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Client reminders are an important part of all successful businesses. Not only do they save businesses hours of time each week, but they add to the overall customer experience, helping them stay organised. There are various types of customer messaging options available to you, in this article you will learn how to set up client reminders. For more information, see our help guide How to set up rebooking reminders.
Important note: the types of reminder messages you can send depends on your Timely plan, for example: rebooking reminders are exclusive to our Innovate plan. To find out more about what is included for your specific plan, see our pricing page for more information.
How to set up client reminders
Step-by-step instructions
1 If you would like to add a Consult form to your reminder, tick the box that says automatically send a consult form with this reminder, and then choose from the drop down list which of your templates you would like to send out.
2 Setup your reminder rules by choosing when you'd like to send your customer reminders. There are two options: x hours before or x days before at x time. We recommend using the x hours before option for the best experience for your customers.
Timely note: if you choose the 1-day prior setting, then only bookings added at least 24 hours before the appointment start time will be sent reminders. If a reminder won't be sent on a booking, we will add an alert to the appointment's history. Check out our how to view appointment history guide for more information.
3 If you'd like to send reminders to customers that have pencilled in appointments, make sure to check the box. You can also use two-way SMS to confirm appointments by setting up "text Y to confirm".
4 Once your rules are setup, enter your SMS template. Check out our guide on
customising SMS templatesfor more details. If you're selected email, set up your email rules, and click save.
Timely tip: you will be able to choose any of Timely's pre-made templates, or if you have shared consultations with your business you can use one of your own. You can only add a consult form to an SMS, not to an email.
Timely tips:
We recommend SMS as these are more likely to be opened and viewed by customers.
You can find out more about customising message templates here. Your message length can be up to ~ 430 characters, if your message is longer, it may cost you multiple messages.
If you'd like to include a link in this message, then you may like to use a URL shortener like Bitly (https://bitly.com/) or Google (https://www.google.com/).