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21 customizable appointment reminder text templates

Save yourself thousands of dollars each year from missed appointments with our guide to setting up appointment text message reminders.

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Missed appointments are not just a nuisance — they’re a drag on your bottom line. 

In fact, they cost the US healthcare system $150B each year. And the issue of no-shows isn’t unique to the healthcare industry. 

Let’s say you run a hair salon and have four no-shows a week. If your average revenue per customer is $92, that’s $368 per week. That translates to $1,472 a month, which ends up costing $19,136 per year.

Luckily, text message appointment reminders are easy to set up and will help reduce missed appointments. 

It’s not just businesses that benefit from text reminders, either. Our text message marketing report found that 61% of consumers want to be able to text a business, with over 50% prioritizing reminders and appointments as a reason to be in touch via text message.

With 98% open rates, text trumps phone and email reminders by a wide margin. 

When you couple this with customers’ preference for text reminders (and the time-consuming process of making appointment reminder calls), you have plenty of reasons to start sending reminder texts.

The anatomy of an appointment reminder text message

Every appointment reminder text should include:

  • The time and date of the appointment
  • The location of the appointment (physical address or virtual link)
  • How to cancel or reschedule the appointment (usually through text or phone)

To make the text message feel more personal, include the name of the person sending the appointment reminder so the recipient will know who to address if they have questions.

You may also want to include a request that they reply “YES” or “C” to confirm their appointment or “NO” if they need to cancel or reschedule. 

21 appointment reminder text templates

To save you time, I’ve collected 21 appointment reminder text message templates and prompts that our customers use. 

You can customize them to your brand’s tone of voice and paste them into your business texting software.

Medical Office Appointment Reminder Templates

  • Hi [PATIENT NAME], this is [YOUR NAME] from [PRACTICE NAME]. Your next appointment is on [DATE] at [TIME] at [ADDRESS]. Please arrive 15 minutes early to fill out paperwork. Call or text this number if you have any questions. See you soon!
  • Hi [PATIENT NAME], this is to remind you of your virtual appointment with [DOCTOR NAME] on [DATE] at [TIME]. Use this link to join the appointment at your scheduled time: [LINK]. Please confirm this appointment by replying YES.
  • Hello [PATIENT NAME], it’s time for your annual [APPOINTMENT TYPE]! Please call our office at [NUMBER] or reply to this text to schedule.

📚 Check out our medical office appointment reminders guide and tips for scheduling patient appointments with SMS

Veterinarian Appointment Reminder Template

Hi [PET OWNER NAME]! This is [YOUR NAME] from [VETERINARY PRACTICE NAME]. [PET NAME] scheduled for their appointment on [DATE] at [TIME] at [ADDRESS]. Please call or text this number if you need to reschedule. We’ll see you and [PET NAME] soon!

Spa and Salon Appointment Reminder Template

[CLIENT NAME], we’re looking forward to seeing you on [DATE] at [TIME] at [ADDRESS] for your [SERVICE] appointment. Please call or text us at this number if you have any questions or need to reschedule. 

Auto Repair Shop Appointment Reminder Templates

[CLIENT NAME], this is [YOUR NAME] from [SHOP NAME]. Your [VEHICLE MAKE/MODEL] is scheduled for [SERVICE] on [DATE] at [TIME]. To confirm, please reply YES to this message. See you then!

Personal Training Appointment Reminder Templates

Hey [CLIENT NAME], I’ve got you down for your next training session on [DATE] at [TIME] at [GYM OR STUDIO NAME]. Does that still work for you?

Real Estate Showing Reminder Templates

Hi [CLIENT NAME]! I can’t wait to show you [ADDRESS] on [DATE] at [TIME]. Does that still work for you?

Home Service or Repair Reminder Templates

Hi [CLIENT NAME], this is a reminder that you have a [SERVICE] appointment scheduled for [DATE] at [TIME]. Please let me know if you need to reschedule or have any questions. Thanks!

Tax Professional Reminder Templates

  • Hi [CLIENT NAME], this is [YOUR NAME] from [COMPANY]. Your appointment for [SERVICE] is scheduled for [DATE] at [TIME]. The address is [ADDRESS]. In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions!
  • [CLIENT NAME], does our appointment on [DATE] at [TIME] still work for you? If you need to cancel or reschedule, feel free to text or call.

Business and Sales Meeting Reminder Templates

  • Hi [CLIENT NAME], your meeting with [SALES REP NAME] is scheduled for [DATE] at [TIME]. Please text or call this number if you have any questions.
  • [CLIENT NAME], your next appointment with [SALES REP NAME] at [COMPANY] is scheduled for [DATE] at [TIME]. Please call or text if you need to reschedule/cancel. Thank you!
  • Hi [CLIENT NAME], this is [YOUR NAME] at [BUSINESS NAME]. I’ve got you down for [DATE] at [TIME] at [ADDRESS]. Feel free to call or text with any questions in the meantime.

Job Interview Reminder Templates

  • Hi [CANDIDATE NAME], your interview with [INTERVIEWER NAME] is scheduled for [DATE] at [TIME] at [ADDRESS]. Please reply or call this number with any questions. Thank you!
  • Reminder: Your interview with [INTERVIEWER NAME] is scheduled for [DATE] at [TIME] at [ADDRESS]. Call or text with any questions.

