Workflow · Outbound
Waitlist filling
Waitlist filling offers short-notice gaps in your diary to people who want an earlier appointment. Intavia contacts them and books whoever accepts, so gaps can be filled without your team working through the list by hand.
At a glance
- What it does
- Offers newly free slots to people waiting and books them in
- Channels
- Outbound calls, with additional channels available
- Integrations
- Your practice management system, such as Dentally, for bookings
- What you can customise
- Which slots are offered, who is offered them first, how offers are made and what happens next
- What your team sees
- Filled slots in your system, a campaign summary and tasks for anything that needs a person
- Setup
- Done for you by our team, around how you manage your waitlist
How it works
Waitlist filling runs as a campaign built around your practice. Our team does the setup work: we agree with you how each situation should be handled, turn that into campaign rules, and Intavia applies them whenever the campaign runs, on a schedule or when a trigger event happens, such as a cancellation.
- Plan: we agree with you how gaps should be filled, from which slots are offered to the next step for every outcome. Our team builds the campaign rules from that.
- Trigger: each time it runs, the campaign looks for newly free slots in your diary, such as after a cancellation.
- Eligibility: Intavia selects the people waiting who match the slot, such as by appointment type, clinician and location, in the order agreed with you.
- Contact: people are offered the slot within your contact window, following the offer order and attempt schedule.
- Conversation: identity is confirmed before any personal or appointment details are shared. The first person to accept is booked into the slot, or has their existing appointment moved earlier, directly in your system.
- Outcome: every offer ends with a recorded outcome. Anyone else who was offered the slot is told it has gone.
- Next step: the outcome decides what happens next, such as offering the slot to the next person or a task for your team.
Campaign rules
These are the options we agree with you, not fixed settings. Each one can be shaped around how your practice works, and anything not listed here can be built into the plan.
| Rule | What we agree with you |
|---|---|
| Schedule and triggers | When the campaign runs, such as on a regular schedule or after a cancellation |
| Waitlist | Where the list of people wanting an earlier appointment comes from, and how it's kept current |
| Eligible slots | Which gaps are offered, such as by appointment type, clinician, location and how soon the slot is |
| Offer order | Who is offered a slot first, such as the order people joined the list, and how many people are offered it at once |
| Contact window | The days and hours contact can happen |
| Attempts | How many attempts are made for each offer, how far apart, and on which channels |
| Slot filled | Whether others who were offered the slot are told it has gone, and on which channel |
| Hand-over | The situations that become a task for your team |
| Fallbacks | Alternative routes that keep things moving, such as offering the slot to the next person, trying another channel or passing the conversation to your team |
Outcomes
Each outcome has a default next step. Any of them can be changed to suit your practice.
| Outcome | What happens next |
|---|---|
| Booked | The appointment is created in your system, or the existing appointment is moved earlier |
| Slot already filled | The person is told the slot has gone and stays eligible for future gaps |
| Not suitable this time | Recorded, and the person stays eligible for future gaps |
| No answer | The offer is tried again if attempts remain, or moves to the next person, and a follow-up message can be sent |
| No longer wants an earlier appointment | Recorded, and the person is left out of future offers |
| Wrong number or opted out | That number isn't contacted again, for this campaign or all your campaigns, as you prefer |
| Needs the practice | A task is created with the details already captured |
Safeguards
- Identity is confirmed before any appointment details are shared.
- A booking only goes ahead if the slot is still free.
- Only slots that match your agreed appointment types, clinicians and locations are offered.
- Contact only happens inside the agreed window.
- Anyone who asks not to be contacted, or whose number is wrong, isn't contacted again, for this campaign or across all your campaigns, whichever you prefer.
Works together with
- Appointment rebooking: Patients who cancelled are contacted and helped to book again.
- Appointment booking, changes & cancellations: Appointments booked, moved and cancelled during the call, directly in your system.
- Appointment reminders: Reminders that confirm attendance and handle changes in the same conversation.
- Outbound calling: The shared rules for every outbound call: who is contacted, when, and how often.
- Multi-channel communication: Conversations with patients by phone, text, email, WhatsApp and your website, inbound and outbound.
- PMS & booking system integration: Live information from your practice system and appointments handled directly in it.
FAQs
Calls are the default. Text, email or WhatsApp can be added to the offer.
Whoever your agreed offer order puts first, such as the person who has waited longest. If they can't take it, the offer moves to the next person.
The slot goes to the first person to accept, and a booking only goes ahead if the slot is still free. Anyone else who was offered it is told it has gone.
We agree that with you when we build the plan, along with how people join it and how it stays current. Bookings are made directly in your practice system.
Yes. Tell your support team what you need and they update the campaign. There's nothing for you to configure.