Most recall messages fail for the same reason: they read like a billing notice. “Our records indicate you are overdue for your prophylaxis appointment” makes a patient feel audited, and audited people don’t book — they archive. The scripts below are the ones our own platform sends for real practices, and they follow three rules you can steal even if you never use our software.
The three voice rules
- Warm, never clinical. “It’s been a while — let’s get you back in” beats “you are overdue for recall.” The patient should feel missed, not flagged.
- One job per message. Every script below asks for exactly one thing: pick a time. No newsletter, no five links, no survey.
- Make booking one tap. A recall message without a booking link converts at a fraction of one with it — the moment of “fine, I’ll book” is fragile, and a phone tree kills it.
The recall email (6+ months since last visit)
This is the actual reactivation template that ships inside DreamCRM — practices edit the details, but the shape is deliberate: a subject that sounds like a person, two short paragraphs, one button.
Has it been a minute? Let’s get you scheduled.
Hi {first name}, It’s been a little while since your last visit with us, and we’d love to see you again. Regular cleanings are the cheapest dentistry there is — they keep the small stuff small. Grabbing a time takes about a minute: [ Book a time ] If mornings, evenings, or a certain day works best, just reply to this email and we’ll find it for you. — The team at {practice name}
Why it works: the first line carries no blame, the value claim (“keeps the small stuff small”) is concrete rather than scary, and the reply path is a real fallback for patients who won’t self-book.
The recall text (with the fine print that matters)
Hi {first name}, it’s {practice name}. It’s been a while since your last cleaning — want to grab a time? Book here: {link} Or just reply and we’ll set it up. Reply STOP to opt out.
Hi {first name}, {practice name} here — still holding a spot for you. A quick cleaning now beats a long visit later: {link} Reply STOP to opt out.
Recall texts are marketing under US telecom rules (TCPA), so they need the patient’s prior consent to receive texts, a STOP line, and a working opt-out. Appointment reminders for a booked visit are different — but a “come back in” text is an ask, not a reminder. When in doubt, get the opt-in at check-in and honor STOP forever.
Keep texts to plain characters. One emoji or curly “smart quote” silently switches the message to a different SMS encoding and cuts the per-segment length from 160 characters to 70 — the same sentence suddenly costs double and arrives as two texts.
The phone script (for the call list)
“Hi {first name}, this is {your name} from {practice name} — how are you? I was looking at the schedule and realized it’s been about {time} since we saw you. I’ve got a couple of openings {day} — would morning or afternoon be easier?”
“Hi {first name}, it’s {your name} at {practice name}. It’s been a while since your last visit and we’d love to get you back on the books. You can call us at {phone}, or book online at {website} — whichever’s easier. Talk soon!”
The “morning or afternoon” close matters: it replaces “would you like to schedule?” (a yes/no question that invites no) with a choice between two yeses.
The cadence
- Due date + 2 weeks: the recall email. Most rebooks happen here.
- +3 weeks: the text (if you have consent), or a second email with a different subject.
- +6 weeks: the phone call for high-value or long-overdue patients. A person calling is your most expensive channel — spend it where the email and text already failed.
- Every 6 months after: stay in the cycle quietly. A patient who ignores three asks isn’t gone; they’re busy. The practices that win recall are simply still asking in month nine.
Frequency-cap the whole thing per patient, not per campaign. A patient reachable by two channels should never get double the messages — that’s how you earn opt-outs and one-star reviews at the same time.
Measure booked visits, not opens
An open rate tells you the subject line worked. The only number that pays rent is booked back: of the patients who were due and reachable, how many ended up with a visit on the schedule? Track that funnel — due → sent → opened → booked — and change one thing at a time. (This is exactly the funnel DreamCRM’s recall engine reports out of the box, if you’d rather not build the spreadsheet.)