A recall is a message inviting a patient back for care that is due — a six-month dental check, an annual review, a repeat of a treatment on its own schedule. It is distinct from a reminder, which is about an appointment that already exists, and from marketing, which is about something you would like to sell.
The three get muddled in conversation and must not be muddled in a system, because they are governed differently and behave differently when a patient asks you to stop.
| What it is about | When it goes | |
|---|---|---|
| Reminder | An appointment already booked | 48 hours and the day of |
| Recall | Care that is due, not yet booked | When the interval elapses |
| Marketing | Something you are offering | Only with consent, separately |
Why the distinction is not pedantry
A reminder for an appointment the patient booked is generally treated as part of providing care. A recall sits closer to that than to marketing — it concerns care that is clinically due — but the moment you attach an offer to it, it becomes promotional and inherits every rule that goes with that.
Keep the switches separate. A patient who opts out of marketing should still receive appointment reminders, and a system where one checkbox silences everything will eventually silence something the patient needed.
What makes a recall work
- Created from the visit, not from a list. A recall generated when the appointment is marked complete exists before anybody has to remember it.
- Carrying the interval the care actually has. Six months for a dental check, a year for an eye test, and by species for a vaccination; a single clinic-wide interval is a guess applied to everybody.
- Bookable from the message. A recall that ends in "please call us" converts at the rate of your phone line.
- Stopping when it should. Someone who booked, or who moved away, or who asked you not to.
The last one is the one systems get wrong. A recall that keeps arriving after the patient has booked reads as an organisation that is not paying attention, and it costs more trust than the appointment was worth.
Common questions
- Is a recall the same as a reminder?
- No. A reminder is about an appointment that exists; a recall invites the patient to make one. Sending a recall to somebody who has already booked is the most common way to get this wrong.
- Do recalls need marketing consent?
- A recall about care that is clinically due is generally treated as part of the care rather than as marketing, but the details differ by country and the moment you add an offer it becomes promotional. If you operate in more than one country, building against the strictest of them is the cheapest rule.
Read next
Clinic+ is a practice management system for clinics
Scheduling, patient records, billing and stock in one place, with an assistant that answers your website and books real slots. Free to start, no card.