders due variable!
Email Template Variables
Variables will be used to insert client, patient, and clinic-specific information into your reminder emails so they're custom to your clients and patients! The below list is the selection of variables you can choose from - place the variable text where you'll want the client, patient, or clinic-specific data to be when the email is generated and sent.
{CLIENT FIRST} - Client first name
{CLIENT LAST} - Client last name
{REMINDERS DUE} - Reminders that are overdue and due within the next 30 days
{CLINIC NAME} - Name of your clinic
{CLINIC EMAIL} - Email address of your clinic
{CLINIC PHONE} - Clinic phone number
{CLINIC ADDRESS} - Clinic address
{CLINIC LOGO} - Clinic logo
Here is an example of the pre-loaded text on the basic template:
Subject: {PATIENT/S} (is/are)* due for services at {CLINIC NAME}
Dear {CLIENT FIRST},
Our records indicate that your pets are due for the following services:
{REMINDERS DUE}
And how it translates into the client-facing email notification:
Bandu is due for services at Shepherd Veterinary Hospital
Hello, Tori.
Our records indicate that your pets are due for the following services:
Bandu is due for Rabies Vaccine - Canine 1 Year at 8/5/2021
Make a New Reminder
To create a new reminder, select Add New from the Reminders page. Each new reminder will be active by default. Uncheck the Active toggle if you wish to create an inactive reminder to start or use the same toggle when editing an active reminder to activate or deactivate it.
Steps:
Select a Trigger Product
Title the Reminder
Add the Due Date (from administration time)
Assign the Auto-Complete Products
Add Client Notifications
Add more reminders if applicable
Step 1. Select a Trigger Product
A trigger product is any product or service that will create the reminder in the client and patient profiles when it's administered in a SOAP. You might create a reminder for clients buying a 1-month supply of Heartworm preventatives, using the product "Heartworm (23-50 lbs.) 1 Dose" as your trigger product.
Step 2. Title the Reminder
Be specific - use the name of the product or service that is triggering the reminder. For example, "Heartworm (26-50 lbs.) 1 Dose"
Step 3. Add the Due Date
The reminder due date is going to be used to determine when the product or services is due or needs to be replenished, and is the baseline to calculate when the client notifications should be sent. Using the example above, a 1-month supply of Heartworm prevention would be due in 1 month from administration.
Reminders can be due in any number of days weeks, months, or years from administration time.
Adjust Reminder Due Date Based on Quantity of Product Administered
Check this box when you would like the 'Due In' time to factor in the quantity of product you've administered.
If you administer QTY 3 of the 1 Dose Heartworm preventative, you will want the reminder to become due in 3 months instead of 1 month (which is the standard reminder due in setting and will still apply when QTY of 1 is administered).
Step 4. Assign Auto Complete Products
Auto Complete Products will be used to automatically complete the reminder in the client and patient profile. When any of the auto complete products assigned to the reminder are administered, the reminder will be completed and will no longer show as due or active. For the Heartworm (23-50 lbs.) 1 Dose example, you may select this same product in different dosages you sell it in, as well as the originally administered product and you may add other brands of heartworm preventative:
Heartworm (26-50 lbs.) 1 dose
Heartworm (26-50 lbs.) 3 doses
Heartworm (26-50 lbs.) 6 doses
Heartworm (26-50 lbs.) 12 Doses
This prevents clients who purchase 3 doses, then come back and purchase 12 doses from having their 3-dose reminder still due or needing to be manually completed, when they've purchased more of the heartworm preventative already.
Any of the auto complete products selected under the reminder will complete the reminder upon administration.
In the heartworm prevention example above, each of the auto complete products should also have a separate reminder created where the other available doses are the trigger product.
A client that purchases 3 doses of heartworm preventative and then comes back for 12 doses after 3 months, will have the 3 dose reminder auto-completed by the administration of the 12-dose product, and the 12 dose reminder created for when it's time to replenish!
Step 5. Add Client Notifications
Select the ‘Add Notification’ button at the bottom of the box to create a reminder email cadence for this product reminder. You can add as many notifications as you want.
The email notification sent will be generated by your Reminder Email Template so you only need to select when you want the notifications to send. The fields you need to populate are:
Send In (a numerical value) | Time Unit (day, week, month) | Before | After (due date) |
Clients will only get up to 1 Reminder Email a day - If multiple reminders due or upcoming due are triggering notifications, they'll all be included in the email.
So, continuing with our heartworm medication example, you could set a few notifications to go out: