How the post-visit feedback feature works and how to set it up.
After a patient attends an appointment, they receive an SMS with a link to a branded feedback page. The page gives them a choice: leave a public Google review, or send private feedback back to the practice — with optional thumbs-up/down sentiment to make the signal meaningful even when they don't type anything.
Both paths are presented with equal weight; the system never filters or routes patients toward Google based on sentiment. This keeps the feature compliant with Google's review-gating policy and aligned with AHPRA's guidance on soliciting patient feedback.
Eligible patients are any who attended a selected appointment type, have marketing consent in Optomate set to SMS or Email, and haven't been contacted within the frequency cap — not just those who booked online.
The feedback page shows your practice logo and branding:
"Thanks for visiting [Practice Name]"
"Let us know about your experience"
Below the prompt is a single unified form:
The patient can respond with a thumb alone, text alone, both, or by clicking through to Google. Thumb clicks are recorded immediately so even bounces count as a signal. The Send button lights up once either a thumb or text is present. Clicking Google also persists any in-progress thumb/text before opening a new tab to your Google review page.
Each link can only be used once — after the patient submits or clicks through to Google, the page shows a thank-you message.
Feedback is enabled by Your Booking support. Once enabled, you'll see a "Post-Visit Feedback" card in the Recalls & Reminders tab of your admin dashboard.
Choose an SMS template for the feedback message. Templates are managed in the Templates tab — create one with scope "feedback" if none exist. The template can use placeholders like {PATIENT_FIRST_NAME}, {PRACTICE_NAME}, and {FEEDBACK_LINK}.
The default template if none is selected:
"Hi {PATIENT_FIRST_NAME}, thanks for visiting {PRACTICE_NAME}. We welcome your feedback — you can leave a public review or send us private feedback: {FEEDBACK_LINK} Reply STOP to opt out."
Choose which appointment types trigger a feedback request. Only patients who attended one of the selected types will receive a message. If no types are selected, no feedback will be sent.
This lets you target specific visit types — for example, you might want feedback after comprehensive exams but not after quick follow-up appointments.
If your practice has a Website Booking URL or custom short domain configured (admin Domain Settings), you can toggle "Use practice domain for links" so feedback links go through your branded URL instead of yourbooking.au. SMS will use your short domain (e.g. yp.au/fTOKEN) and email feedback links use your booking URL — no URL rewrite rules needed on your web server.
When you toggle feedback on for the first time, a compliance dialog explains:
You must accept before the feature activates. The acceptance is recorded with timestamp and username.
Below the main feedback settings, you can enable reply notifications. When a patient replies to a feedback SMS (rather than clicking the link), you receive an immediate email with their reply text.
You can optionally set a different recipient email — useful if feedback replies should go to a manager rather than reception.
YourBooking does not retain the reply text on its own servers. For each feedback reply, a new Patient Note is created on the patient's record in Optomate, with DESCRIPTION set to Feedback SMS reply (stop) for opt-outs or Feedback SMS reply (message) for anything else. Feedback SMSs don't ask a yes/no question, so replies aren't classified further. The full reply text lives in the Patient Note's NOTE field. You can see it by opening the patient in Optomate and going to the Notes tab.
Requires the Patient Notes (Read + Create) API permission — see the Recalls & Reminders setup guide for where to enable it in Optomate. Without this permission YourBooking will still classify the reply and email you the text, but the patient record won't get the note.
The Feedback tab of Recalls & Reminders has a Reporting card with four sections:
"Opened" is stamped the first time a patient's link is loaded. "Responded" counts any patient who selected a thumb or submitted text (or both). Email preview bots can inflate the opened count slightly, so read it as "at least N opens".
Each private submission also triggers an email to your practice (or the reply notification email if configured), with the patient name, a note of whether they sent privately or left a Google review alongside it, and the thumb rating if selected.
In the staff dashboard Sent History tab, each feedback entry shows whether the patient clicked Google, sent private feedback, or hasn't responded. The reply category badge (MESSAGE / STOP) is shown; for the full body of SMS replies, open the patient's notes in Optomate.
Optometry practices are regulated by AHPRA. Key points:
This feature works similarly to HotDoc's post-appointment review requests, which are widely used by Australian health practices. If you have specific compliance questions, check with your professional association or AHPRA directly.
Toggle the feature off on the Post-Visit Feedback card in the Recalls & Reminders tab. No further feedback requests will be sent. Existing feedback links remain valid until used.