Automatic appointment reminder — fewer no-shows, without a phone call
An email sent before every appointment: X hours ahead, or the day before at a set time.
The problem
Most missed appointments are not cancellations: they are things people forgot. Someone books three weeks ahead, notes the date vaguely, and on the day itself the day goes elsewhere. They did not decide not to come — they simply stopped thinking about it.
That is precisely the kind of absence a reminder fixes. A message arriving at the right moment persuades nobody to come: it puts the appointment back into the day of someone who already meant to be there. And for those who can no longer make it, it triggers the cancellation early enough for the slot to go back out.
Doing it by hand works for five appointments a week and collapses at thirty. The reminder is worth all the more for asking nothing of you: once set, it goes out for every appointment, including the ones you entered yourself over the phone.
How it works in Kagenda
The reminder is set once for the business, with two ways of choosing when it goes out.
- You choose the modeEither a lead time before the appointment — twenty-four hours, forty-eight — or the day before at a set time, say every day at 6pm for the next day's appointments.
- Kagenda finds the appointments concernedA background task runs regularly and queues the reminders that have come due, for online bookings as well as the ones you entered yourself.
- The message goes out in your wordsSubject and body can be rewritten, with placeholders replaced on sending: client name, date, time, service.
- The client can cancel from thereThe reminder carries the same cancellation link as the confirmation. Someone who can no longer come frees the slot instead of disappearing.
Who it helps
Frequently asked questions
Is the reminder sent by text message?
No. Reminders go out by email. SMS is provided for in the structure of the product but is not connected: no text message is sent today.
What lead time should I choose?
Twenty-four hours is the most common setting: early enough for the client to rearrange or free the slot, close enough that they do not forget again. For appointments that need preparation, forty-eight hours leaves more room.
Do appointments entered by hand get a reminder?
Yes, as soon as the client's email address is on the booking. The reminder does not distinguish where the appointment came from.
Can I switch the reminder off for certain services?
The reminder mode is set at business level. A service can, however, have its own email template, which lets you rewrite the message entirely without removing it.