Two-way texting
Updated
Two-way texting is business SMS in which a clinic and its clients exchange text messages in both directions from the clinic's number, rather than the clinic only sending one-off notifications.
Many clinics already send texts: a reminder, a "your pet is ready for pickup" note. In one-way setups, replies go nowhere, or to a number nobody watches. Two-way texting turns those messages into a conversation. A client can reply to a reminder to ask for another time, send a quick question instead of calling, or confirm a detail while sitting in a meeting where a phone call is impossible.
Why clients like it
Text is easy to fit around a working day. Clients do not have to wait on hold or call during opening hours, and they have a written record of what was agreed. For the front desk, a text can be answered between check-ins, while a call needs full attention right away.
What it takes to run well
A shared text inbox needs the same discipline as the phone. Decide who watches it during each shift, how quickly messages should be answered during opening hours, and what the after-hours auto-reply says. Keep answers in the same thread, so the history is in one place, and log anything clinically relevant in the patient record rather than leaving it in a message.
Consent and opting out
Clinics should text clients only where the client has agreed to messages on that channel, and every client must be able to stop them, typically by replying STOP. Record what each client has agreed to and keep it current in your records.
What not to do by text
Avoid sending card numbers or other payment details by text. Hosted payment links are the safer route.
An example
At a two-vet clinic, a client receives a reminder text about her cat's vaccination and replies asking whether Saturday morning is possible. The receptionist sees it between appointments, checks the schedule, replies with two options and books the one the client picks, all without a phone call on either side.
How Tilly handles it
Tilly answers your clinic's SMS around the clock, books and moves appointments in supported practice software, texts only clients with recorded consent, honours opt-outs, and never takes card numbers by message.
The phone coverage guide puts texting in context. Related: appointment reminder and WhatsApp Business.