Reminder texts are the highest-leverage automation in an appointment business: a few well-timed messages and your show rate climbs, your reschedules happen early, and your clients feel looked after. Here are 12 templates to copy, plus the timing that works.
The timing that works
- Instantly at booking: confirmation. Makes it real, puts it in their messages.
- 24 hours before: the main reminder, with an easy way to reschedule. This is the one that does the heavy lifting.
- 2 hours before: a short nudge for same-day memory.
- After the visit: a thank-you, and (when it went well) a review invitation.
Confirmation texts (send at booking)
1. Standard:
2. Mobile / house-call service:
3. Video appointment:
24-hour reminders
4. Standard:
5. With prep instructions:
6. High-value appointment (with policy line):
Same-day nudges
7. Two hours out:
8. On-the-way (home services):
After the visit
9. Thank you + rebook:
10. Review invitation:
Getting the schedule back on track
11. Missed appointment, warm rebook:
12. Last-minute opening (waitlist blast):
Five rules for reminder texts
- Always include the reschedule path. The goal isn’t to guilt people into showing up — it’s to surface conflicts early enough to refill the slot.
- One message, one job. Don’t stack a reminder, a promo, and a review ask into one text.
- Sound like yourself. Edit these to match how you actually talk to clients.
- Keep it under ~300 characters where you can — it’s a text, not an email.
- Let it reply intelligently. The step beyond templates: when a client answers “can we do 4 instead?”, something should handle that.
Or let all of this run itself
Scheduley sends confirmations and reminders automatically (setup guide), and because the AI Front Desk reads replies, “can we do 4 instead?” gets answered and rebooked without you touching it. Review invitations after great visits are built in too — see collecting client reviews.