Insight
SMS Appointment Reminders: The Ultimate Text Reminder Guide
Sending SMS appointment reminders from your business phone number can cut no-show rates by 50% and increase revenue.
Below we’ll cover why 84.8% of consumers want to receive appointment scheduling text message notifications, plus best practices for creating your own text reminders.
Why should you text appointment reminders?
People need reminders, or they forget. Sounds simple enough, right?
What’s not simple is the massive amount of returns you’ll see when your appointment reminders are sent via SMS. You’ll save significantly more time by not making 20+ reminder phone calls a day, plus cut your amount of no-shows in half, since 90% of texts are read within 30 minutes of being sent. All it takes is one quick appointment reminder text message.
How do you send appointment reminders via text?
You need a text messaging platform, like Text Request, to send SMS appointment reminders from your business phone number. Text Request not only text-enables your business number, we also help you with 10DLC registration, so your appointment reminders are delivered to customers.
Sending texts from your personal cell phone is not only non-compliant with mobile carriers, it also can quickly become disorganized. Text Request gives your entire team one secure platform to manage incoming texts and schedule appointment reminders in advance.
How do you set up text reminders for clients?
Text templates give you an organized way to save your most frequently sent appointment reminders, so your team doesn’t have to type them again and again. This not only saves everyone time, but also keeps communication consistent.
Below is a sample appointment reminder template:
“Hi [Name], this is a friendly reminder that your appointment with [business name] is [date time]. Text us back to confirm your appointment.”
Asking customers to confirm appointments, like in the reminder template above, has been shown to cut no-show rates by 50%. Other useful things you can mention in your appointment reminder text templates include:
Cancellation polices
Parking instructions
PDFs or links to any preparation instructions the customer may need
A link to reschedule, if the appointment slot no longer works
To create a new reminder template inside Text Request:
Go to Templates inside the Settings menu option
Select + NEW TEMPLATE
Type the name you want to use to identify your reminder template
Type the message you want your reminder template to contain
Select “Add Template” once you’re done
There is no limit to the amount of text templates you can create. Check out our full list of Appointment Scheduling Text Message Templates for more in-depth examples.
How do you schedule appointment reminder texts?
Scheduled Messages is a Text Request feature that lets you simply and effectively type a reminder message now and schedule it to send at a later time or date.
To schedule an individual text reminder in advance:
Select the "Compose Message" button in the top right corner of Text Request
Enter the contact and message you want to send
Select the clock icon, and set the date and time you want the message to send
Select "Set Schedule"
Select “Schedule”
You can repeat this same process for mass text reminders as well, if you want to schedule appointment reminders in bulk. Once you schedule a reminder, you can edit the recipient, the message itself, any attachments, and the scheduled time before it goes out.
How do you send automatic text reminders?
Automated text notifications and reminders come in handy when customers complete certain actions like:
Filling out a booking form on your website
Scheduling an appointment through tools like HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Mailchimp, etc.
Confirming their initial appointment slot over text
To create automated text message reminders, you can use an existing Text Request integration, or create an automation with Text Request's API. View Text Request’s full list of existing SMS integrations here.
Can Google Calendar send text reminders?
Text Request’s Zapier gives you the power to create “Zaps” that trigger text messages to contacts based on the behavior they take with the other software, including Google Calendar.
Our Zapier integration can connect Google Calendar and Text Request to unlock the power of automation for:
Sending SMS messages via Text Request for new Google Calendar events
Creating Text Request contacts from new Google Calendar events
Sending text reminders when Google Calendar events begin
Our customer support team is only one text away, if you ever need help setting up Zaps.
Want more best practices for text messaging appointment reminders?
Texting appointment reminders is just one small part of a complete and streamlined SMS scheduling process. You can also use business texting to:
Schedule the initial appointment
Send confirmation texts when clients select their time slot
Schedule the client’s next appointment in advance after a service is completed
Fill last-minute appointment slots
People see and respond to text messages instantly, so SMS scheduling keeps your calendar full and revenue flowing. Check out our ultimate guide for Appointment Scheduling by Text Messaging for an in-depth breakdown of how to maximize SMS for scheduling.
