Your Appointments page is the central hub for all patient booking requests. Keeping statuses accurate and up to date serves two purposes: it keeps patients informed about their schedule, and it triggers the review invitation system that grows your clinic's review count over time.
Understanding Appointment Statuses
Every appointment on NgipenHub moves through a series of statuses. Each one has a specific meaning and action associated with it:
- Pending — a new booking request has arrived. The patient is waiting to hear from you. Call or SMS them to agree on an exact date and time. Aim to respond within the same business day.
- Confirmed — you have spoken with the patient and the schedule is set. The patient knows when to come in.
- Completed — the appointment has taken place and the patient has been seen. Setting this status automatically triggers a review invitation email to the patient.
- Cancelled — the appointment did not happen. Use this whether the patient cancelled, did not show up, or you needed to reschedule and the patient chose not to rebook.
How the Review Invitation Works
The moment you mark an appointment as Completed, the system emails the patient a unique, one-time review link. The link expires after 7 days, so timing matters — the sooner you mark it completed, the more likely the patient is to respond while the experience is still fresh.
You cannot send review invitations manually or to patients who did not book through NgipenHub. The system is designed to prevent review solicitation abuse.
Why Reviews Matter
Patient reviews are heavily weighted in the NgipenHub ranking algorithm. Clinics with more approved reviews and higher average ratings rank higher in the default Best Match sort — above clinics of equal plan tier with fewer reviews. In other words, consistently marking appointments as Completed on time is the single most effective thing you can do to improve your search placement organically.
Responding to Reviews
Reviews appear in your Patient Reviews section. You can write a public reply that appears below the review on your profile — visible to all visitors. Review replies are available on Starter and Pro plans.
- Thank patients by name for positive feedback — it shows you read and value their review.
- Respond to critical reviews calmly and professionally. Potential patients read your replies as much as they read the reviews themselves.
- Keep replies brief — 2 to 3 sentences is usually enough. Long defensive replies can look worse than the original negative review.
- Address the concern specifically rather than giving a generic apology.
- You cannot edit or delete a patient review, only reply to it.
Handling Appointment Notes
Each appointment has a Clinic Notes field visible only to your staff. Use this to record what procedure was performed, post-visit instructions given, or anything relevant for follow-up. These notes are not visible to the patient and are accessible from your appointments list.
Build a habit of updating appointment statuses at the end of each clinic day rather than in real-time. A quick review of pending and confirmed appointments takes about 2 minutes and keeps your review pipeline flowing consistently.