Appointment reminders. Sent for you.

Which messages send, and when

Each message is tied to something happening to the booking itself, so nobody on your team has to remember to send it or log back in to follow up. There is no switch to flip per booking: once a booking exists, its messages take care of themselves.

• Confirmation: goes out as soon as the booking is made. When a deposit or a card is needed, it goes once that payment step is done.
• Reminder: goes out once, a set number of hours before the appointment or reservation.
• Reschedule notice: goes out when the booking moves to a new time, whether the guest moved it or your team did.
• Cancellation notice: goes out when the booking is cancelled, so the customer has it in writing that the slot is gone.

Email confirmations send on every plan. A customer who gets no written confirmation has no proof the booking exists, and you have no message trail if a question comes up later. The same system runs for restaurants and venues seating a party and for salons, clinics and spas booking a client in for a service.

How appointment reminders cut no-shows

The appointment reminder does the most work, and a reservation reminder does the same job for a table. It puts the booking back in front of the customer before they are due, without anyone on staff chasing every booking on the day. The email version carries a Manage your booking button, as long as guest self-service is on (it is by default), so someone who cannot make it can change or cancel instead of simply not turning up.

Reminders go out 24 hours before the booking unless you choose otherwise. You can pick 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 or 72 hours, or 7 days, and each booking gets one reminder.

• Reminders are sent every hour, so one lands within the hour after it falls due.
• A booking made with less notice than your reminder time gets no reminder, because it is already inside that window.
• If a booking moves after its reminder has gone, it is reminded again for the new time.

SMS reminders and text confirmations

Confirmations, reminders, reschedule notices and cancellation notices can also go by text, alongside the email. A text sends when three things line up: you have switched SMS on in your notification settings (it starts off), the customer has a mobile number on the booking, and your plan includes texts. Texts come from Venue Growth and Growth up, and every text is charged at A$0.09.

The standard texts open with your business name and end with "Reply STOP to stop reminders." A customer who replies STOP stops getting text reminders only. Their text confirmations, reschedule and cancellation notices still arrive, and so do their email reminders.

The standard texts do not include the link to change or cancel; the email does. On Venue Pro and Pro you can add the link to your own text wording.

Reminder and confirmation templates in your own words

On Venue Pro and Pro you write the subject line and message for your confirmations, reminders and cancellation notices, once, and every booking uses them from then on until you change them. The booking details underneath stay in the standard layout, and the reschedule notice uses the standard wording. Every other plan sends clear standard wording.

A restaurant confirming a table for eight, a salon confirming a colour and a clinic confirming a new patient all talk to their customers differently. Emails go out under your business name with your logo and accent colour, so they read as coming from the place the customer booked with.