Spanish Appointment Reminder Templates

  • Hola [NOMBRE DEL CLIENTE], esta es [TU NOMBRE] de [NOMBRE DE LA EMPRESA]. Tiene una cita en [LUGAR] el [FECHA] a la/las [HORA]. Responda “Si” para confirmar o “No” para cancelar.
  • Hola [NOMBRE DEL CLIENTE], esta es [TU NOMBRE] de [NOMBRE DE LA EMPRESA]. Tiene una cita por telefono el Miercoles 21 de Diciembre a las 10:30 de la mañana. 

Virtual Appointment Reminder Templates

  • Hi [CLIENT NAME], your virtual appointment with [BUSINESS OR EMPLOYEE NAME] is scheduled for [DATE] at [TIME]. Please reply or call if you need to reschedule/cancel.
  • [CLIENT NAME], your virtual appointment with [BUSINESS OR EMPLOYEE NAME] is on [DATE] at [TIME]. Please visit this link 5 minutes before your appointment: [LINK]

Cancellation Policy Disclosure Templates

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!

5 best practices for appointment reminder text messages

Before you send your first appointment reminder text, keep these five best practices in mind:

1. Include your recipient’s name

Use custom fields to address your recipient’s by name to make your reminder texts sound human and personal. 

2. Keep your reminders short

We all lead busy lives. Your customers should be able to get all of their info from a quick skim of your text message. Plus, including too much information in a reminder text can confuse people and cause them to miss out on the most important details, like the date and location.

If you need to include extra information, format your text with line breaks and punctuation. You don’t need to use complete sentences, but the message should be easy to read quickly.

3. Remind customers to cancel if they’re unavailable

Because no-shows are so costly to your business, give customers a clear way to cancel if needed. 

Tell them whether they can reply to the reminder text (which is possible if your texting software has two-way messaging) or if they need to call you on a different number. 

Hi Lauren, will we see you at your manicure appointment on March 5 at 2 PM?

If you need to cancel or reschedule, please reply “N” this text ASAP so we can schedule a more convenient time.

4. Include specific response options

Tell clients how you want them to respond to your appointment reminder texts.

Having the same responses for confirming, rescheduling, and canceling will make it easier to keep track of which conversations need your attention.

For instance, you might say, “Reply C to confirm your appointment.” Then, you can quickly spot the clients who need to reschedule or cancel.

Screenshot of appointment reminder text responses in the SimpleTexting inbox
An SMS inbox with appointment reminder text responses

5. Give at least 24 hours’ notice

Send your final reminder text at least 24 hours before the appointment time so you have enough time to fill their slot, but not so much time that they forget.

If you find that people are still forgetting their appointments, you may want to add a reminder a few hours before as well.

How to use appointment reminder software for small business

You can send text appointment reminders and confirmations one-by-one, but why make life harder for yourself? 

You’ll save time when you integrate an SMS service provider with your scheduling software or by scheduling the text message reminders ahead of time. 

I’ll walk you through both options.

Automated text appointment reminders

One of the easiest ways to remind your customers about an upcoming appointment is to send automated text appointment reminders through an integration with your scheduling software. 

When an appointment is created in the scheduling software, it’ll ask your SMS platform to schedule a text message reminder for that specific appointment.

The exact process depends on which SMS platform you’re using, but I can show you what it looks like for SimpleTexting customers. 

Integrating Google Calendar with SimpleTexting via Zapier

If you want to send out automatic text reminders, you’ll need to connect SimpleTexting to Zapier

If you’re unfamiliar with Zapier, it’s an online automation tool that connects your favorite software apps. They offer a free plan that includes 100 tasks per month, which could be 100 appointment reminder texts. 

With over 2,000 apps available on Zapier, chances are you can connect whatever appointment or scheduling software you use to SimpleTexting.

If you use a custom-built scheduling software or don’t see your platform listed on Zapier, check out our SMS API

If you don’t know what an API is, read this beginner’s guide to using an API for SMS. We also have a team of in-house integration specialists who will set up and maintain a custom integration as an add-on service to our paid plans

Scheduled text appointment reminders

Let’s say you want to schedule out text message reminders instead of having them send automatically through your scheduling software. 

In that case, you can:

You can schedule appointment reminder texts to send to all of your contacts at once, specific contact segments, or individual contacts.

Automate your appointment reminder texts today

If you have questions about sending text reminders to customers, our team of SMS experts are here seven days a week to answer them. 

Text or call us at (866) 450-4185, or use the chat button at the bottom of your screen.

And if you’re looking for a business texting platform to help you automate your appointment reminders, try ours free for 14 days.

This article was written on June 25, 2020, by Drew Wilkinson and was updated on August 1, 2023, by Dani Henion. Nathan Ellering contributed to this piece.

Drew Wilkinson
Drew Wilkinson

Drew Wilkinson is the Head of Marketing at SimpleTexting. Drew has more than a decade of experience managing successful integrated marketing programs to build brands, raise awareness, and generate demand.

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