Reminders and confirmations
The highest-return thing you can turn on after booking works.
The highest-return thing you can turn on after booking works. A no-show costs you the slot, the drive, and the lead.
Automations → Reminders.
The two messages
The confirmation goes out right after booking. It exists to make the appointment feel real and to catch a wrong time immediately, while it is still easy to fix.
The reminder goes out before the appointment. The day before is standard; a couple of hours before works well for same-week bookings. Some businesses send both.
What they should say
Everything the person needs and nothing else:
- Who you are
- When, including the day of the week. "Thursday the 24th at 2pm" beats "7/24 2:00 PM"
- Where, or that you are coming to them
- How to change it
Leave out the marketing. This message has one job.
Let them reschedule
The single biggest no-show reducer is not a louder reminder. It is making it easy to move the appointment.
Someone whose day fell apart will either move it or ghost you. Give them the option and most of them move it. That is a kept appointment instead of a lost one.
Confirmations and reminders include a link to manage the appointment. See Bookings and rescheduling.
Email works without A2P
Business texting needs carrier registration, which takes days. Confirmations can go by email in the meantime, with a calendar invite attached so it lands on the person's calendar too.
That covers most of what you lose while you wait. Turn on texting once you are approved.
The rules
Same as everything else automated:
- 8am to 6pm in your configured timezone
- Do-not-contact is checked before every send
- STOP is permanent
See Consent and opt-outs.
Note: Appointment confirmations are transactional, which is a different category from marketing. That does not make them exempt from opt-outs. Someone who said stop gets no messages, including reminders.
If confirmations are not arriving
In this order:
- Are you registered for texting? Unregistered messages are silently filtered. A2P.
- Is email set up? Non-transactional email requires a physical mailing address on file, per CAN-SPAM, and sends are blocked without one.
- Is the number or address right on the lead?
- Did they opt out? Then it is working correctly.
More in Troubleshooting.
Measuring it
Count no-shows for a month before and a month after. It is usually the most obvious improvement in the product, and it costs you nothing beyond turning it on.