How to write the perfect appointment confirmation text

You can’t prevent people from missing appointments, but you can decrease the amount and the impact they have on your business with proactive appointment confirmation text messages.

Email confirmations have their place, especially for appointments that are scheduled far in advance. Even as someone who works for a business texting company, I’d never tell you to get rid of your email strategy.

But the fact that SMS has an average open rate of 98%, while email’s open rate is around 21%, suggests that you should send important appointment details by text if you want people to see it.

We’ve seen it work for our customers here at SimpleTexting, too. Some business owners’ appointment attendance rates increased by more than 30% after sending appointment confirmation and reminder texts.

If you’re ready to send your first appointment confirmation text, I have good news. We’ve done all of the legwork for you, providing confirmation text examples and guidance below on what you need to write the perfect booking confirmations.

What is an appointment confirmation text?

An appointment confirmation text is a message sent by SMS minutes, hours, or days before an appointment. Recipients can reply or follow a link to confirm or reschedule. They’re often used by doctors and dentists, veterinarians, salons, dentists, and any other business that offers appointments.

You might be thinking, “Why should I send texts and not emails?” 

While 90% of text messages are opened within the first three minutes of being received, over two-thirds of emails are never opened. (Phone calls show a much lower success rate than either email or SMS.)

9 tips for writing the perfect appointment confirmation text

To help you get more clients to attend appointments, I’ve compiled confirmation text best practices and advice from our SMS experts.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Include all necessary information

Wondering what to say when confirming an appointment by text?

Appointment confirmation texts should include:

1. Your business or organization’s name
2. Appointment date and time
3. Physical address (if you have multiple locations or it’s their first visit) or how to access a virtual appointment

For appointment confirmation response texts, include a call-to-action so your recipient can easily let you know if they’re still planning on attending. If they’re not, you’ll have the chance to quickly fill their spot and avoid lost revenue.

2. Personalize your confirmation texts

Add personal details like your recipient’s first name to make your messages sound human. This can help them feel more comfortable asking questions and sets the tone for the appointment itself.

3. Keep your messages short

A long-winded appointment confirmation text can cause recipients to overlook important details about their appointment. Include only necessary information to reduce confusion, and consider adding extra details—like instructions and items to bring—to a landing page on your site. 

4. Use language that is inviting

Many appointments aren’t booked as something to look forward to, ease those nerves for your customers or patients by being friendly and reminding them of the benefits.

5. Be specific with your call to action

Make it clear how you want people to confirm their appointment. For example, instead of saying “Reply to this message to confirm your appointment,” say “Reply C to confirm your appointment, or call/text to cancel or reschedule.”

Having a standard way of confirming appointments will help you quickly spot which recipients have confirmed and which have questions.

6. Send confirmations at the right time

There’s no one-size-fits-all texting timeline for appointment confirmations, but researchers at Kaiser Permanente found that sending texts three days and one day before can help reduce no-shows.

You can start with this basic schedule:

1. After scheduling: Send a text right after the appointment is scheduled so recipients can refer back to the message and add the details in their calendar.
2. Three days before: Send the actual appointment confirmation that asks for a response less than 72 hours before the appointment. 
3. One day before: Send a reminder text the day before the appointment.

7. Automate your confirmation messages

Reduce the time you spend on sending confirmation texts by automating them. SimpleTexting integrates with thousands of tools, like Google Calendar and Calendly, so you don’t have to manually send each appointment confirmation text message.

🎥 See how to schedule appointment confirmation and reminder texts with Google Calendar and SimpleTexting.

SimpleTexting Is Appointment Confirmation Text Software

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8. Give clients the option to call you

Include your phone number in your confirmation text for people who’d rather talk in real time than text when they have questions.

If you’re not able to take calls right away, let them know when to expect a call back from you.

9. Give clear opt-out instructions

Sometimes people change their minds about appointment text messages. Make it easy for them to unsubscribe from your messages by including opt-out instructions, like “Reply STOP to stop.”

Send opt-in/opt-out instructions and other SMS compliance information after texting a new contact for the first time.

If you use SimpleTexting, we’ll send new contacts a free, customizable compliance message with information on how to unsubscribe once you send your first message. 

📚 Read our SMS compliance guide to learn more about how to follow texting industry regulations.

Appointment confirmation text templates to copy and paste

Not sure what to say to confirm an appointment? I’ll share some appointment confirmation text templates to choose from and add to your business texting platform.

Appointment confirmation text templates:

• Doctor and dentist office appointments
• Veterinary office appointments
• Beauty salon appointments
• Home service appointments
• Real estate property showings
• Automotive service appointments
• Business and sales meetings
• Virtual appointments
• Job interviews
• Cancellation policy disclosures
• Special instructions

Doctor and Dentist Office Appointment Confirmations

Veterinary Office Appointment Confirmations

Beauty Salon Appointment Confirmations

Home Service Appointment Confirmations

Real Estate Property Showing Confirmations

Hi [BUYER NAME]! This is [YOUR NAME] with [COMPANY]. Does [DATE] at [TIME] still work for the showing at [PROPERTY ADDRESS]?

Automotive Service Appointment Confirmations

Business and Sales Meeting Confirmations

Virtual Appointment Confirmations

Job Interview Confirmations

Cancellation Policy Disclosures

Hi [CLIENT/PATIENT NAME], your appointment at [BUSINESS NAME] is scheduled for [DATE] at [TIME]. Please note that canceling or rescheduling less than [NUMBER OF DAYS/HOURS] before your appointment will result in a [FEE AMOUNT] cancellation fee. Reply or call this number with questions. Thank you!

Special Instructions

Hi [CLIENT/PATIENT NAME], your appointment at [BUSINESS NAME] is scheduled for [DATE] at [TIME]. Before your appointment, please [INSTRUCTIONS FOR FORMS, WHAT TO BRING, ETC.]. Reply or call this number with questions. Thank you!

How to send text appointment confirmations

To decrease the number of no-shows you experience, I recommend two types of appointment confirmation messages:

1. Initial appointment confirmation text: This is the message you send to patients or clients right after scheduling their appointment, which serves as a reference when they’re adding the appointment to their calendar. 
2. Appointment confirmation response text: Use this message to confirm whether your client is still planning to attend the appointment (ex. “Reply C to confirm”).

Start sending appointment confirmation texts today

While it’s unlikely that you’ll prevent every single cancellation or last-minute request to reschedule, using a channel with 98% open rates to confirm appointments will drastically improve your attendance rates. 

That’s what happened for our customer Lighthouse Dental, a dental practice in British Columbia, saw a major reduction in missed appointments after they started texting.

If you’re looking for a platform to send these appointment confirmation SMS messages, sign up for a 14-day free trial of SimpleTexting. 

This article was written on June 30, 2020, by Drew Wilkinson and was updated on August 1, 2023, by Dani Henion. Nathan Ellering contributed to this piece.