Communications

Maxillo sends appointment confirmations, reminders, recalls, invoices and Welcome invites to patients by email and text. This article covers the settings that control those messages.

Before you start

• Switching messaging on or off needs Owner or Practice manager.
• Nothing is sent until messaging is switched on. Until then messages are recorded as queued.
• Consent is per patient and per purpose, so a patient who has declined a channel will not receive it whatever you set here.

Steps

Switch messaging on

1. Open Settings → Patient messaging.
2. Check the Email and SMS rows. Each says whether it is configured. If one is not, ask the Maxillo team.
3. Under Test delivery, choose the Test channel, enter an address or mobile number under Send to and choose Send test. Check it arrives.
4. Under Welcome invite delivery, choose SMS + Email, SMS or Email.
5. Choose Switch messaging on, read the Before you switch this on notice and confirm. Use Switch messaging off to pause all sending.

Write your own templates

1. Open Settings → Message templates. The Built in list shows the wording Maxillo uses by default.
2. Choose to create a template. Give it a Name, choose the Channel (Email or SMS) and a Category: Clinical, Administrative, Financial, Recall or Marketing.
3. For email, enter a Subject. Enter the Message.
4. Use the Variables list to insert patient and practice details, such as the patient's first name, the appointment date and time, the clinician's name and your practice phone number. Only listed variables can be filled; anything else is refused when you save.
5. Choose Create template, or Save changes on an existing one.

Brand your emails

1. Open Settings → Email branding.
2. Under Practice logo, choose Upload (or Replace).
3. Set your Primary colour (buttons and links) and Secondary colour (supporting accents) using a hex value such as #0f766e, and enter your Website.
4. Check the Email preview and choose Save branding.
5. Under Sending identity in Patient messaging, emails send as "Your Practice via Maxillo" by default. Choose Use your own domain instead if you want them sent from your own address; this needs changes made by whoever manages your website domain, and Maxillo shows Verification pending until they are done.

What happens next

Confirmations go out when an appointment is booked, reminders ahead of it, and recalls when due. Every message and its status (Queued, Sent, Delivered, Failed) is listed on the patient's Communications tab. Failed sends, 7d on the Practice overview counts failures.

Common problems

• Messages show as Queued and never send — messaging is switched off, or the channel is not configured. Check Patient messaging.
• A template will not save — it uses a variable that is not in the Variables list. Remove or correct it.
• A patient did not get a text — check their consent on the patient record and that SMS is configured.
• Emails look unbranded — save a logo and colours under Email branding.