The chatme.ai platform, that creates chatbots, in cooperation with Chat2Desk has developed a solution to optimize appointments in medical institutions. This has become possible by integrating WhatsApp Business API and introducing a chatbot. Now patients can quickly make or cancel appointments and the clinic automates interaction.
In this case study, we will describe how Klinika Fomina has managed to automate appointment confirmation and cancellation using WhatsApp and chatbots and to increase conversion.
Contents
- Chatme.ai, a platform for chatbot creation
- A chatbot to contact the clinic
- Main steps – Connecting WhatsApp and creating a chatbot
- Result: 70% conversion and 60% appointment confirmation
- Messengers and chatbots to solve business tasks
Chatme.ai, a platform for chatbot creation
Chatme.ai is a platform for chatbot creation that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze user requests. The platform makes it possible to create bots without programming to respond to typical customer support requests, screen candidates for mass vacancies, process employee requests, conduct exit interviews, and automate other typical business processes.
Chatme.ai is integrated with Chat2Desk. You can interact with bots through all available Chat2Desk communication channels. All you need to do to connect is to select a Chat2Desk channel directly from the platform interface. If operators are required, they connect to the chat instead of the bot in the Chat2Desk operator window.
A chatbot to contact the clinic
Klinika Fomina, a network of multidisciplinary evidence-based medicine clinics, requested chatme.ai to optimize the process of making appointments.
The project required solving the following tasks:
- Improve contact center efficiency by reducing the number of calls required to confirm patient appointments.
- Minimize situations when appointments have to be canceled because the patient is unavailable.
- Increase the percentage of patients who successfully make it to their appointments.
It was decided to introduce a scripted button WhatsApp bot as an optimum solution.
Chatme.ai and Klinika Fomina highlighted conditions for solving the issue:
- WhatsApp Business was selected as a chatbot integration channel.
- Klinika Fomina required integration with its 1C-based medical information system (MIS).
- The bot had to cope with three main types of requests, namely appointment confirmation, cancellation, and rescheduling. In addition, the bot had to be able to initiate communication under various mailing scenarios.
- Due to the limit of three buttons in the WhatsApp interface, all scenarios had to be adapted to that condition.
Main steps – Connecting WhatsApp and creating a chatbot
First chatme.ai connected a WhatsApp Business account for Klinika Fomina using Chat2Desk.
The status of a confirmed business account means that the company name is displayed in the profile, and it gets a green tick. Customers are much more willing to respond to messages from such accounts than to mass messaging from an unknown number.
Since messages sent by a chatbot have to be approved by WhatsApp, chatme.ai made sure that the texts of mass messaging met the WhatsApp requirements and sent them for approval.
Klinika Fomina, for its part, was developing a module to integrate its medical information system (MIS) with API. Meanwhile, chatme.ai began to study the API documentation of the MIS and then started to create a chatbot.
The chatbot scenario turned out to be compact and at the same time effective. First, the process automation service Integromat (now it is Make) was used to identify clinic patients with appointments for tomorrow. At the next step, messages were sent to notify the patients of their upcoming appointments. Chatme.ai used their own messaging service integrated with WhatsApp. It was connected using Chat2Desk.
By clicking on one of the buttons, a user goes to the next stage of the scenario.
- If clicking on “Yes, I can”, the system will confirm the appointment and the bot will send a thank-you message to the patient.
- If clicking on “No, I can’t. Cancel appointment”, the record will disappear from the MIS and the bot will send a notification.
- If a patient wants to change their appointment details, the chatbot will ask them to select a convenient time. It will check the MIS for available slots and offer the patient three time options if available. If there are no suitable slots, the patient can join the waiting list, save the selected time, or cancel the appointment.
When the patient interacts with the bot, the current chat status is saved to the MIS and chat information is recorded to Google Sheets.
Result: 70% conversion and 60% appointment confirmation
Automation results for one month of work:
- Post-messaging conversion was 69.3% with 59.8% confirmed appointments, 7.7% rejections, and 1.8% patients who changed the time of their appointments.
- The remaining 30.7% of patients ignored the mass messaging.
During the first month of chatbot operation, chatme.ai specialists managed to increase the conversion from 60% to 69.3% by experimenting with chatbot settings. In order to improve conversion rates in the future, we can use catch-up reactivating mass messaging and a green tick, the status of a verified business account that Klinika Fomina can receive in WhatsApp.
Catch-up or reactivating mass messaging is applied when a user does not respond to a message sent by the bot within a certain time. In this case, the bot will automatically send a reminder requesting a response.
Messengers and chatbots to solve business tasks
In order to effectively solve similar tasks, we recommend you to start from connecting WhatsApp Business API in Chat2Desk. Other messengers, such as Telegram or VK, will be suitable as well. Then contact chatme.ai. They will help you create the right bot to solve your business tasks in familiar channels.
If you have questions or want to discuss the possibilities of using Chat2Desk for your business, text us in the widget, and we will tell you how to get started.
