Run it with less chaos · Every business
Running a Waitlist That Fills Cancellations
A waitlist fills cancellations when it is a short, current list of people who have said exactly when they can come, and when an opening goes to several of them at once by text with a clear deadline.
An appointment waitlist works when every name on it carries three facts (which service, which days and times, how much notice the person needs) and when the front desk offers each opening to several matching customers at once, with the slot going to whoever confirms first. In the largest published test of this approach, a health system's automated waitlist offered each open slot to five patients at a time, and patients who accepted were seen about two to three weeks sooner than their original appointment.
The waitlist routine to copy
| Step | What the front desk does | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ask at booking | When the first choice is full, offer the next opening and ask, "Would you like to be on the list for something sooner?" | The best waitlist names are customers who already have a later appointment. |
| 2. Record three facts | Service and length, days and times that work, minimum notice (same day, next day) | A name without times cannot be matched quickly. |
| 3. Make cancelling easy | Reminder texts let customers reply to cancel or move | An early cancellation is a slot you can still fill. |
| 4. Offer to several at once | Text three to five matching names together | Offering one at a time loses hours. |
| 5. First to confirm gets it | Others get a polite "it's been taken, you're still on the list" | Keeps the list fair and the people on it willing. |
| 6. Release their old slot | Move the confirmed customer's original appointment back into the book | One cancellation can fill two gaps. |
| 7. Clean the list weekly | Remove anyone booked, served or older than 30 days | A stale list wastes every offer. |
The offer text:
Hi [first name], a [service] opening just came up at [business name] on [day] at [time]. Reply YES in the next 30 minutes and it's yours; we'll move your [original day] appointment back into the book. If it doesn't work, no need to reply and you'll stay on the list.
The "taken" text:
Thanks for the quick reply, [first name]. That time was just claimed, so you're still on our list for anything earlier than [original day].
Why it works
The strongest evidence comes from an analysis in the Journal of Medical Internet Research of a waitlist feature in a large health system's patient portal. Over six months it sent 177,311 offers for 44,792 open appointments, offering each slot to five patients at a time, and 8.3% of offers were accepted, which works out to about one accepted offer for every three slots offered. Patients who accepted saw a clinician 14.8 days sooner on average in primary care and 23.7 days sooner in specialty care, and accepted appointments had a no-show rate of 2.1% compared with 3.4% for similar appointments.
The low acceptance rate per offer is the reason to text several people at once. More than half of the offers were viewed only after the slot had expired or been taken, so a front desk that waits for one person to answer before trying the next will fill far fewer cancellations than one that sends the same offer to a small group.
Easy cancelling helps the list too. In a federal test of text reminders for passport appointments, customers who could reply by text to cancel did so more often, 20.8% against 18.7% in the control group, which hands slots back early enough for someone else to use them.
Sources
- Chung, S., Martinez, M. C., Frosch, D. L., Jones, V. G. and Chan, A. S. Patient-Centric Scheduling With the Implementation of Health Information Technology to Improve the Patient Experience and Access to Care: Retrospective Case-Control Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research 22(6):e16451, 2020. 177,311 offers to 38,361 patients.
- Office of Evaluation Sciences, U.S. General Services Administration. Text message reminders for passport appointments, project abstract 2313. Randomized evaluation, 102,857 appointments.
Related reading: What One Empty Appointment Slot Costs Over a Year · How to Cut No-Shows Without Losing Good Customers · Appointment Confirmation Messages That Prevent Confusion · Should You Double-Book? Overbooking Math for Appointment Businesses
Email hello@osnovaops.com about setting up a waitlist that fills cancellations
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