User Guide

Simple how-to guides for FormAlert

Plain steps for the things you'll actually do — no jargon. Read the whole thing before you sign up, if you like.

What FormAlert Does 1. Business Details 2. Team Schedule 3. Payments 4. WhatsApp 5. Team & Roles 6. Booking Link & QR Queue & Display Audit Google Profile Credits & Plans Your Own Number Troubleshooting Add an Appointment Schedule a Follow-up Request Reviews Add It to Your Clinic Start Free →

How to

Schedule follow-ups

Takes about Under a minute per patientIn the app: Appointments

The problem

You tell a patient to come back in three months. Three months later nobody remembers — not them, and not you. The follow-up quietly never happens, and you only find out if they turn up worse.

The fix

Book the next visit before the patient leaves the room. From then on it's chased like any other appointment: a WhatsApp confirmation now, then reminders 24 hours and 2 hours before, months from now, without anyone setting themselves a note. A follow-up that actually happens is revenue you already earned and a review you can ask for.

Where the Follow-up button is

Two places, both doing the same thing — use whichever screen you're already on.

ScreenWhere

Appointments listA blue Follow-up button on the row — next to Complete on a confirmed visit, next to Review on a completed one

The appointment itselfOpen it, then Actions → Schedule Follow-up

You can schedule a follow-up from a confirmed or completedappointment. A cancelled or rejected one can't take one — book that patient a fresh appointment instead.

Book the follow-up

Find the visit under Appointments. Search their phone number if it was a while ago.

Click Follow-up. The panel confirms the service and doctor it's for.

Pick the date. The time dropdown then loads that doctor's genuinely free slots for that day, so you can't double-book them.

Pick a time, and add a note if it helps — "review test results", "check recovery". Optional.

Click Confirm Follow-up. The patient gets a WhatsApp immediately.

Tip: Do this while the patient is still in the room. Booking it later, over the phone, is where follow-ups go to die.

Your normal booking cut-off doesn't apply here. You can put a follow-up in later today if you need to, which a patient booking themselves couldn't.

What actually happens to the appointment

This is worth understanding before you use it, because it isn't what most people assume.

Scheduling a follow-up moves the existing appointment to the new date. It does not create a second one. The visit you just completed stops showing as completed and becomes a confirmed future appointment.

What changesDetail

Date and timeMoved to what you picked

StatusSet back to Confirmed

Your noteAppended to the appointment's notes, dated

RemindersCleared and re-armed, so they fire against the new date

The patientGets the appointment-update WhatsApp straight away

Tip: If you need the original visit to stay on the record as a completed appointment — for your own history, or because you bill off it — don't use Follow-up. Create a new appointment for the patient instead, from Appointments → New Appointment.

Then it runs itself

Once the follow-up is confirmed you don't touch it again:

ReminderWhen it sends

24-hour reminderThe day before the appointment

2-hour reminder2 hours before the appointment

Automatic reminders are a Business plan feature and cost one credit each. On Starter the follow-up is still booked and the patient still gets the confirmation — they just won't be reminded closer to the time.

A follow-up booked for later the same day will miss its 24-hour reminder, and possibly the 2-hour one too. There simply isn't time for them to fire.

Let a no-show rebook themselves

When someone misses a visit, you don't have to chase them by hand. Marking them as a no-show sends them a WhatsApp with a rebook button in it.

Find the appointment in Appointments or on the Dashboard queue.

Click No-show.

They get the no-show follow-up message inviting them to book again, and they pick their own slot from your live availability.

This message rides on the Appointment updates switch under Settings → WhatsApp Setup — it has no separate toggle. If appointment updates are off, this doesn't send either.

Tip: Whatever they book this way is a normal appointment, so it picks up the same 24-hour and 2-hour reminders without you doing anything.

Send a reminder by hand

For a specific patient you want to nudge now rather than waiting for the automatic one.

Open the appointment.

Click Actions → Send 24h Reminder. Once that's gone the button becomes Send 2h Reminder, and after both it reads Reminders Sentand stops.

Only confirmed appointments can be reminded, and manual reminders need the Business plan. Each one costs a credit, the same as the automatic ones.

If something's not right

The Follow-up button isn't on this appointment.

It only appears on confirmed and completed visits. A cancelled or rejected appointment can't be moved — book the patient a new appointment instead.

The time dropdown is empty.

That doctor has no free slots left on the day you picked — their working hours may not cover it, or they're fully booked. Try another date, and check the service's hours under Settings → Team Schedule.

My completed visit disappeared from the completed list.

Expected. Scheduling a follow-up moves that same appointment forward and sets it back to Confirmed — it hasn't been deleted, it's now sitting on the future date you chose. Use a new appointment instead if you need the original to stay completed.

The patient never got reminded about the follow-up.

Check three things: are you on the Business plan, is Appointment reminders switched on under Settings → WhatsApp Setup, and do you have credits? Also check the follow-up wasn't booked too close to the time for the reminders to fire.

The no-show never got the rebook message.

That message follows the Appointment updates switch. If updates are off, turn them on under Settings → WhatsApp Setup.

Next: Request Reviews Back to Overview

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